Men's Hockey Wins Crazy Game against UNH

Saturday, January 15

Manchester, N.H. (Verizon Wireless Arena)

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

UNH

1/15/2011 9:00:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

MANCHESTER, N.H. – In typical fashion when Dartmouth and New Hampshire meet, it's usually wild and Saturday's game was no different, nine goals scored, one goal reviewed, 68 shots between the two teams, five lead changes and the Big Green winning for the first time since 2008.

With a baseball-swinging type of shot, Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) gave Dartmouth its fourth lead of the game with 1:11 left to play as the Big Green was victorious, 5-4 over the fourth ranked Wildcats on Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Arena. With two points and the game winner, Jones was voted the Most Valuable Player in the Battle for the RiverStone Cup.

In its last non-conference game of the season, the win improves the Big Green to 10-5-2 while New Hampshire fell to 12-4-4.

The two were tied 2-2 going into the third period as neither side seemed able to hold onto a lead.

The third period proved to be the most exciting 20 minutes of the game with Joe Stejskal's (Grand Rapids, Minn.) slapshot just 39 seconds in giving Dartmouth the lead for the second time in the game. Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) and Matt Reber (Edina, Minn.) were the two that teamed up for the steal in the New Hampshire end to set the play up for Stejskal.

The Wildcats knotted the game, getting one past goalie James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) at 12:02 when John Henrion potted his second of the contest with a deflected shot that went over Mello's pads as the game was tied for the third time.

The Dartmouth men's hockey team celebrating the RiverStone trophy.

Midway through the final frame, Jones and Fleming each fired shots within a minute that caromed off the posts.

The Big Green did regain the lead, 4-3, when Kyle Reeds (St. Louis, Mo.) pushed the puck into the offensive zone along the right boards. Dustin Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) gained control in the circle and had his initial shot stopped by Matt DiGirolamo, but Walsh continued towards the net and chipped the rebound into the net at 13:02.

The first goal of the game went to the Wildcats as UNH took advantage of an odd-man rush to sneak the puck past Mello. The play was set up when Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.) and Estoclet had a give-and-go the other way with Estoclet's shot going wide. The Wildcats got the puck and quickly came back the other way with a shot by Mike Sislo being deflected by Connor Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.). Paul Thompson was able to get the puck and jam it past a prone Mello, sending the goalie backwards into the net.

Dartmouth tied the game with 1:05 left in the frame off a power play shot by Fleming. With 00:16 left in matching penalties by the Big Green and the Wildcats, UNH was whistled for another infraction giving Dartmouth time to try and set something up. The play began when Evan Stephens (Bessemer, Mich.) got a slap shot off with linemate Stejskal garnering the rebound. Stejskal passed to Estoclet on the left side beginning the tic-tac-toe play. Estoclet passed to Jones who immediately got the puck to Fleming who was camped out on right side of the post. The Dartmouth captain put it behind DiGirolamo who had come out of the net after having committed to Jones out front.

Rob Smith (Brooks, Alta.) lifted the Big Green to a 2-1 lead in the second as he and linemate Paul Lee (Garden City, N.Y.) teamed up for a great play in front. Traffic around the goal caused DiGirolamo to become distracted as Lee was able to quickly get a rebound over to Smith for the putback.

But the Wildcats tied the contest at 9:30 as Henrion was able to find an answer for Mello. The junior netminder had been facing increasing pressuring from UNH but had made some incredibly acrobatic saves to keep his team in the lead but Henrion was able to take advantage of a misguided rebound to shoot over the Mello's shoulder for the equalizer.

The game ended with shots in favor of the Wildcats, 38-30, including 15-7 in the second period. Mello finished with 34 saves while DiGirolamo had 25.

The Big Green will be back to league play next weekend, traveling to Union and Rensselaer on Friday and Saturday.