Big Red Beats Big Green

Boxscore

HANOVER, N.H. -- Dan Nicholls scored a pair of goals and the Cornell defense rebounded for its first win at Dartmouth since Feb. 6, 2004, scoring a 4-1 victory over the Big Green on Saturday night in Hanover, N.H.

Ben Scrivens made 22 saves and Cornell got goals from Evan Barlow and Raymond Sawada as the Big Red improved to 4-3-0 on the year and 4-2-0 in ECAC Hockey play. Joe Gaudet scored the lone goal for Dartmouth and Mike Devine made 18 saves for the Big Green, which drops to 3-3-1 overall and 2-3-1 in league play.

Unlike Friday night's game agatinst Harvard, a 2-1 Cornell loss, it was the Big Red who drew first blood on Saturday at Dartmouth. This time, it was freshman Patrick Kennedy firing a shot on net that was stopped by the pads of Devine, but senior Raymond Sawada was there to clean up the rebound, jamming home the puck from the left post of Devine just 6:49 into the contest.

Dartmouth got a power play with just over three minutes to play in the period when Justin Krueger was called for cross-checking. On the power play, Michael Kennedy blocked a shot from the point and the puck squirted out to him with plenty of open ice ahead. Kennedy skated in on Devine, but before he could get a shot off, he was hooked down from behind by Nick Johnson, setting up a 4-on-4 situation. With both teams down a man, the Big Red got the extra space they needed to take the 2-0 lead. Riley Nash carried the puck behind the goal and fed a pass to Jared Seminoff at the point. Seminoff's wrist-shot was stopped by Devine, but the rebound came right to Evan Barlow, who slipped the puck around the right leg of Devine.

After the penalties expired, a hooking call on Dartmouth's Rob Pritchard set up another power play for the Big Red. But this time it was Dartmouth with the odd-man rush on the short-handed attempt, where Joe Gaudet roofed a shot past Scrivens after taking a pass from Nick Johnson, ending the period with a 2-1 Cornell lead.

The second period was delayed for 13 minutes when the lights at Dartmouth's Thompson Arena went out just as the officials were stepping back onto the ice at the end of the intermission. Just as quirky, the period time on Dartmouth's Pritchard never started when the second period began, causing another delay at the first stoppage.

When play finally did resume, the Green's Joe Stejskal was called for a penalty before two minutes expired in the period, setting up another power play for the Big Red. On the man advantage, the Big Red got a trio of shots off on Devine, but the senior netminder was up the the task on each as Cornell went scoreless on its third power play of the night.

With just under six minutes to play in the second period, Cornell caught a break when a pass to the right point for Dartmouth skipped over the stick of the defenseman. Sophomore Joe Scali jumped over the play, hopping between the defenseman and the boards and skated in alone on Devine. A sliding attempt to take away the low shot resulted in Scali deking around the defenseman, then feeding a pass into the middle to a streaking Dan Nicholls. The freshman flipped the puck over the leg of Devine before crashing into the cage, but referee Scott Hansen saw the puck cross the goal line before the goal came off its position, putting the Big Red ahead, 3-1, where they would remain at the end of the second period.

Cornell made it 4-1 with 8:26 to play in the contest when Dan Nicholls blocked a pass in the neutral zone, then skated in alone on Devine. Nicholls faked once, then, as Devine went down in anticipation of a low shot, the freshman recorded his first two goal game of his career by roofing the puck into the gaping net.

The victory was marred by a skirmish at the end of the game after the final horn. Four players - Rob Smith and Joe Gaudet from Dartmouth and Joe Scali and Justin Krueger from Cornell - were each assessed a fighting major and a game disqualification penalty, despite no punches actually being thrown.

Cornell closes out the stretch with its fifth straight game away from Lynah Rink when it heads to New York City for one of the most anticipated non-conference contests of the season. The Big Red will face Boston University at 8 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 24, at Madison Square Garden.