UNH Wins the Riverstone Trophy over Dartmouth Men's Hockey

Saturday, January 13

Manchester, N.H. (Verizon Wireless Arena)

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

New Hampshire

UNH Wins the Riverstone Trophy over Dartmouth Men's Hockey

1/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Saturday, January 13, 2007

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Two goals in the final six minutes of regulation propelled No. 3 New Hampshire to a 4-2 victory over Dartmouth in the sixth annual Battle for the Riverstone Trophy at Verizon Wireless Arena.

With six minutes to go and the game deadlocked at 2-2, defenseman Kevin Kapstad ripped a slapshot from the left point, giving the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.

At 3:38, UNH got an insurance goal. Josh Ciocco skated behind the Dartmouth net and fed linemate Brett Hemingway in the slot for the fourth tally.

"It was a great atmosphere and a great event," said Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet. "We're disappointed with the result obviously. I'm hoping that UNH is No. 1 in the country. They've got a heckuva good team. I thought our guys played really hard and played together. We worked extremely hard the entire game. We played with a lot of pride and I'm proud of the team."

The win pushed the Wildcats to 17-3-1 overall, while Dartmouth went to 6-8-2 as the annual cross-state battle was again hotly contested. The last three meetings have been decided by a total of four goals (Dartmouth, 9-8, in 2005 and UNH, 5-4, in 2006). New Hampshire leads the RiverStone series, 4-1-1.

With 44 saves, UNH goalie Kevin Regan was named player of the game.

"Bottom line is, Dartmouth played well," said Wildcat coach Dick Umile. "Kevin kept us in the game."

Although the first period ended in a 0-0 tie, Dartmouth held a decided edge in shots on goal, 17-2. In fact, the Wildcats didn't have a shot on netminder Mike Devine (Orchard Park, N.Y.) until the 10-minute mark of the first period. The Big Green peppered the UNH goal with 10 during the same stretch.

Neither team had an advantage after two periods, either, as the score was deadlocked at 1-1.

New Hampshire drew first blood. After Dartmouth survived an initial UNH flurry in the opening minutes, the Wildcats broke through with 3:26 gone. Jacob Micflickier -- who scored the gamewinner in last year's 5-4 UNH win -- fired a high wrister, beating Devine high to the glove side.

Shawn Vinz and Danny Rossman picked up assists on the play.

Three minutes later, Rossman nearly made it 2-0 when he got off a close-range shot that was sticked away in the crease by Dartmouth defenseman Will Boardman (Brattleboro, Vt.).

At 7:19 of the period, Dartmouth evened the score when sophomore Kevin Swallow (Stanwood, Mich.) took a perfect feed from freshman T.J. Galiardi (Calgary, Alta.), potting a close-range goal, his third of the season.

In the third stanza, the lead went back to the Wildcats at 6:12 when UNH finished off a two-on-one. Hemingway set up Ciocco who fired a shot between Devine's pads.

Just 1:46 later, the Big Green took advantage of a power play opportunity when senior Tanner Glass (Craven, Sask.) connected on a tough angle shot from near the right boards, beating Regan just inside the near post.

The Big Green returns to action next week, hosting three straight non-conference games. That stretch begins Tuesday, January 16, when Holy Cross travels to Thompson Arena for a 7 p.m. faceoff.