St. Lawrence 4 - Dartmouth 3

Hanover, N.H. - After a fast and furious 60 minutes of hockey that saw few penalties or other stoppages of play, the overtime period between Dartmouth and St. Lawrence was quit simple: 25 seconds, one Saints goal.

Collecting a pass from linemate Alan Fyfe in front of the net, junior forward Erik Anderson dumped a wrister past Dartmouth netminder Nick Boucher, sending the bulk of the 2,227 fans home unhappy and handing the first-place Saints a hard-fought 4-3 win.

Anderson's goal culminated an exciting, back-and-forth affair in which neither team built a lead of more than one. Thanks to a pair of third-period goals, the Big Green held a 3-2 advantage with less than eight minutes remaining, but Fyfe struck on the power play to force the extra session.

The win boosted St. Lawrence's record to 13-6-2 (8-2-1 ECAC), while Dartmouth slipped to 5-9-4 (4-4-3).

"Dartmouth played with a lot of spirit, and I thought they really took it to us at times," Saints coach Joe Marsh said. "Fortunately, we were able to get a couple of pretty good efforts to get some good goals there late and pull it out. But it was a good hockey game, and I'm sure it was fun to watch."

From the outset, this game set up as the battle of an ECAC titan against a young team with legitimate dreams of becoming one. The Saints, nationally ranked for much of the season, seem destined to return to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, took the ice with 15 first- or second-year players -- including a Rookie of the Year candidate in Boucher -- but came painstakingly close to rekindling the home-ice success it had had three weeks earlier when it swept a weekend from Rensselaer and Union.

According to the players, however, close is not good enough.

"To be honest, we wanted to win," said forward Craig Lund, whose first goal of the season tied the game at two early in the third period. "A loss is a loss. We played them tough, but we know we can play with and beat anybody. That was a tough game to lose, and I really think we should have won."

Said Marsh: "Dartmouth really worked hard and showed a lot of heart. They really came after us. They're going to be a real good team. They've got a lot of sophomores and freshmen. It was a pretty impressive effort."

St. Lawrence opened the scoring by nailing a long-range goal midway through an energized first period. After accepting a down-ice pass from defenseman Jake Harney, forward Brandon Dietrich dished the puck to linemate Mike Gellard, who blasted a 20-foot shot past Boucher's outstretched arms.

It was Gellard's seventh goal of the season -- and Dietrich's team-leading 23rd point -- and the Saints had an early 1-0 lead.

Dartmouth got its revenge soon after the first intermission. Taking a feed from center Frank Nardella, left winger Ryan Sinclair took an off-balance shot that found its way past netminder Jeremy Symington, knotting the contest at one goal apiece. The goal extended Sinclair's point-scoring streak to four straight games.

The deadlock would not last. Skating on a two-on-one rush, the Saints converted a one-timer -- Dietrich fed blueliner Matt Desrosiers in front of the net -- just three minutes later to reclaim their one-goal advantage.

In the third, however, the Big Green briefly turned the tables and captured its first lead. After Lund forced the 2-2 tie when he made good on a rebound in front of the net, classmate Chris Baldwin did the same, thwarting Symington's attempt to cover up the puck before knocking in his second goal of the season.

That would be the last time the red lamp would light up on Dartmouth's end of the rink, and the rest of the scoring belonged to the Saints.

"The top team in the league comes into our building. We have a 3-2 lead with a few minutes left, and go to overtime and lose. People came and saw a good hockey game," Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet said.

"We have three freshmen and three sophomores on the ice at the end of that game. I like our chances in the future with this hockey team."

The Big Green will host an anamolous 12:30 p.m. game against Clarkson on SuperBowl Sunday, while the Saints will return home to face Yale and Princeton next weekend.

Big Green notes: Eight different players recorded points for Dartmouth, including center Frank Nardella, who moved into a tie with Mike Maturo for the team lead in points (11) . . . . Sunday's game against Clarkson will cap a successful January for the Big Green. Dartmouth is 3-3 (3-2 ECAC) so far this month, but all three losses have come at the hands of a nationally-ranked opponent, including one-goal decisions against No. 1 New Hampshire and league-leading St. Lawrence . . . . Normally a powerhouse, Clarkson travels to Hanover with a 7-10-3 (2-5-3 ECAC) overall record. The Golden Knights were 7-3 losers to St. Lawrence last weekend in upstate N.Y. . . . . The Big Green has not defeated Clarkson since Nov. 14, 1992.