Graber's Hat Trick Powers Dartmouth to 5-2 Win at RPI and No. 5 Seed

Saturday, March 2

Troy, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

10-9-311-14-4; ECAC

Rensselaer

7-13-210-21-3; ECAC

Dartmouth

Rensselaer

Photo by: Doug Austin

Graber's Hat Trick Powers Dartmouth to 5-2 Win at RPI and No. 5 Seed

3/2/2019 9:20:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Will Graber scored 3 times, while rookie Drew O'Connor netted a pair.

By: Pat Salvas

TROY, N.Y. – Junior Will Graber notched a hat trick and freshman Drew O'Connor scored two goals as the Dartmouth men's hockey team beat Rensselaer, 5-2, Saturday night at Houston Field House in the regular season finale for both.

Three goals in a span of two minutes and 50 seconds midway through the second period provided all the offense the Big Green (11-14-4, 10-9-3) would need. But it wasn't all they got as Graber added two in the third for his second career hat trick, both coming against the Engineers (10-21-3, 7-13-2) in each of his last two games in Troy.

Graber's first of the night was followed by O'Connor's just 19 seconds later with Graber getting an assist. The rookie would notch another 2:31 after that for his 13th of the season, tying him for third in the nation by a rookie this season.

Jake Johnson's first career goal at 6:20 of the first period opened the scoring for the Engineers, while it was bookend for the home team by North Dakota transfer Mike Gornell's first of the season and with RPI at 15:52 of the third.

Graber capped his second hat trick into the empty net with six seconds left.

This was the first time Dartmouth had two players scored two or more goals apiece in a game since Graber (3-2-5) and Shane Sellar (2-4-6) in this same building last season on Feb. 9.

Connor Yau and Quin Foreman both had a pair of assists in the game.

Junior netminder Adrian Clark stopped 21 in the win, while the Engineers used a pair of goalies who combined for 20 saves.

Dartmouth finishes the season as the No. 5 seed for the second straight year and will host No. 12 St. Lawrence next weekend in the first round of the ECAC Hockey postseason. Games 1 and 2 will be Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. A third game would be played at 7 p.m. also if the teams split the first two.