Dartmouth Picks Up Win at St. Lawrence

Photo by Mark Washburn

Final	1	2	3	Final
Dartmouth (4-3-0, 3-2-0)	1	1	1	3
St. Lawrence (3-6-0, 3-2-0)	0	1	0	1

Scoring Summary
1st - 01:07	PP - Walsh, Nick (Dartmouth)
2nd - 04:30	PP - Kyle Essery (St. Lawrence)
2nd - 13:54	Lindblad, Matt (Dartmouth)
3rd - 08:27	Sikura, Tyler (Dartmouth)

Dartmouth	St. Lawrence
G: 3 Players (#9, #16, #21 - 1) A: 6 Players (#3, #11, #14, #17, #23, #28 - 1) Sh: Matt Lindblad - 5 Sv: Jody O'Neill - 20	G: Kyle Essery - 1 A: 2 Players (#4, #8 - 1) Sh: Patrick Doherty - 5 Sv: Matt Weninger - 25

TEAM STATISTICS	Dartmouth	St. Lawrence
Power Plays	1 for 3	1 for 2
Shorthanded Goals	0	0
Penalties (min)	2 (4)	3 (6)
Shots on Goal	28	21
Face Offs Won	32	27

full stats

CANTON, N.Y. - The first road game of the season for the Dartmouth men's hockey team ended with a 3-1 victory Friday night against St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena. Big Green (4-3, 3-2 ECAC Hockey) senior goaltender Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ontario) picked up his first win of the season in his first start, making 20 saves.

After going 3-3 at home to start the season, Dartmouth travelled to take on a Saints (3-5-0, 3-2 ECAC Hockey) team that had won its last three games, all against conference opponents. The two-goal victory was the fifthstraight over St. Lawrence for the Big Green, dating back three seasons.

Dartmouth didn't waste any time getting on the board as senior Nick Walsh (Shannonville, Ontario) put the Big Green up 1-0 just 1:07 on the power play. Coming into the game, Dartmouth was just 1-for-20 with the man-advantage, but a penalty 14 seconds into the game gave the team the first opportunity and Walsh buried a rebound in the low slot.

Freshmen Jesse Beamish (Mississagua, Ontario) and Rick Pinkston (Trenton, Mich.) picked up the assists on the tally. Pinkston's helper was the first point of his career.

After the Saints' Kyle Essery tied it at 1-1 on the power play 4:30 into the second, sophomore Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) got on the scoreboard for the first time this season.

Senior forward Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) started the play from the defensive zone, pushing the puck up to Lindblad at the blueline. The sophomore put the puck to freshman winger Eric Neiley (Warminster, Pa.) on the left side, near the corner. Neiley received the pass and put another back out into the high slot for Lindblad streaking in on goal for the high one-timerover the glove of St. Lawrence's Matt Weninger in net.

Freshman Tyler Sikura (Aurora, Ontario) scored a pretty goal 8:27 into the third period to give the Big Green the two-goal lead, 3-1.

With a 2-on-1 and Beamish drawing the defender to the left side, Sikura put a backhanded shot over the stacked pads of Weninger for his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Senior Connor Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) made the initial pass to Sikura and picked up a helper along with freshman Charlie Mosey (Prior Lake, Minn.); his first collegiate point.

O'Neill finished the game with 20 saves for the 23rd win of his career. The Dartmouth defense limited the Saints' shots to the outside, allowing the senior goaltender toease into his first appearance of the year. Weninger made 25 saves, but allowed three in picking up the loss.

The Big Green were 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Saints went 1-for-2 in a relatively penalty-free contest.

Dartmouth is back in action Saturday night as it travels up the road to Potsdam to take on Clarkson from Cheel Arena at 7 p.m.

NOTES: Freshman defensemen Andy Simpson (Chesterfield, Mo.) and Pinkston were paired tonight for the first time since the preseason... Mosey and Pinkston picked up their first-career collegiate points as both had assists...James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) didn't start in goal for the first time this season (six starts) after making 27-straight starts for Dartmouth dating back to last season (Colgate, 12/31/10 - W, 3-2 [OT])...The win snapped a two-game skid for the Big Green and puts them over .500 at 4-3 overall and 3-2 in ECAC Hockey play.