Men's Hockey Ties Harvard, 3-3, In Front of Packed House

Friday, November 25

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

HARVARD

Men's Hockey Ties Harvard, 3-3, In Front of Packed House

11/25/2011 10:22:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. - Senior James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) made 34 saves as the Dartmouth men's hockey team battled Harvard to a 3-3 tie Friday night in a match-up of ECAC Hockey travel partners.

The game was played in front of the largest crowd of the year for the Big Green (4-4-1, 3-3-1 ECAC Hockey) as 4,163 packed Thompson Arena.

Taking an early lead, the Crimson (3-3-2, 2-3-2 ECAC Hockey) twice tied the game in the second period after falling behind a goal to the home team.

Harvard's Mike Seward opened the scoring with his first-career goal 5:47 into the game on a shot from between the circles.

Dartmouth answered back with freshman Tyler Sikura's (Aurora, Ontario) team-leading fifth of the year seven minutes later. Intercepting an errant pass through the middle of the ice just inside the blue line, the Big Green forward walked into the high slot and ripped a snap shot high over the glove of Harvard goaltender Steve Michalek for the equalizer.

Sophomore Eric Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) wasted little time in giving the Big Green their first lead of the night 36 seconds into the second period. Fellow sophomore Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) found his new linemate on the right wing in stride. Robinson did the rest as he buried a high wrist shot from the half boards to the far top corner for his third of the year.

Senior Jim Gaudet (Etna, N.H.) picked up his second assist of the season on the tally as he chipped the puck up to Lindblad in the neutral zone.

Harvard's Alex Fallstrom tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 8:37 after twice being denied on the doorstep by Mello going pipe-to-pipe.

Senior Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) scored his first of the season after an odd set of circumstances led to a breakaway to once again give his team the one-goal lead.

A Harvard defenseman was upended by the back referee while trying to set up a Crimson attack at his own blue line. Instead of sending Harvard up ice, the defender lost the puck to Jones who came in on a break and slid a backhander between the pads and body of Michalek for the third Dartmouth marker.

Before the period ended, the Crimson's Luke Grenier deflected a shot from the point while stationed at the top of the crease on the power play to send the teams to the locker rooms tied at 3-3 through 40 minutes.

In contrast to the high-scoring second period, the final frame was scoreless as neither team was able to sneak the winner past the opposition's goaltender as the game ended in a 3-3 draw.

The 34 saves by Mello was the second-best figure of the season for any Dartmouth goalie as he turned aside 36 against Princeton on Nov. 5. The Big Green defense clamped down in the final frame and overtime, allowing only 10 shots to get through, all of which were stopped by the senior goaltender.

At the other end of the ice, Michalek made 23 saves for Harvard.

The Big Green were unable to score on its lone power-play opportunity, while the Crimson were 2-for-4 with the man-advantage.

Dartmouth will now make the quick trip up I-89 for a nonconference game Sunday afternoon at Vermont. Puck drop between the Big Green and Catamounts is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Gutterson Fieldhouse

NOTES: Friday's game marked the 100th in the career of senior Connor Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.).. Mark Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) was reinserted into the lineup for Friday night's game...Jones became the 13th different Dartmouth player to score a goal this season with his second-period tally...The contest marked the first overtime game of the season for the Big Green and the first since beating Harvard, 2-1 in overtime of the second game of last season's ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals played at Thompson Arena... Harvard had gone to OT only once previously, tying Quinnipiac, 2-2, on Nov. 5.