Dartmouth Men's Hockey Makes Valiant Effort but Falls to Quinnipiac

Saturday, November 14

Hamden, Conn.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Quinnipiac

Scott Fleming Selected in Inside College Hockey's A to Z

Dartmouth Men's Hockey Makes Valiant Effort but Falls to Quinnipiac

11/14/2009 9:00:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Dartmouth men's hockey team fell behind early and potted two power play goals in the second period but it wasn't enough as Quinnipiac came away with a 4-2 victory on Saturday.

The Bobcats scored first quickly into the opening period as Jean-Marc Beaudoin picked up the loose puck at center ice and skated in on netminder Jody O'Neill, slapping the puck forward as he was falling to the ice. The puck bounced its way between O'Neill's legs for the go-ahead score. The Bobcats got another one at 15:03 with its first power play strike of the game. Traffic in front allowed Scott Zurevinski to sneak the puck past.

Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.) and Andrew Owsiak (Moose Jaw, Sask.) teamed up for the lone goal against Princeton on friday and the pair tried to get the Big Green on the board midway through the first period at Quinnipiac. Owsiak got the puck at center ice and skated in on goalie Dan Clarke, shooting and drawing the goalie out of the net. Fleming was trailing behind and got the rebound but he was skating too fast and just couldn't get the puck in before knocking the net off.

The Bobcats got another one however in the waning minutes of the period when Mike Glaicar took a shot from the blueline that O'Neill saved but the rebound came out to a waiting Spencer Heichman who went stick side high on the Dartmouth netminder for the strike.

The Big Green came out in the second period and gave sophomore James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) the chance in net. The Big Green got one back with a power play strike at 15:45. Dartmouth was hammering the puck in and a pile in front of the net kept blocking the puck. Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) got the puck on the left side of the cage and passed out to Dustin Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) out front. Walsh lifted the puck over the pile as Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) was there to tip it past Clarke for the score.

A 5-on-3 opportunity for the Big Green with under 8:00 to play. Dartmouth got three shots on Clarke but just couldn't find a way to get the puck in. Then with only :02 left in the last Bobcats penalty Kyle Reeds (St. Louis, Mo.) brought the puck down and took a shot that was rebounded out to Fleming who came in hard like earlier in the game, only this time he handled the puck cleanly and put it past Clarke stickside for the score. Mark Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) also picked up an assist, his first one of the season.

The Big Green ended up outshooting the Bobcats, 16-5 in the second period.

At 12:19 of the final period Quinnipiac took another two-goal lead when Zurevinski took an errant pass in the neutral zone and skated in alone on Mello, shooting gloveside over the sophomore's shoulder.

O'Neill left the game with 11 saves while Mello finished with 17. Clarke had 17 for the Bobcats.

Dartmouth continues with ECAC play next weekend with a pair of games in Thompson Arena. On Friday at 7:00 it will be Clarkson with St. Lawrence at 7:00 on Saturday.