UNH Bests Dartmouth, 5-4, in Men's Hockey Action for RiverStone Trophy

Saturday, January 14

Manchester, N.H. (Verizon Wireless Arena)

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

New Hampshire

UNH Bests Dartmouth, 5-4, in Men's Hockey Action for RiverStone Trophy

1/13/2006 7:00:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Jan. 14, 2006

Box Score | Photo Gallery

MANCHESTER, N.H. - With 14.9 seconds left in regulation, Jacob MicFlikier took advantage of a perfect feed, pushing the 11th ranked New Hampshire men's hockey team to a wild 5-4 victory over Dartmouth in the fifth annual battle for the Battle of the RiverStone Trophy Saturday night.

The goal capped a crazy, 30 second stretch during the final minute of play when the Big Green came back to tie the game, 4-4, and then survived a penalty shot attempt by MicFlicker, only to have MicFlicker pot the gamewinner eight seconds later.

Trailing, 4-3, Dartmouth goalie Mike Devine (Orchard Park, N.Y.) went to the bench with 1:30 on the clock, in favor of the extra skater. Senior Eric Przepiorka (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) capitalized with 44.6 seconds left to tie the game.

With 22.5 seconds to go, MicFlickier had a near breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot, but Devine caught the puck with a perfectly timed poke check to thwart the shot.

"That was a big time save," said Przepiorka about Devine. "He made big time saves all game. We just never give up, and we think we can win any game."

"Our team played good hockey from the drop of the puck," said Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet. "It was a back and forth game, and the final minute was a reflection of that."

UNH opened the scoring at the midway point of the first period when defenseman Brian Yandle unloaded a slapshot from the right point, capitalizing on a power play opportunity.

The Big Green came back about seven minutes later, when freshman Connor Shields (Edmonton, Alta.) tipped junior Ben Lovejoy's (Orford, N.H.) shot from the right point for a 1-1 deadlock. The Wildcats pulled ahead, 2-1, just 1:26 later when Jerry Pollastrone had an unassisted goal.

Dartmouth evened the score just 2:23 into the second period. Sophomore Nick Johnson (Calgary, Alta.) flipped a backhander over UNH goalie Kevin Regan. The assists went to junior Grant Lewis (Upper St. Clair, Pa.) and Devine.

It was the first assist credited to a Dartmouth goalie since the 2002-03 season when Nick Boucher '03 picked up two.

The game stayed deadlocked until late in the middle stanza when the Wildcats took advantage of a five-on-three opportunity, taking a 3-2 lead to the locker room. Daniel Winnik took a cross-ice pass and fired a wrister over Devine with 1:55 left in the period.

Just 2:01 into the third period, Dartmouth senior Jarrett Sampson (Prince Albert, Sask.) made it a 3-3 contest. With 3:24 left in regulation, the Big Green was victimized by a miscue on a clearing attempt and UNH's Brian Pouliot put the Wildcats back up, 4-3.

Regan made 43 saves for the Wildcats, now 12-7-4 overall. For Dartmouth, Devine had 28 saves as the Big Green went to 7-9-1. Dartmouth returns to action on January 20-21, hosting Sacred Heart and Holy Cross.