Dartmouth Wins Ledyard Classic With 3-0 Shutout of Merrimack

Sunday, January 3

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

5-7-1

Merrimack

7-7-4

Team	1	2	3	F
Merrimack	0	0	0	0
Dartmouth	2	1	0	3

Dartmouth Wins Ledyard Classic With 3-0 Shutout of Merrimack

1/3/2016 9:15:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth men's hockey team beat No. 20 Merrimack, 3-0, Sunday night at Thompson Arena to win the 27th Annual Ledyard Classic.

Senior Nick Bligh was named the MVP as the Big Green (5-7-1) bested the 20th-ranked Warriors (7-7-4) to win their own tournament for the first time since 2008 as they finished with a pair of wins on the weekend.

Union also finished the weekend 2-0-0, but lost out on a claim of the title based on the tiebreaker with a +2 goal differential to Dartmouth's +7.

“We've raised the bar and we know we can play and that we have to tighten the screws defensively in all three zones,” head coach Bob Gaudet '81 said. “Everybody on the ice has to play the right way for 200 feet and it showed this weekend.

“It's hard to score but we're getting pucks to the net and getting some traffic there. We're getting some bounces because we've earned it by being in the right places. We have to carry the offense by committee,” Gaudet added.

Senior Brad Schierhorn was also named to the all-tournament team as was classmate Charles Grant, who was selected as the tournament's top goaltender.

Grant Opperman got the scoring started with an unassisted tally at 13:25 of the first, taking the puck the length of the ice before his shot was kicked off the pad of Merrimack goalie Drew Vogler and then off a defender at the top of the paint and into the net.

With just 52 seconds left in the opening frame, Brett Patterson made it a 2-0 game on the power play, jamming in a second chance at the side of the net. Schierhorn and Bligh picked up the helpers on the marker.

Bligh capped the weekend with his second goal and tournament-leading fifth point, redirecting a point shot from Ryan Bullock with a beautiful tip just below the left dot at 11:03 of the middle frame.

Grant was outstanding over the two games, allowing just the one goal to Robert Morris on Saturday night to earn top goalie honors. He turned aside another 22 shots tonight and picked up the first shutout by a netminder in the Ledyard Classic since Merrimack's Joe Cannata blanked Holy Cross in the 2011 consolation game, a span of 16 games.

The Big Green power play was strong this weekend, going 1-for-4 on Sunday and 2-for-7 in the pair of wins. Their penalty kill was also outstanding as it was a perfect 5-for-5 in the two games with three successful kills against the Warriors.

Vogler finished the night with 26 saves as Dartmouth outshot the visitors, 29-22.

Dartmouth is back in action next weekend with a Friday night game at regional rival Vermont before returning home two days later to host Holy Cross at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 10.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Brett Seney – Merrimack
Greg Gibson – Robert Morris
Spencer Foo – Union
Mike Vecchione – Union
Brad Schierhorn – Dartmouth
Charles Grant (Top Goalie) – Dartmouth

MVP:
Nick Bligh – Dartmouth

TEAMS FINISHES:
Dartmouth | 2-0-0 (+7) - Champion
Union | 2-0-0 (+2)
Merrimack | 0-2-0 (-4)
Robert Morris | 0-2-0 (-5)