Dartmouth Men's Hockey Goes Down to the Wire with Vermont

Saturday, December 19

Burlington, Vt.

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Vermont

Dartmouth Men's Hockey Goes Down to the Wire with Vermont

12/19/2009 6:00:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Dartmouth and Vermont series has been close the past couple of years and this season was no different as the game went down to the wire with UVM escaping with a 4-3 victory. Freshman Mark Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) was the high point for the Big Green as he recorded his first collegiate multiple-goal game.

The home team struck first at 9:50 of the opening stanza with a hard shot from UVM's leader scorer Brayden Irwin from the point. With the extra man the puck sailed over goalie Jody O'Neill's shoulder for the score.

Another Vermont goal at 1:51 with eight seconds left in the power play gave the Cats a 2-0 lead going into the first break. Jack Downing took a feed from Colin Vock right in front of O'Neill as Downing was able to slide the puck past O'Neill for the score.

Dartmouth got one back with :01.9 seconds left on the clock as Andrew Owsiak (Moose Jaw, Sask.) got the puck at center ice and sprinted down with Goggin skating alongside him. Owsiak took a shot on netminder Rob Madore that was saved out to Goggin who got the putback for his second goal of the year.

With 9:00 left in the second period Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.), Matt Reber (Edina, Minn.) and Goggin made things interesting as all three had some terrific chances shorthanded. Fleming's shot went just wide as Reber tried to put the puck in on the side but Madore saved it behind the net as Goggin was there to try and jam it in again.

With 11 seconds left in the second period the Big Green ties the game on a second-chance shot by Evan Stephens (Bessemer, Mich.). Fleming took the initial shot on Madore with the rebound coming out to a waiting Stephens who was face-on with Madore, putting the puck past the goalie stick side for the score. Nick Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) got his first point of the year with an assist on the goal.

Midway through the third period a Vermont power play opportunity had O'Neill standing on his head as the sophomore almost single-handidly killed the power play opportunity but just seconds after the penalty expired Chris McCarthy was able to get the puck past O'Neill to give UVM the lead back.

Vermont scored again at 8:47 and after several minutes of review by the officials the goal was ruled good as Tobias Nilsson-Roos gave his team its second two-goal lead of the night.

Less than a minute later the Big Green is able to stymie the Catamounts momentum with a goal of their own as Goggin gets his first collegiate multiple-point game with his second strike of the contest.

With 1:20 left in the third, O'Neill came out of the net in favor of the extra skater as Dartmouth put tremendous pressure on the Cats and netminder Madore but couldn't get another one in.

The contest was the first time this season that the three sets of brothers on the team have made an appearance in the same game.

The Big Green will be back in action hosting its own tournament, the Ledyard National Bank Classic on Jan. 3 and 4.