Montreal - With just over a week to go before the start of the season, the Dartmouth men's hockey team went north of the border last night and fell to the McGill Redmen, 3-2, in an exhibition contest at McConnell Winter Arena.

The power play was the difference for the Redmen (7-2-1), who converted on two of their five man-advantage chances en route to their first victory over the Big Green since 1946 and their 14th all-time since the series began in 1909.

Third-year head coach Bob Gaudet used all 26 players on his roster as Dartmouth skated in its only formal exhibition contest before opening its regular season November 5 against Harvard.

Just four minutes into the second period, forward Dave Gourde gave the Redmen the lead for good with his second goal of the game, a power play netter that found its way past sophomore netminder Rob Delwo.

But the end result was not the main concern for the young Dartmouth squad, which traveled to Quebec with one idea in mind: preparation.

"This was a good experience for us to go on the road against a good Canadian team like McGill," said Gaudet, who has a 21-30-7 record so far at Dartmouth. "We wanted to come here and give everyone time on the ice. It's difficult because you want to get a good look at everybody, but I'm pleased with the progress we made. We made a lot of improvements from the beginning to the end of the game."

For Dartmouth, which has not reached the ECAC playoffs since 1995, a significant weakness last season was an inability to fight back from early deficits. The Big Green won just three of 15 contests after surrendering the first goal, but managed to show some bite when placed in the same situation last night.

McGill scored the first three goals, but Dartmouth fought back with an offensive surge in the second period.

Forward Mike Maturo got the Big Green on the board with a power play goal midway through the frame. Skating in from behind the net, Maturo surprised goalie Cobb Murray with a quick wrister between the pipes. Forward Gary Hunter and defenseman Ryan Burkart earned assists on the play as Maturo, who led the team in points (25) last season, pulled the Big Green within two.

Just six minutes later, defenseman Carl Desjardins continued the rally with a goal from the blueline. Taking a long pass from teammate Jamie Herrington, Desjardins lobbed a seeing-eye shot that froze Murray to cut McGill's advantage to 3-2.

But that was as close as Dartmouth would get. Still, after taking 40 or more shots in a game just three times last season, Dartmouth outshot the Redmen, 41-30.

"I thought we generated a lot of offense," said Gaudet. "It was one of those games where we could have had four or five goals. I thought we played aggressively, especially in the second period."

From here, the Big Green will enjoy a full week of practice before the grind of the regular season begins. After finishing just one point out of the playoffs for the second consecutive time last season, Dartmouth was slotted ninth out of 12 teams in the ECAC preseason coaches' poll.

For Gaudet, the main concern in the coming week will be to determine the final makeup of his offensive lines, including the players who will shoulder the special teams duties.

Gaudet did not have a specific power play scheme last night, but instead went with a steady rotation of five predetermined lines in an effort to give each player as much ice time as possible.

Now, Dartmouth will use its final week of the preseason to fine tune the details before traveling to Bright Hockey Center at Harvard late next week.

"We'll use the next week to get the power play and penalty kill situations sorted out," said Gaudet. "I'm looking forward to the year we're going to have. We're young, but I believe that we can put some goals on the board if we give the full effort each night. I'm excited for the season."