Dartmouth Drops First Game

Box Score

ITHACA, NY -- Despite matching Cornell in intensity throughout most of the game the Dartmouth men's hockey team was unable to get the goal that counted as the Big Red skated away with a 3-2 victory on Friday at Lynah Rink.

Cornell capitalized on its first power play chance of the night with six minutes left in the game as Raymond Sawada wound up and fired the game winner past netminder Mike Devine (Orchard Park, N.Y.).

In the first period Cornell went on the power play early as Joe Gaudet (Etna, N.H.) was sent to the sin bin at 18:48. The Big Red managed one shot on net as the Dartmouth penalty killing unit was up to the early challenge.

Midway through the period the two teams traded shots on net as netminder Mike Devine (Orchard Park, N.Y.) stopped a good chance in his end. Jon Grecu (Calgary, Alta.) got the puck getting a shot on Cornell goalie Ben Scrivens. The Big Red rang one off the post a few minutes later but the score remained 0-0.

Shots by Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) and Matt Reber (Edina, Minn.) had the Big Green thinking it had one but saves from Scrivens kept Dartmouth off the board.

A Big Red penalty at 6:32 put the league's top power play unit on the ice. Two shots on net by the Big Green resulted but no goals came out of the extra-man advantage as the two skated into the first break still scoreless.

Immediately into the second period Cornell took the first lead of the game. On transition the Big Red got the puck as Colin Greening and Riley Nash skated in on Devine passing and back in forth. The first shot by Nash had Devine making the easy save and sweeping the puck back but Greening was there to put it in past the netminder.

Dartmouth tied things up with a power play strike at 16:49. Grecu brought the puck down along the boards passing backhanded to Gaudet on the left side of the net. Gaudet got the puck to Andrew Owsiak (Moose Jaw, Sask.) on the glove side of Scrivens as the freshman forward snuck it between the Big Red goalie's glove and the post.

A tripping call on Joe Stejskal (Grand Rapids, Minn.) at 10:58 put Cornell on its first extra-man opportunity of the frame. Three shots by the Big Red were all saved by Devine as the Big Green kept the home team off the scoreboard.

Stejskal gave Dartmouth its first lead of the game at 7:00 with his first collegiate goal. The puck came out to the Big Green rookie at the blue line as he wound up and fired over Scriven's shoulder with the one-timer.

Cornell answered that goal with one of its own just :25 seconds later as traffic in front of the net allowed the puck to barely cross the line. Sawada was credited with the score.

With a minute to play and Devine out of the net, Stejskal earned another trip to the penalty box as the Big Red finished the game on the power play.

Devine finished with 31 saves on the night while Scrivens had 23. The loss drops Dartmouth to 11-15-4 on the season while Cornell moves to 14-12-3. The victory gives the Big Red a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. The two teams will meet tomorrow night at 7:00 pm in Lynah Rink.