Men's Hockey Loses Hard Fought Battle to Top-Ranked Yale

Friday, January 7

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

YALE

Men's Hockey Loses Hard Fought Battle to Top-Ranked Yale

1/7/2011 9:38:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - In front of its biggest crowd in two years, the Dartmouth men's hockey team (7-5-2, 5-3-1 ECAC, 3-1 Ivy) gave the top-ranked team in the country all they could handle for a full 60 minutes but it was not enough as Yale (13-1, 7-0 ECAC, 2-0 Ivy) held on for the 2-1 win on Friday in Thompson Arena. A near sellout crowd of 4,312 were on their feet for most of the contest as both teams battled to the very end.

All the scoring in the contest was done in the second period as the visiting Bulldogs took the early lead before senior forward Rob Smith (Brooks, Alta.) tied things up. A second goal by Yale was the game winner as the Bulldogs won their eighth straight in the closest victory the Elis have had all season.

In a spirited and fast-paced first period the two teams found themselves heading to the first break scoreless, but not without several great chances.

Dartmouth got the first six shots on net as Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.), Taylor Boldt (Niwot, Colo.) and Dustin Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) pressured Yale netminder Ryan Rondeau early on.

Big Green goalie James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) also had to make some terrific saves but it was a team effort for Dartmouth as Mello and his teammates all made plays to keep the puck from finding the back of the net.

Yale jumped on the board first off a hard working strike by Antoine Laganiere in the second period. Ken Trentowski put a shot on Mello that was saved with the rebound coming out to Langaniere for the put back.

Smith potted the tying goal off a beautiful shot as he came around the net and put a shot down low on Rondeau that sneaked past the goalie's outstretched leg. The goal brought the crowd to its feet as the Big Green started gaining some momentum.

"That was a great goal," head coach Bob Gaudet said. "Rob just powered his way through, he wasn't going to be denied. I was so proud of this team tonight because the effort was there from the opening draw and it never wavered. Yale is very good, that's why they're No. 1, they don't give you many chances and you have to capitalize on the ones they do give you. We weren't able to do that fully tonight."

Despite getting the first power play of the contest, Dartmouth was unable to garner another goal. It was the visitors that unfortunately took the lead again with 3:44 left on the clock. Chad Ziegler got a shot on Mello that the goalie saved easily, but the rebound found its way to a waiting Josh Balch as he put a shot on that was deflected past a frustrated Mello.

"I saw it coming the whole time and thought I had it but it took a weird bounce and got past me. It was very frustrating," the junior netminder said. "But I feel good because we played very good defense as a team and the guys were blocking shots all around me and making my life a little easier."

The Big Green pulled Mello with a minute left in favor of the extra skater. Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) and Lindblad were each able to get shots on Rondeau but they couldn't find an answer for the senior netminder.

Mello finished with 35 saves and is now 5-2-2 on the season. Rondeau finished with 32 saves and is 12-0. Yale tallied 37 shots to Dartmouth's 35.

The Big Green will be back in action tomorrow night in a 7 p.m. matchup against Brown.