Engineers Come Up Short Against Dartmouth

Final	1	2	3	Final
Dartmouth (7-5-2; 4-3-1 ECACH)	1	3	0	4
Rensselaer (3-16-0; 1-7-0 ECACH)	1	2	0	3

Scoring Summary
1st - 12:31	Malchuk, Joel (Rensselaer)
1st - 17:46	McNally, Brandon (Dartmouth)
2nd - 08:24	PP - Robinson, Eric (Dartmouth)
2nd - 13:05	Goodship, Alex (Dartmouth)
2nd - 14:20	Pinkston, Rick (Dartmouth)
2nd - 16:13	PP - Haggerty, Ryan (Rensselaer)
2nd - 16:34	PP - Tinordi, Matt (Rensselaer)

Dartmouth	Rensselaer
G: 4 Players (#18, #19, #23, #29 - 1) A: 7 Players (#3, #4, #9, #16, #22, #25, #27 - 1) Sh: Connor Goggin - 5 Sv: Cab Morris - 28	G: 3 Players (#13, #28, #39 - 1) A: Nick Bailen - 2 Sh: Nick Bailen - 5 Sv: Bryce Merriam - 23

TEAM STATISTICS	Dartmouth	Rensselaer
Power Plays	1 for 3	2 for 4
Shorthanded Goals	0	0
Penalties (min)	4 (8)	3 (6)
Shots on Goal	27	31
Face Offs Won	34	28

full stats

TROY, N.Y. – In front of a national audience watching on the NBC Sports Network, the Dartmouth men's hockey team held off a fevered Rensselaer attack late in the third period to take Friday night's ECAC Hockey game, 4-3, at Houston Field House.

An offensive outburst midway through the second period was the difference for the Big Green (7-5-2, 4-3-1 ECAC Hockey) as the visitors scored three times in six minutes to make it a 4-1 game.

Sophomore goaltender Cab Morris (Wilmette, Ill.) made 28 saves in earning his third win in just four starts this season (3-0-1), including two huge saves midway through the final frame to preserve the victory.

The Engineers' (3-16, 1-7 ECAC Hockey) Joel Malchuck scored 12:31 into the first period to give the home team its only lead of the game, a lead that lasted for just over five minutes.

With a delayed call, Morris headed for the bench, but never got there as freshman Brandon McNally (Saugus, Mass.) buried a round at the top of the circle for his second-career goal.  Fellow first-year player Tyler Sikura (Aurora, Ontario) and junior Dustin Walsh (Shannonvile,Ontario) were credited with assists after taking several whacks at the puck in the slot.

That's how it would remain until midway through the second period when the Dartmouth offense came on in a strong way.

Robinson scored his sixth of the season just four seconds into the team's third power play of the game. Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) won the faceoff back to captain Mike Keenan (South Weymouth, Mass.) who made a pass to his defensive partner at the point for a low shot into traffic.

Robinson, stationed in the slot, tipped the shot into the lower left corner passed the outstretched right pad of Bryce Merriam in the RPI goal.

Four-and-half minutes later, junior Alex Goodship (Blackfalds, Alberta) picked up his second goal of 2011-12 on a nice backhand move to finish a 2-on-1 break. Coming in on goal on a 2-on-1 rush with Jason Bourgea (South Burlington, Vt.), Goodship cut to the middle and put a backhanded shot off in the inside of the defender's skate that redirected into the net.

Paul Lee (Garden City, N.Y.) assisted on the goal, pushing the puck ahead to hislinemate from the halfboards into the neutral zone. Senior Jim Gaudet (Etna, N.H.), playing in his 100th-career game, also earned a helper on the play, started the play with a pass to Lee from behind the Dartmouth net.

Just 1:15 later, freshman defender Rick Pinkston (Trenton, Mich.) scored the first goal of his collegiate career on a shot from the left point that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net. Lindblad once again won a keyoffensive zone faceoff clean back to the point for Pinkston to handle.

That comfortable three-goal cushion didn't last long as two penalties gave RPI a 5-on-3 power play. The Engineers' Ryan Haggerty and Matt Tinordi scored two goals 21 seconds apart to make it a 4-3 game headed into the locker room after 40 minutes.

With RPI pressuring midway through the third period, Morris came up with a highlight-reel save on CJ Lee for the second time in the period. Both times, Lee waited at the far post, looking for the one-timer and both times, Morris slid to his right to make the glove save, the second of which saw Morris dive and make the save with the netmouth gapping.

Rensselaer pulled its goalie for the final 1:28, but Morris and the Dartmouth defense stood tall in the waning seconds to hold on for the 4-3 victory.

Morris, the defending ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week and Month finished with 28saves in the game, none larger than the sprawling save on Lee in the third.Merriam had 23 in the loss.