Lake Placid, N.Y. " Just when you though it was all over, they came through. Mike Maturo '02 and Kent Gillings '03 to be exact.
The two members of Dartmouth's production line put their ECAC preliminary game with Vermont into overtime, and then won it 3-2. After trailing for the whole game, it was a fitting comeback for a team that has thrived on the play of its first line.
With 13 seconds to go in the game and the Big Green trailing 2-1, a rebound squirted out of the mess of bodies in front of the net, and Gillings did not let the opportunity go to waste. The Big Green had found a new lease on life and forced the contest into extra time.
With this newfound momentum carrying over into the overtime period, Maturo, Dartmouth's leading scorer and go-to guy on the offense, buried a rebound at 7:47 of the first overtime. The win extends the Big Green's season another day, as the team will face top-seeded St. Lawrence Saturday night in the ECAC semifinals.
For the Catamounts, their improbable playoff journey has come to a bittersweet end. After a tough three-game series in which they knocked off first-place Clarkson, UVM will head back to Burlington to wait for next year.
Over the course of the first two-plus periods, no one could have predicted the heart-wrenching finale. The game was a bit disjointed at times, with little offensive flow. The large international ice surface at the 1980 Olympic Rink proved daunting for both teams at times, and both squads had trouble dealing with the extra space.
Nevertheless, the Big Green will take this win.
"It wasn't pretty at times," head coach Bob Gaudet '81 said after the game. "We never gave up. We chipped away."
That could be the best way to describe Dartmouth's efforts in the game. Stylistically it wasn't much, but you can't argue with the result.
The Catamounts opened scoring at 12:41 of the first, when defenseman Andreas Moborg let go from just inside the blue line and beat Dartmouth goalie Nick Boucher '03.
That lead was extended to two early in the second, when fellow Swedish defenseman Martin Wilde took advantage of a Dartmouth giveaway in their own zone to connect on the power play at 2:30 of the second.
Though Dartmouth could not put together much of an attack in the Vermont zone, Boucher kept them in the game with key stops at times. Boucher made 32 saves in the winning effort for the Big Green.
Taking advantage of this, Mike Turner '04 fired a shot on net from just outside the blue line that somehow found its way past Catamount netminder Shawn Conschafter. Turner's goal put the Big Green within one, and gave the Big Green a lifeline when it appeared this would be a long night for the folks from Hanover. Craig Lund '02 and Dory Tisdale '01 both assisted on the tally.
At the end of two, even with the Catamounts outplaying the Big Green, Dartmouth was still very much in the game.
In the third stanza, both teams showed more life as the time wound down. The Big Green had several chances they failed to capitalize on, but Gillings connected when it counted.
"There's always a bit of panic at that points," Gillings said. "Chris Taliercio made a nice shot on net, and I just got a stick on it."
The same bit of luck that forced the game into overtime found Maturo later in overtime, when we connected in a very similar situation off a shot by Turner.
"It was a lucky bounce," Maturo said. "But we really deserved it the way this term played tonight."
Dartmouth's win adds a new chapter in the Dartmouth-UVM rivalry. The only travelling partners to both make it to Lake Placid, the two teams have developed an intense rivalry.
What has augmented this rivalry is the fact the teams have been so even. The playoff game was the fourth game this year between the two teams. In addition to the normal two league games, which ended in a Dartmouth win and a tie, the Catamounts beat the Big Green in the championship at Dartmouth's holiday tournament.
Thus, it is fitting that such an even match-up played itself out at Lake Placid.
"It's obviously a very even match-up," Gaudet said. "We've developed a healthy rivalryit's been a close, even match-up each game."
The Big Green hope to build off their late heroics to gain some confidence heading into Friday night's game with St. Lawrence. With one game under their belts at Lake Placid, the team will look to put together three periods of solid hockey against the Saints.
Cornell and Harvard hook up in the matinee, while the Big Green will take on the Saints in the nightcap.
