Dartmouth Men's Hockey Loses to Third-Ranked Denver

Saturday, December 29

Denver, Colo.

7:05 PM (MST)

Dartmouth College

Denver

Dartmouth Men's Hockey Loses to Third-Ranked Denver

12/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

DENVER, Colo. ? The Dartmouth (5-5-1) men's hockey team potted two power play goals and recorded 33 shots on net but it was not enough as host Denver (16-4-0) defeated the Big Green, 5-3, in the Championship game of the Wells Fargo Denver Cup on Saturday. J.T. Wyman (Wayzata, Minn.) was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Dartmouth had the first power play opportunity of the game, generating two shots. The third-ranked Pioneers had a great chance to go ahead but Mike Devine (Orchard Park, N.Y.) was stellar as he stuffed an odd-man rush and poke checked another Pioneer shot away.

But it was Denver that was able to jump on the board first after Brock Trotter took a pass from Tyler Bozak as he was streaking up ice at 12:17. Trotter went one-on-one with Devine making the Dartmouth netminder commit to the left as he shot to the right for the 1-0 lead.

The Big Green killed off two Pioneer penalties late in the period as DU outshot Dartmouth, 19-8 to end the stanza.

The Big Green went on the power play early in the second as Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.) had a shot saved by Pioneer goalie Peter Mannino and Nick Johnson (Calgary, Ont.) had one ring off the post.

With two Denver players in the box Dartmouth tied the game at 3:57 in the third off a textbook goal by Rob Pritchard (Burnaby, B.C.). Evan Stephens (Bessemer, Mich.) took a pass from Johnson on the point passing down low to Pritchard who slipped it behind Mannino for the 1-1 score. With the assist Johnson became the 34^th Dartmouth player to record 100 points in their career.

The Big Green played several more minutes of intense hockey as the Pioneers again allowed Dartmouth to have a 5-on-3 advantage. Dan Markowitz (Jericho, N.Y.) and Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) almost pulled their team ahead but Mannino lived up to his All-America billing as the Denver goalie made several spectacular saves to keep the Big Green from adding any more.

It was the home team that pulled ahead at 8:31 on a power play goal when Patrick Mullen shot down to Brock Trotter at the left side circle. Trotter passed back across ice to Kyle Ostrow who was there to put it past Devine, going ahead 2-1.

Dartmouth ended the second with 17 shots to DU's four as the Big Green was ahead in shots, 25-to-23 after two.

A rebound shot that hit the post early in the third period almost had the Pioneers pulling ahead but it was Wyman that helped the Big Green gain some advantage with his first shorthanded goal of the year. A turnover by DU in its own end allowed Wyman to pick the puck up at center ice, beating his opponent and Mannino for the tying goal at 17:03.

Denver pulled ahead for the third time of the game when Anthony Maiani just bounced the puck over the line behind Devine at 9:13. The Pioneers added another at 5:47 off a power play strike by Chris Butler that rang off the post and into the back of the net for the 4-2 lead.

With 1:52 left in the contest and the Big Green on the power play, Dartmouth pulled Devine for the extra skater but the Pioneers capitalized with a shorthanded empty net goal to give them the 5-2 lead. Pritchard wasn't done as the junior potted the Big Green's second power play tally of the night with :50 left as the assist went to Johnson.

Devine finished with 31 saves while Mannino had 30. DU ended up outshooting Dartmouth, 36-to-32.

Princeton and Quinnipiac. Dartmouth matches up with the Tigers on Friday, Jan. 4 at 4:00 pm on ESPNU. Then the Big Green and the Bobcats will take to the ice on Sunday, Jan. 6 at 3:00 in a game to be televised on NESN.