Dartmouth Loses Overtime Affair at Cornell

Saturday, February 19

Ithaca, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Cornell

2/19/2011 9:35:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

ITHACA, N.Y. – A crazy game in Ithaca had the Dartmouth men's hockey team on the losing end of an overtime game. Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) potted the tying goal for the Big Green late in regulation but it wasn't enough as Cornell stormed back and capped the contest with a huge overtime score, 3:39 into the extra frame.

The win improves the Big Red to 13-11-3, 11-7-2 in the ECAC while the Big Green fell to 15-9-3, 11-7-2. Dartmouth and Cornell are now tied for third place in the ECAC Hockey standings with 24 points.

An exciting first period went down as a scoreless tie but both teams had terrific chances as each goalie as well as several individual players came up huge. Cornell's first power play opportunity had the Big Red putting three shots in a row on netminder James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) but the junior stopped each one, including one straight on.

Later in the frame defenseman Evan Stephens (Bessemer, Mich.) helped Mello out by blocking three straight shots, never allowing the puck to get to the Big Green goalie. Dartmouth had its own chances as Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) and Eric Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) each missed open nets. The Big Green held the advantage in shots going into the first break, 11-4.

Dartmouth broke through early in the second when Estoclet took a shot that bounced of the facemask of netminder Andy Iles. The puck was loose behind the net as Jones passed out front to Nick Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) who was able to maneuver through traffic for the score.

Despite three power play opportunitites and two post shots the Big Green was unable to net any insurance goals. The home team however, was able to tie the contest off a flukey goal with 27 seconds left in the frame. Mike Keenan (Weymouth, Mass.) tried to clear the puck out from behind the Dartmouth net but the mass of bodies out front didn't allow the puck to go far. Mathieu Brisson was able to gather it up between the circles and put a shot on net that hit hard off Joe Devin's stick over Mello's head into the back of the net.

Early in the third, Dartmouth was pushing the puck up before Cornell's Locke Jillson was able to steal the puck and skate in on Mello. Jillson went one-on-one with the Big Green netminder and put the puck past Mello on his stick side to grab the 2-1 lead.

Robinson tried to tie the game as he had a terrific look at the net but Iles made the save. Cornell forward Joe Devin got the rebound and skated in alone on Mello as the junior stopped the point-blank shot.

With 4:49 left on the clock, Estoclet tied the game off a squeaker of a goal that saw the puck squirt through Isles' legs for the equalizer.

The Big Red came out firing in the overtime frame as the home team capitalized on a second-chance effort by Tyler Roeszler as Cornell won its fourth overtime contest of 2010-11.

Dartmouth will end the regular-season at home next weekend with matchups against St. Lawrence and Clarkson.