Dartmouth 5 - St. Lawrence 7

Canton, N.Y. - The second season. That's what the Dartmouth men's hockey team is looking toward now after losing its regular season finale to the ECAC champion St. Lawrence Saints, 7-5, Saturday night at Appleton Arena.

With the only tangible meaning in the game coming the form of playoff positioning, the Big Green took a 3-2 lead after a strong first period but crumbled in the second, allowing three goals to fall behind 5-3.

Dartmouth fought back to tie it 5-5 midway through the third period, but the NCAA Tournament-bound Saints (22-7-2, 16-3-1 ECAC) again came to life to notch the win.

With the loss, Dartmouth (9-15-4, 8-10-3) finishes the regular season in eighth place, and will travel to face third-place RPI next weekend in the first round of the playoffs. Though the final standings position is somewhat disappointing - the team entered the weekend with hopes of earning home-ice - the young Big Green still will be making its first trip to the postseason since 1996.

"You never like to lose, but I'm not thinking about that now," head coach Bob Gaudet said.

"We're in the show, we're in the tournament, and we're going to win it. That's what we're going to try to do. We're going in with the thought that we're going to win it. And I know that we'll compete. I know that we'll battle."

The Big Green, which finished 1-1 against RPI during the regular season, was led by its stingy defense throughout much of the season. The blueline has looked vulnerable lately, however, allowing five or more goals in four of the last five games.

St. Lawrence's seven goals were the most Dartmouth has allowed since the first game of the season.

Against RPI, Dartmouth had moderate success over the course of the season, winning once in two tries. The Big Green and Engineers will play a three-game series, with the victor - the first team to win two games - advancing to Lake Placid for the ECAC semifinals.

"We scored nine goals this weekend, and we just allowed to many," Gaudet said. "That's a fact of life. There's no hiding that. But one thing I know - we can do something about that. We can work on that. I don't have any question about that. We'll get better in that regard."

The game got off to a fast and furious start, as the teams combined for five goals in the first period. Neither team built a lead of larger than one goal, and the Big Green emerged from the opening 20 minutes with a 3-2 lead.

Chris Taliercio, Pete Summerfelt and Peter Mahler all scored for Dartmouth in the first period, with Summerfelt's goal coming on a power play.

St. Lawrence took control of the game in the middle frame, outshooting the Big Green 16-8 while lighting the lamp three times. None of the goals was particularly spectacular, but the Saints constantly kept the puck inside the Dartmouth zone and waited until they had a good look at the net.

By period's end, St. Lawrence had a 5-3 lead thanks to goals from Andy Marchetti, Jim Lorentz and Matt Desrosiers.

In the third, Dartmouth fought back, receiving goals from rookie Halsey Coughlin and Frank Nardella to knot it at five.

But St. Lawrence cruised from there, netting a pair of goals before skating off the ice to an appreciative home crowd and the sound of "We are the Champions" blaring from the arena speakers.

"I'm happy for St. Lawrence," Gaudet said. "I'm not happy they beat us, but I'm happy for them because they're a good team, they're well coached. I'm happy they won the regular season championship, but we're looking to the tournament now."

Dartmouth's postseason set with RPI will begin Friday night at Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.

Big Green notes: Frank Nardella '02 finished the regular season as Dartmouth's scoring leader, contributing 18 points on seven goals and 11 assists. Nardella also led the team in conference scoring, tallying 15 points (5g, 10a) in 21 games . . . . Seven Dartmouth players, including four forwards and three defenseman, appeared in all 28 regular season games . . . . Defenseman Pete Summerfelt '03 had an impressive final weekend, contributing three assists in the 5-4 loss to Clarkson and a goal in the 7-5 loss to St. Lawrence . . . . In his nine years as head coach at Brown, Gaudet compiled in 7-13-1 record in postseason play, including 0-2 against RPI.