Men's Hockey Unable to Get Past Yale

Saturday, February 5

New Haven, Conn.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Yale

2/5/2011 9:40:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 17 Dartmouth men's hockey team has proven to be a tough opponent for Yale but it's been the Bulldogs who have come out on the winning end in the two most recent contests. On Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd in Ingalls Rink, Yale came away with a hard-fought, 4-2 win, despite netminder James Mello's (Rehoboth, Mass.) 38 saves.

Yale came from behind in the second period to take a 3-1 lead as the No. 2/3 Elis won their second straight. The loss snapped a three-game unbeaten streak for the Big Green.

A terrific back door play at 11:56 into the first period gave the Big Green (13-7-3, 9-5-2 ECAC) the opening lead. With the numbers coming down the ice, Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) got the puck to Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.). Fleming made a quick pass forward to Matt Reber (Edina, Minn.) who tossed the puck at goalie Ryan Rondeau with it skipping over Rondeau for the goal.

A blast from the blue line by Nick Jaskowiak had Charles Brockett there to redirect the puck into the back of the twine to tie the contest at 7:20 as Mello never saw it coming. Mello had been exceptional up to that point, withstanding intense pressure by the Bulldogs (19-4, 12-3 ECAC).

Besides huges saves in net, the Big Green in general seemed to frustrate Yale by blocking shots and getting sticks down in the passing zones, not allowing the Bulldogs to make hardly any clean passes. Mello finished the stanza with 18 saves while Rondeau had nine.

A follow-up goal by Andrew Miller at 18:27 of the second period gave the home team the 2-1 lead and some momentum. With a 4-on-2 coming down Colin Dueck put a shot on Mello that was saved out to Miller who was able to put it back on Mello's glove side for the go-ahead tally.

A power play strike at 12:19 allowed the Bulldogs to increase the lead to 3-1. Broc Little put a hard shot high on Mello as the puck clanged off the top of the crossbar and fell behind the goalie for the score.

Estoclet had a chance to get one back as he recovered the puck at center ice and skated in on Rondeau but the senior stoned the Dartmouth forward. Mello had his own breakaway opportunity a few minutes later as he denied Kenny Agostino as both the Yale freshman and the standing room only crowd thought it was a definite goal.

The Bulldogs, who changed up their game plan from the first period, kept the pressure on throughout the entire frame, stymying the Big Green's chances to even clear the puck out of its end. Dartmouth however was able to get one back with less than a minute to play when Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) won the faceoff to the right of the Yale net with Andrew Owsiak (Moose Jaw, Sask.) gaining control of the puck outside the circle. Owsiak turned around and shot the puck to Connor Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) who fired on Rondeau from the blue line blasting it over the goalie's shoulder.

Two game disqualifications early in the third period left both sides a man down as Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) and Jaskowiak left the game for matching face mask violations. Those penalties seemed to momentarily halt any momentum the Big Green had been trying to get going but thanks to another Yale infraction at 14:27, Dartmouth was able to get fired up again and for the next three to four minutes put everything it had on Rondeau.

Unfortunately the physicality of the contest got the best of the Big Green as Eric Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) was sent to the sin bin, 8:50 into the final period, giving Yale just its second power play opportunity of the contest. Dartmouth and Mello were both up to the challenge, keeping the Bulldogs off the scoreboard as the Big Green killed the penalty easily.

The visitors came out with more fire in the third period as Dartmouth buzzed the Yale net for most of the frame, getting shot after shot on Rondeau but just couldn't find the back of the net to tie the game.

A blast from the left side circle by Kevin Limbert with 1:24 left in the game sealed the victory for the home team as Yale escaped with two league points in an incredibly tight league race. Dartmouth is now in third place with 20 points, six away from the Bulldogs in first.

The Big Green will be back in Thompson Arena on Feb. 11 and 12, hosting Quinnipiac and Princeton.