Dartmouth Men's Hockey Knots 4-4 Tie with RPI

Friday, February 8

Troy, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Rensselaer

Dartmouth Men's Hockey Knots 4-4 Tie with RPI

2/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

TROY, N.Y. ? The Dartmouth men's hockey team scored the first four goals of the game but Rensselaer potted the final four as the two tied, 4-4 on Friday at Houston Field House.

After scoring one goal in the first and three in the second the Big Green allowed Rensselaer to make it a game scoring two goals about a minute apart at 12:06 and 11:37 of the second. Strikes by Scott Halpern and Chase Polacek quickly gave the home team some momentum.

In the first Josh Gillam (Peterborough, Ont.) got the Big Green on the board at 11:10 in the opening frame off a power play strike. Rensselaer attempted to clear the puck but Peter Boldt (Greenwich, Conn.) was there to knock it down at the blueline putting one on netminder Jordan Alford. The rebound came out to Gillam on the right side as the sophomore slipped it behind Alford for the score.

Just :31 seconds into the second period Dartmouth took a 2-0 lead as John Gibson (Okotoks, Alta.) and Rob Pritchard (Burnaby, B.C.) teamed up for the score. A shot on net was saved high by Alford as Gibson batted the puck down passing back to Pritchard who put it past the prone goalie.

Kyle Reeds (St. Louis, Mo.) spotted his team a three-goal lead on a power play strike at 4:17. Netminder Joe Grossman (Foxboro, Mass.) pushed the puck up as Jon Grecu (Calgary, Alta.) brought down the other side, dangling behind him to a waiting Reeds. The freshman wound up and proceeded to whiff but had the presence of mind to quickly try again, scoring his sixth goal of the season as Dartmouth netted two power play goals in its second straight game. That goal chased Alford for the net as Mathias Lange came on in relief.

Freshman Dan Markowitz (Jericho, N.Y.) scored the Big Green's final goal on the first of his career at 7:05. Rob Smith (Brooks, Alta.) swept the puck over Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) who tried to put a shot on net. As a RPI player attempted to seep the puck out Markowitz took a shot that went high but a deflection knocked it past Lange.

After the back-to-back goals by Halpern and Polacek, another Engineer goal at 8:20 got RPI and its fans back into the game with renewed spirit. Polacek brought the puck down passing across ice to Tyler Helfrich at the left side circle as he one-timed the puck over Grossman's shoulder.

In the waning minutes Dartmouth had to kill off a late penalty and then breathed a sigh of relief as the buzzer sounded with the Big Green holding onto a slim 4-3 lead.

The Engineers tied the game at 14:23 of the final frame when Andrei Uryadov brought the puck around the cage, slipping it between Grossman and the right post. The two teams played a spirit final period and five minute overtime but neither side was able to get the go-ahead.

Grossman finished with a career-high 29 saves in just his second game of the season. Alford left the game after making nine saves, Lange came on to make 15.

The tie gives the Big Green an 8-11-3 overall record while putting them at 3-10-2 in ECAC Hockey play. RPI is now 9-17-4 on the season, 4-9-3 in the league. Dartmouth is back at it tomorrow night, taking on Union at 7:00 pm.