Ohio State 2 - Dartmouth 2

Burlington, Vt. - A different day, a different look, a different result.

Barely 24 hours after suffering a lopsided 6-1 loss at the hands of Boston College, the Dartmouth men's hockey team displayed an improved effort on offense and special teams in skating to a 2-2 tie with Ohio State in the final round of the Sheraton/Howard Bank Classic at Gutterson Field House.

The Buckeyes (6-12-2, 3-10-1 CCHA), 3-2 winners Tuesday night over Vermont, netted a goal with just over a minute remaining in regulation to force the game into overtime. Dartmouth (2-6-4, 1-2-3 ECAC), winless in the month of December, received goals from juniors Michael Byrne and Peter Mahler, the second of which coming late in the third period in what seemed like a decisive situation.

But the Buckeyes' Luke Pavlas answered right back, allowing OSU to earn the hard-fought tie.

With the tie and their win over the Catamounts, the Buckeyes placed second at the tournament. Dartmouth, thanks to Vermont's 5-4 loss to tournament-champion Boston College in the nightcap, finished in third.

"I honestly thought this was a dominating performance by us," Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet said. "Ohio State is a good team, but I thought we played very, very well. They got a break at the end to tie it. It's disappointing for my guys, but this was a good game overall."

For the Big Green, the end result surely could have been much better. Dartmouth dominated much of the game, continually forcing the puck into the Buckeye zone.

But things also could have been worse. Due to two slashing penalties - the second a five-minute major on Mahler - OSU had over 90 seconds of 5-on-3 time and over three minutes of 5-on-4 time, but neither resulted in a Buckeye goal.

Turning around a recent trend, the Big Green special teams units were right on target, finishing the day 1-for-2 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill, providing signs of encouragement as the conference schedule looms shortly ahead.

"We killed that 5-on-3 out of sheer determination," said Gaudet. "I was very pleased with the way the guys performed. They showed a lot of heart."

Dartmouth opened the scoring when Byrne one-timed a pass from linemate Frank Nardella early in the first period. Byrne, with an assist on Tuesday and a goal on Dec. 17 against Harvard, now has a three-game point scoring streak.

OSU answered Byrne's netter when defenseman Ryan Jestadt finished a 2-on-1 break-away with his second goal of the season.

After a scoreless middle frame and over 15 quiet minutes in the third, Mahler seemed to deal the back-breaker when he slipped a wrister past Aho, but the freshman Pavlas delivered the Buckeye response, forcing the extra session.

Rookie Nick Boucher finished with 33 saves in the Big Green net.

"I like the work ethic of my team," said Gaudet. "Our kids played really hard tonight. We played with a lot of spunk and determination."

Dartmouth will face the nation's No. 1 team, the UNH Wildcats, next Monday in Durham.

Big Green notes: With his assist in the loss to BC and his goal in this game, junior Michael Byrne was named to the All-Tournament team . . . . The normally-dependable line of Mike Maturo, Jamie Herrington and Chris Baldwin has now gone scoreless in five straight games, unless you include the goal by Ryan Poulton in the 2-1 loss to Northeastern. Maturo and Herrington were credited with assists on that goal, which Poulton fired in from just inside the blueline . . . . The Big Green last faced UNH on December 29, 1993, a game that ended in a 3-2 Wildcat win.