Big Green's Season Ends at Cornell

Boxscore

ITHACA, N.Y. ­-- With its season on the line the Dartmouth men's hockey team was unable to keep up the momentum from a big win on Saturday as the underdog Big Green fell to Cornell, 6-0 in game three of the ECAC Hockey First-Round playoffs on Sunday.

With the victory Cornell moves on to face No. 4 Union in a best of three series starting next Friday. Dartmouth's season ended with its first losing record since 1999-2000 as the Big Green finished with a 12-16-4 record. Cornell improved to 16-13-3.

Early in the game the Big Green's senior combo of Nick Johnson (Calgary, Alta.) and J.T. Wyman (Wayzata, Minn.) attempted to connect first on a centering pass midway through the opening frame but the two were unable to get their team on the board. Dartmouth kept the pressure on netminder Ben Scrivens as Jon Wolter (Branford, Conn.), Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.) and Adam Estoclet (Orono, Minn.) were all able to create some offensive chances.

The Big Green's first power play chance of the game came at 13:27 as a few seconds later another Cornell penalty gave Dartmouth a 5-on-3 opportunity. Wyman had a great shot that Scrivens was just able to get his skate on while Johnson and Joe Gaudet (Etna, N.H.) both tried to get something going with traffic in front of the net. The Big Red penalty killing unit was up to the task as the home team killed off the extra-man.

Cornell earned its first power play opportunity with 1:49 left in the first stanza as Raymond Sawada capitalized to give his team the 1-0 lead with a minute to play, firing over Mike Devine's (Orchard Park, N.Y.) shoulder for the extra-man strike. Dartmouth outshot Cornell, 15-9 for the first 20:00.

The Big Red went up by 2-0 at 15:37 of the second. A shot by Michael Kennedy came back hard off the boards to Brendan Nash out front. Nash took the shot that was saved initially by Devine but somehow came off his pads, squeaking across the line.

A fourth Cornell goal came on a takeaway at the left circle by Blake Gallagher. The sophomore skated in alone on Devine firing stickside for the 3-0 score.

The Big Red went up 4-0 as there was a delayed penalty on Dartmouth. A breakaway by Sawada looked to have been saved by Devine but somehow the puck got between Devine's skate and the right post.

In the final 2:00 of the second period the Big Red gave Dartmouth another 5-on-3 for the game but Cornell burned the first power play as time in the period wound down with the home team still on top, 4-0.

Early in the third Cornell fired another one past Devine for the 5-0 score. Mike Devin slapped one home from the blueline. Cornell put the capper on the night at 6:40 when Patrick Kennedy snuck one past Devine through traffic in front.

The Big Green ended the game outshooting the Big Red as Devine finished with 22 saves while Scrivens pitched his fourth shutout of the season and second against the Dartmouth. The sophomore finished with 31 saves on the night.