Men's Hockey Scores Win over Colgate in Consolation Game

Friday, December 31

Hanover, N.H.

4:00 PM

Dartmouth College

COLGATE

Men's Hockey Scores Win over Colgate in Consolation Game

12/31/2010 6:07:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth men's hockey team went to overtime in its second consecutive game but this time the Big Green was victorious as senior defenseman Joe Stejskal (Grand Rapids, Minn.) potted his first of the season on a slap shot 2:31 into the extra frame to lift Dartmouth to a 4-3 victory over Colgate in the consolation game of the Ledyard Classic on Friday afternoon in Thompson Arena.

The Big Green (7-4-2) erased a two-goal Raider lead early in the third period but Colgate (3-14-1) bounced back and tied the contest with 8:30 left in regulation. Despite outshooting the Raiders, 13-8 in the final frame, Dartmouth could not pull ahead as the two headed for overtime.

In the extra five minutes, Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) tried to put the game away with a backhanded shot that hit the post but it was Stejskal and Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) that teamed up for the game winner. Colgate tried to dump the puck down but had it blocked back into their own end. After the puck was sent sailing behind the net, Lindblad took it off the boards and passed up to Stejskal on the point for the senior to get off a hard slap shot that goalie Bryan Bessette had no chance at.

Colgate took the early lead in the first period when Austin Mayer tallied his second of the season with a wrister off a Wade Poplawski feed for the 1-0 score midway through the opening 20 minutes.

The Raiders went up by a two-goal lead quickly into the second off an awkward shot by Kevin McNamara that took goalie Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ont.) by surprise. But less then two minutes later the Big Green jumped on the board to cut into the lead when Dustin Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) capitalized on a Colgate turnover at center ice, shooting the puck past Bessette.

Matt Reber (Edina, Minn.) and Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.) teamed up for their third goal of the weekend to tie the game at 2-2 with 12:00 left in the frame. Reber came down hard on Bessette, drawing the netminder to the left before shooting quickly over to Fleming who put the puck into the hole, top-shelf.

Less than a minute into the third period Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) gave Dartmouth its first lead of the game. Working on a power play the Big Green camped in front of the Colgate goal and as Mike Leidl was coming out of the box, Dartmouth was able to use its advantage, getting the puck to Estoclet for his third goal of the tournament.

Midway through the final frame the Big Green got whistled for just their second penalty of the game and the Raiders took advantage. With 1:20 showing of penalty time, Colgate put a shot on O'Neill that the junior netminder thought he'd saved but Chris Wagner made a heads up play to poke the puck across the line for the equalizer.

Dartmouth came out on top in shots with a 43-20 advantage. The Raiders went 1-for-3 on the power play and held the Big Green off the board with the extra man in just one opportunity.

O'Neill finished with 17 saves and earned his second win of the season while Bessette made a career-high 39 saves and fell to 0-1.

Thanks to their efforts as well as 10-points on the weekend, Fleming and Reber were both named to the All-Tournament team. Joining them from Boston College was forward Brian Gibbons and defenseman Joe Whitney along with defenseman Patrick Goebel and goalie Ryan Zapolski from Mercyhurst. The tournament MVP was Paul Carey from BC.

The Big Green will be back in action on Jan. 7 and 8, taking on No. 1 Yale and Brown in Thompson Arena. Game time on both nights will be at 7 p.m.