Men's hockey ties touted Dartmouth, loses to lowly Vermont

Anyone who suspected Dartmouth students of being slow learners saw their doubts validated during Friday night's contest against Princeton. Big Green fans dismissed the warnings of a two-minute home team penalty, rocketing tennis balls onto the ice in celebration of Dartmouth's first goal.

For the visiting Tigers (5-20-2 overall, 5-13-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference), the hail of tennis balls resulted in an amusing five-minute reprieve during what was a tough weekend on the road with games against the Big Green (11-7-9, 9-4-7) and Vermont (8-19-4, 6-13-1).

With the ECAC playoffs looming in the near future, Princeton desperately needed a successful weekend to boost its conference standing and faltering confidence. The team's efforts procured a 2-2 tie against Dartmouth on Friday, giving the Tigers a surprise boost.

No one was quite sure what to expect of Friday's matchup between two teams that have been notoriously streaky all season. Although The Big Green is currently tied for third in the ECAC, it has suffered some surprising losses to teams like Vermont and Union. Conversely, Princeton, which sits at the bottom of the league, has had some undeniable moments of brilliance — a season sweep of Harvard and a win against Yale to name two.

Perhaps because of both team's inconsistency, play went back and forth. Dartmouth had only a slight edge over the Tigers in the first period, scoring 12 minutes into the period off a defensive mistake.

Great goaltending by freshman B.J. Sklapsky, however, helped keep such mistakes to a minimum by solidifying the defense with a strong 38-save performance.

Down 1-0 in the first, senior defender Matt Maglione helped the Tigers rebound with a pair of goals. His first goal of the night came in the second period on a rocket from the point assisted by freshman forward Kevin Westgarth. The second goal followed early in the third stanza, with Maglione firing one in the upper-right corner of the net.

"Maglione played unreal both defensively and offensively in Friday's game," Sklapsky said. "He always seems to make the right plays."

Despite Friday's solid performance, the intensity could not be sustained as the Tigers fell victim yet again to the curious Saturday Syndrome that has afflicted them all season. Unable to put away a Saturday game, Princeton fell 4-1 to a weak Vermont team that ranks just above the Tigers in the conference. Princeton is now 0-13 on the Jewish Sabbath.

"I don't know if it's a mindset thing like we play well on Friday so maybe we don't come out as hard on Saturday," Sklapsky commented. "Or maybe it's just bad luck."

Whatever causes the Satuday Syndrome, the Catamounts got off the scoring blocks a mere minute into the game with a wrister from the point. Later in the first period, Vermont capitalized on a power play and managed to slip a shot past sophomore goaltender Eric Leroux.

"We played hard," senior captain Chris Owen explained. "We just didn't capitalize on our chances and they did."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The Tigers were down 3-0 late in the second before sophomore forward Pat Neundorfer intercepted a pass and ripped one past the goalie. Despite even play in the third, Princeton's offense just wasn't able to generate the chances necessary to overcome the two-goal deficit and the game finished 4-1 after an empty-netter at 19:33.

The Tigers will have two more chances to move up in the rankings next weekend as they take on RPI and Union.