Dartmouth Dominates in 6-0 ECAC Hockey Win Against Brown

Saturday, November 15

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

BROWN

Dartmouth Dominates in 6-0 ECAC Hockey Win Against Brown

11/15/2014 9:08:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth men's hockey team bounced back from Friday's 4-1 defeat at the hands of visiting Yale in a big way Saturday at Thompson Arena.

The Big Green rebounded by punishing Brown, 6-0, in a game that was seemingly never in doubt thanks in large part to three first-period goals by the home team.

Dartmouth evens its record at 2-2-1 overall as well as in ECAC Hockey play with the shutout victory. The Bears remain winless through two conference weekends at 0-4-0 and are 1-4-0 overall.

On his 21st birthday, sophomore Grant Opperman set new career highs with four points, two goals and two assists. His linemate Eric Neiley also broke out with four assists — the most by a Dartmouth player since Matt Reber had four against Brown on Jan. 8, 2010.

In the defensive zone, junior goaltender James Kruger earned his first career shutout, stopping 22 shots in all. Kruger continues to be strong in the crease this season having now started all five of his team's games.

Opperman and Neiley were two of ECAC Hockey's best players down the stretch last season, but were held without points in the first four games of 2014-15. Both players responded to a shakeup in lines with four-point efforts against the Bears.

The new left wing paired with Opperman and Neiley on this night was fifth-year senior Eric Robinson, who also contributed to the offensive cause with a goal and an assist.

Brad Schierhorn got the scoring started with his second of the year 7:25 into the opening period. The Anchorage, Alaska, native would add a helper on Ryan Bullock's power-play marker at 12:57 to make it a 2-0 game. Opperman's first of the night came with 1:31 remaining in the first to send the teams to the dressing room separated by three after 20 minutes.

Junior Jack Barre got his first of the young season on the power play at 11:18 of the middle period, finishing off a nifty passing play from Opperman and Neiley along the halfboards.

Tallies from Robinson and Opperman came just 11 seconds apart midway through the third to seal things up. Neiley factored into both for the career passing night, while Opperman's second of the evening at 11:42 gave the Wayzata, Minnesota, native his first multi-goal game in a Dartmouth sweater.

Kruger's first shutout was the result of the junior netminder seeing the puck well all night and the defense in front of him taking away any second chances.

Brown, on the other hand, pulled starter Tim Ernst after the Bullock goal less than 13 minutes into the game. His replacement Tyler Steel was tagged for four goals, but did manage 37 saves in just 47 minutes of action.

Dartmouth was 2-for-4 with the man-advantage, while successfully killing off all three of the Bears' opportunities with the power play in the game. Nine of the Big Green's 48 shots on goal came with the extra player. The team from the Upper Valley was credited with 92 shot attempts in the win.

The Green are back in action in a rare Tuesday game as they host ECAC Hockey travel partner Harvard at Thompson Arena. Game time is set for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.