Men’s hockey falls 6-4 to Wildcats
Big Green goalie Jody O'Neill '12 made 32 saves in Dartmouth's 6-4 loss to UNH on Saturday in Manchester, N.H.
By Stefanie Lazow, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A late goal that cut the University of New Hampshire's lead to one wasn't enough for the No. 18 Dartmouth men's hockey team. The Big Green suffered a 6-4 defeat at the hands of the No. 13 University of New Hampshire at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H., Saturday night. The game was an offensive showdown with referees breaking up scuffles between players as frequently as goals were scored.
Doug Jones '12 netted a power-play goal for Dartmouth (10-7, 7-4 ECAC Hockey) 11:57 into the third period to make the score 5-4 and bring the Big Green as close as they had been all game. But the Wildcats (11-6-4, 7-4-3 Hockey East) put Dartmouth away shortly after to take the victory.
The Wildcats were determined not to let Dartmouth back into the game so late in the contest.
"No game here has been that easy to win," New Hampshire forward Jerry Pollastrone said. "Even with the fifth goal, we weren't letting up. We know anything can happen at any given moment."
Pollastrone had one goal and one assist, and was named the game's most valuable player.
The match-up marked the eighth Battle for the RiverStone Cup, the game played annually between the in-state rivals. Dartmouth has a 2-4-1 record in the previous seven games after winning last year, 5-3.
The RiverStone Cup game has been a perennial draw, with this year's attendance reported at 8,001.
Dartmouth captain Rob Pritchard '09 said that the atmosphere of the Verizon Wireless Arena had some impact on the team's performance.
"[With] the excitement of playing in a venue like this, guys get jittery," he said.
The atmosphere got particularly heated when a group of Dartmouth students was reportedly removed from the venue by security personnel.
Both teams came out fighting, but Dartmouth was unable to stop the Wildcats from scoring. The win extended UNH's winning streak to seven games. Nineteen penalties were handed out during the game, with three of them for roughing.
UNH outshot Dartmouth 38-24 in the contest. Dartmouth goaltender Jodie O'Neill '12, who has a save percentage of 0.932 on the season and is ranked fourth in the conference in that statistic, helped keep the Big Green in the game.
"O'Neill made a few key saves," UNH coach Dick Umile said. "We could have really busted through."
As O'Neill fought to turn away the Wildcats' shots, Dartmouth attempted to steadily score goals and mount a comeback from an early deficit after the Wildcats took an early 3-1 lead .
"We spotted them a couple [of goals] in the first period that we'd like to have back and then we had to play catch-up," Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet '81 said. "I thought our kids battled really hard and we lost to a good hockey team. [The Wildcats] deserved the victory. We're continuing to grow."
All 10 goals of the game were scored by 10 different players.
The Wildcats took a 6-4 lead with four minutes remaining in the game, quickly responding to Jones' goal that put Dartmouth within striking distance.
O'Neill vacated the net with under two minutes to go to create an offensive advantage, but the extra attacker did not yield results for the Big Green.
"Whether we're ahead or behind, it's been a battle to the end," Umile said after the game. "These teams never quit."
Dartmouth is now tied for third place with Quinnipiac University in the ECAC Hockey standings, behind first-place Cornell and second-place Princeton.
The Big Green will be back in action this week with games against Holy Cross at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Worcester, Mass., and against Harvard on at 4 p.m. Sunday in Hanover. The Harvard game is scheduled to be nationally televised on ESPNU.