Men's Hockey On Losing End of Shootout with Vermont

Sunday, December 12

Hanover, N.H.

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

VERMONT

Men's Hockey On Losing End of Shootout with Vermont

12/12/2010 7:38:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. – Adam Estoclet and Matt Lindblad scored goals that tied the game and pulled the No. 19 Dartmouth men's hockey team ahead but a back-handed wrist shot by Matt Marshall for the University of Vermont allowed the Catamounts to come back and take the 6-5 victory over the Big Green on Sunday afternoon in Thompson Arena. On top of the 3,102 fans in attendance, the game was televised live on ESPNU. The victory is just the second of the season for UVM as the Cats improved to 2-8-4 while the loss snapped a three-game win streak for Dartmouth dropping them to 6-4-1.

The high-flying affair started off quickly with the Catamounts scoring three goals in the first seven minutes of the contest chasing James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.), the nation's second best goalie, from the net. A 15-day layoff for the Big Green was evident as the home team struggled to dig itself out of the early 3-0 hole.

Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) helped get one back, putting Dartmouth on the scoreboard at 9:45 of the first as the Big Green went into the first break with a 13-8 lead in shots but down by two on the scoreboard.

Matt Lindblad celebrating his go-ahead goal.

Matt White came out quickly in the second and gave the visiting team a three-goal lead again before Nick Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) single-handedly get his team back into the contest with two straight goals, including a hard wrister from outside the circle, at 3:42 and 4:13.

A second-chance goal by Estoclet midway through the frame tied the game before Lindblad's (Winnetka, Ill.) tally 1:26 into the third put the Big Green ahead for the first time in the contest.

"All the goals today were big for us," said head coach Bob Gaudet. "But that goal by Matt proved that we could come from behind, something we've not had a lot of practice at this season."

The Big Green held onto the lead for most of the third as Dartmouth continued to put pressure on Rob Madore, putting 16 shots on the junior goalie.

At 10:56 Sebastian Stalberg put a shot on net that had Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ont.) and Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) desperately trying to clear the trickling puck out, only to have it slide across the line, tying the game at 5-5.

Marshall's backhanded shot at 12:30 gave UVM the lead back but Dartmouth would not give up, pulling O'Neill with 1:12 left in the contest in favor of the extra skater. The Big Green got eight shots off but could not find the back of the net for the tying goal as UVM escaped with the victory. The win gives the Catamounts its third-straight over Dartmouth and second in a row at Thompson Arena.

"I'm disappointed with the result but not the effort, never the effort," said Gaudet. "We worked hard and yes, our layoff may have hurt us early in the game but we were able to maintain our composure and bounce back to take the lead. I'm proud of these guys, they are hard workers and it showed today."

Madore finished with 32 saves for the Catamounts while O'Neill accounted for all 18 saves for Dartmouth.

The Big Green will now take a nine-day break for the holidays before coming home to host the Ledyard Classic, taking on Mercyhurst on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. while Colgate and defending national champion, Boston College will meet at 4 p.m. The consolation and championship games will take place on Dec. 31 at 4 and 7 p.m.