After a six-year hiatus, Boston University and Dartmouth men’s hockey squared off on the ice at Agganis Arena in Boston Wednesday night. The Big Green (3-11-2, 2-8-0 ECAC) stunned the Terriers (7-10-2, 2-4-1 Hockey East) 4-2, the first time Dartmouth has won consecutive bouts against them in over 30 years.
The former ECAC rivals had met 76 times prior to Wednesday’s game. Dartmouth won the last match 3-2, snapping a nine-game losing streak in the all-time series.
BU entered its final non-conference home game after going 0-3-1 in its last four contests while Dartmouth hoped to snap a five-game winless streak. In their most recent games, Harvard University routed their cross-town rivals 7-4 while the Big Green fought then No. 20 Vermont to a 1-1 draw.
Despite their losing records, both the Terriers and Dartmouth boast some of the best power plays in the nation, ranking seventh and 15th respectively.
However, neither team’s offenses could capitalize on power play opportunities, combining to go 1-9. The Big Green posted an 0-4 night.
Some of Dartmouth’s key players could not suit up against the Terriers due to injury, but their absence was hardly felt on Wednesday night as several players stepped up and performed. Captain Tyler Sikura ’15 is currently recovering from knee injury that he said he hopes will be healed by mid-February. Troy Crema ’17 and Eric Robinson ’14 also missed the game, due to lower body and shoulder injuries, respectively.
Injuries are a part of the game, forward Eric Neiley ’15 said.“When players go down, others need to step up, and we were able to do that today,” he said.
Nick Lovejoy ’14 broke the 2-2 tie late in the second period with his first career goal. Lovejoy, who normally plays defense, was playing his fourth career game as forward on Wednesday. The senior received a pass from Kyle Nickerson ’17 in the slot and was able to light the lamp from his knees.
The win wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Charles Grant ’16 and his solid effort between the pipes. The sophomore netminder blocked 26 shots in the game.
BU struck first, taking its first lead of the night midway through the first period when junior Cason Hohmann netted his fifth goal of the season at the 7:49 mark on a wrap-around that shot past Grant’s outstretched glove.
It looked like BU would exit the first period with a 1-0 advantage until Charlie Mosey ’15 fired a snap shot into the top left corner of the net on a 2-on-1 with just 53 seconds left in the frame.
BU jumped back into the lead after sophomore Matt Grzelcyk scored on a 5-on-3 power play 7:41 into the second. It would be BU’s final lead of the night.
Brad Schierhorn ’16 tied the game at two just over two minutes later, hammering home a rebound. Lovejoy netted his goal with 1:19 left in the period, giving Dartmouth its first lead of the night.
Dartmouth never looked back, as Neiley, the team’s leading scorer, increased the lead to two with Dartmouth’s first short-handed goal of the season. Neiley stole the puck at the Dartmouth blue line and broke away, sliding a backhand between sophomore Sean Maguire’s pads while drawing a penalty himself.
The goal, his 10th of the season, set a new career high for Neiley.
Nick Bligh ’16 appeared to put the game out of reach with under six minutes to play but a goalie interference ruling by the referees negated his apparent goal.
Maguire made 32 saves in the game, but Dartmouth’s offensive onslaught dropped him to 1-6-0 for the season.
Dartmouth travels instate to Manchester for a showdown with the University of New Hampshire at Verizon Wireless Arena on Saturday for the RiverStone Cup. Dartmouth’s final non-conference match of the season starts at 5 p.m.
“It’s great to get a win to boost confidence going into a big match-up,” Neiley said.
