Dartmouth Defeats Princeton, 3-1, In Front of Raucous Crowd

Friday, February 27

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

PRINCETON

Dartmouth Defeats Princeton, 3-1, In Front of Raucous Crowd

2/27/2015 8:55:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. – In front of a raucous crowd of more than 3,600 fans, the Dartmouth men's hockey team defeated visiting Princeton, 3-1, Friday night at Thompson Arena.

The Big Green began the final weekend of regular season play with the two-goal win, helping themselves in several different areas. They moved alone into first place in the Ivy League standings with 15 points and await the outcome of Saturday night's contest between Yale and Cornell in New Haven. A win for the Big Red would help Dartmouth to an outright Ancient Eight title as the Bulldogs currently have 14 points in Ivy play.

On this night, though, goals from Carl Hesler, Brandon McNally and Grant Opperman gave the Big Green (14-10-4, 11-8-2 ECAC Hockey) two crucial points in the ECAC Hockey standings and moved them into a tie for fourth with Colgate. Dartmouth swept Princeton (4-20-3, 2-17-2 ECAC Hockey) in the season series following a 4-2 win in New Jersey back in December and Friday's 3-1 game. The Tigers are locked into the No. 12 spot in the conference standings regardless of outcome on Saturday.

“I know we will play well tomorrow against the top team in our league and one of the top teams in the country (Quinnipiac),” head coach Bob Gaudet '81 said. “We have a chance at a bye and that's all you can ask for at this point in the season.

“It was a workmanlike game and that third goal was huge for us,” Gaudet added. “We played a strong third by getting pucks deep on them and we got the 'W' we needed.”

At 12:36 of the first period, it was the freshman Hesler who sent the crowd into a frenzy and unleashed a sea of emotion from the student section in Princeton's direction, a feat he predicted he would accomplish earlier in the day. Freshman Corey Calk and junior Jack Barre were credited with assists, while the play started with a long feed fro the defensive zone by senior Andy Simpson, who did not earn a helper but was nonetheless the player who created the scoring opportunity.

The lead stayed at one for just 1:44 as McNally — playing in his 100th career game — finished off a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play with linemates Eric Neiley and Grant Opperman. The trio made several crisp passes before Neiley pulled netminder Colton Phinney out of position and slid a feed over to McNally in the low slot for his sixth goal of the season and the 2-0 lead.

After Princeton's Michael Zajac beat Dartmouth junior James Kruger with a wrist shot that fluttered and seemed to change directions at the 8:35 mark of the second, things got tighter in the 39-year old building.

In the waning seconds of the middle frame and the home team on the power play, a harmless-looking entry into the zone seemed to signal that the period would end with Dartmouth leading by one. However, nice puck movement at the side of the net by Brad Schierhorn and Nick Bligh allowed Opperman to bury a one-timer at the top of the crease with just 1.7 seconds left and push the scoreboard to read, 3-1.

That goal gave the Green the breathing room they needed as it shut down the Tigers in the third to hang on for the victory.

Despite the final score and how the game seemed to play out for those in attendance, Princeton outshot Dartmouth, 27-22, in the game but was thwarted throughout by Kruger, who finished with 26 saves. The win was his 10th of the season (10-7-4) after entering his junior campaign with just one.

The visitors were 0-for-1 on the power play, while Opperman's tally helped the home squad to a 1-for-3 mark with the man-advantage in the game.

Dartmouth and No. 10 Quinnipiac meet Saturday night in the 2014-15 regular season finale for both teams. Puck drop from Thompson Arena is set for 7 p.m.