Dartmouth Earns Exhibition Win Against Western Ontario

Photo by David Silverman (DSPics.com)

Final	1	2	3	Final
Western Ontario (0-0-0)	1	0	1	2
Dartmouth (-)	0	1	3	4

Scoring Summary
1st - 13:37	PP - Keaton Turkiewicz (Western Ontario)
2nd - 12:23	SH - Walsh, Dustin (Dartmouth)
3rd - 01:12	Sikura, Tyler (Dartmouth)
3rd - 05:19	PP - Adam Mckee (Western Ontario)
3rd - 06:56	Beamish, Jesse (Dartmouth)
3rd - 07:20	Walsh, Dustin (Dartmouth)

Western Ontario	Dartmouth
G: 2 Players (#16, #29 - 1) A: 3 Players (#10, #11, #22 - 1) Sh: Tyler Peters - 4 Sv: Josh Unice - 46	G: Dustin Walsh - 2 A: Dustin Walsh - 1 Sh: Mike Keenan - 7 Sv: James Mello - 11

TEAM STATISTICS	Western Ontario	Dartmouth
Power Plays	2 for 3	0 for 6
Shorthanded Goals	0	1
Penalties (min)	8 (24)	3 (6)
Shots on Goal	24	50
Face Offs Won	25	34

full stats

HANOVER, N.H. - Junior Dustin Walsh (Shannonville, Ontario) scored twice and freshmen Tyler Sikura (Aurora, Ontario) and Jesse Beamish (Mississauga, Ontario) each added a goal as the Dartmouth men's hockey team opened the 2011-12 season with a 4-2 exhibition win over Western Ontario Saturday at Thompson Arena.

"I thought the guys worked hard," head coach Bob Gaudet said following the win. "Western Ontario is a good team and we have only been practicing together for a little over a week, so it was good to get out there and play against another team for a change."

The Mustangs got on the board first with a power-play goal from Keaton Turkiewicz 13:37 into the game. Turkiewicz came in on the right side, putting a shot on Dartmouth starting goaltender James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) that initially looked as if it had been saved. But Turkiewicz crashed the net and knocked the puck through the Big Green goalie for the opening tally.

Mello finished his 20 minutes of play by stopping 11 shots from an energized Western Ontario team that had battled at Harvard Friday night in a 7-4 loss.

Trailing 1-0 after one, Walsh evened the score with a shorthanded goal on a breakaway 12:33 into the second period. The junior stole the puck in the neutral zone and broke in on goal after getting behind the defense and put a shot into the top corner over Mustangs' goaltender Josh Unice's right shoulder.

Senior Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ontario) got the call in goal for the second period, stopping all seven shots he faced.

With the score knotted at 1-1 early in the third, Sikura ripped a wrist shot from the top of the slot off the crossbar and in for the 2-1 lead. Walsh picked up an assist on Sikura's marker, setting up the play down low.

The Mustangs tied it shortly thereafter with a tally from Adam McKee is a scrum out front on the power play.

The 2-2 score didn't last long as the Big Green scored twice in 24 seconds. Beamish buried the third Dartmouth goal on a top-corner shot at the 6:56 mark of the third. Beamish began the play by stealing the puck from a Western Ontario defender deep in the Big Green's offensive zone.

Dustin Walsh's second goal was the result of some nice hands in front of the net and made it a two-goal game for the first time all afternoon just 24 seconds after Beamish's marker regained the lead. The junior winger looked as if he was going to take the puck behind the net, but slipped it behind Ulice who was trying to maneuver to the far post to prevent a wrap-around try.

Sophomore Cab Morris (Wilmette, Ill.) earned the win in goal for the Big Green as he played the final 20 minutes of action, stopping four shots in the third.

The Big Green will get the regular season started next Friday night as host Brown in the Ivy Shootout at 7 p.m. Dartmouth will then play Yale in its second game of weekend, Saturday at 7 p.m.

Princeton and Yale play the early game Friday (4 p.m.), while the Tigers and Bears play the afternoon tilt on Saturday, which is also scheduled for 4 p.m. All four games will be played at Thompson Arena.

For ticket information regarding the Ivy Shootout, please call 603-646-2466 or visit www.DartmouthSports.com