HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth senior captain Tanner Glass scored the game-winning goal at 1:35 of the third period to lift the 17th-ranked Big Green to a 3-2 win over No. 19 Vermont in front of a crowd of 4,011 at Thompson Arena on Sunday night. Sophomore Dean Strong (Mississauga, Ontario) scored two power-play goals and the Catamounts out shot Dartmouth 31-19 in the loss. Vermont falls to 2-3-1 on the season while the Big Green improved to 2-0.
“I hate to lose more than anybody but in terms of the process we were better tonight than maybe at anytime in the year,” Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon said. “I have to focus on the positives and build that up leading into next weekend. If we can play like that and obviously reduce the penalty minutes we’ll be fine.”
A total of 27 penalties were called in the game, including 13 hooking calls as the Catamounts went 2-for-12 on the power play and Dartmouth went 2-for-9.
Just 58 seconds into the game, after a hooking penalty against the Catamounts, senior defenseman Ben Lovejoy scored on a drive from the point to give Dartmouth a 1-0 lead. Lovejoy’s power-play goal went through the legs of Vermont junior goalie Joe Fallon (Bemidji, Minn.) who was screened on the shot.
Dartmouth took a 2-0 advantage at 6:23 of the second period on the first goal of the season for sophomore Kevin Swallow. Sophomore defenseman John Gibson blasted a shot from the right point just as a Big Green power play was ending. The shot deflected off the end board and bounced in front to Swallow who knocked the puck in the net.
With the Catamounts on the power play and trailing 2-0, Strong pulled Vermont within one goal. Working from the left wing, Strong whisked a shot off the pad of Dartmouth junior goalie Mike Devine that ended up in the net at 9:30 of the second period to make it 2-1 Dartmouth. Vermont junior co-captain Torrey Mitchell (Greenfield Park, Quebec) and senior co-captain Kenny Macaulay (Baddeck, Nova Scotia) each assisted on the play.
Mitchell also set up Vermont’s second goal with just 1:38 left in the second period. From the left circle, Mitchell flicked a wrist shot in on net and Strong was in front to poke in the rebound for his fourth goal of the season. Macaulay also assisted on the power-play goal that tied the game at two. Vermont out shot Dartmouth 15-4 in the second period.
Less than two minutes into the third period just as the Catamounts were about to kill off another Dartmouth power play the Big Green took a 3-2 lead. Glass let a shot fly from the right circle that beat Fallon glove side to give Dartmouth the lead again.
The Catamounts pulled Fallon from net with less than two minutes to go in the game during a power play for a 6-on-4 advantage but were unable to score.
Devine made 29 saves for Dartmouth while Fallon made 16 for the Catamounts. The win for the Big Green ended a three game losing steak to Vermont.
Vermont travels to Chestnut Hill, Mass., next weekend to take on No. 5 Boston College on Saturday (Nov. 4) at 7:00pm. On Sunday (Nov. 5) Vermont returns home to take on the University of Ottawa at 4:00pm at Gutterson Fieldhouse. On Sunday there will be $1.00 hot dogs courtesy of University Dining. There will also be the “Clash of the Class Councils” – UVM freshman, sophomore, junior and senior promotions brought to fans from the class councils.
GAME NOTES … Tonight’s game was the first of eight Vermont men’s hockey games that will be televised on CN8 this season … Strong’s two goals gave him the first multi-goal game of his career … Strong (4 goals, 3 assists) and Mitchell (1 goal, 6 assists) are tied for the team lead in points with seven … Mitchell has six assists in eight career games against Dartmouth … The Catamounts have yet to be out shot this season.