The Yale Bulldogs made their annual pilgrimage to Hanover and Cambridge this weekend. The Elis came into the weekend in third place on 23 points while their counterparts at Dartmouth were in sixth on 19. With one more weekend after this, every game takes on added significance.
Yale won the opening draw and it was all Dartmouth after that. Just forty-five seconds into the game a Dartmouth stretch pass to Quin Foreman along the left boards led to Matt Baker setting up defenseman Brendan Less for his first collegiate goal. Less jumped into the play and took the Baker pass in the slot and fired it past Yale goalie Corbin Kaczperski. The Bulldogs were called for the game’s first penalty when senior Anthony Walsh was sent off for Hooking at 7:59. Baker continued to make a name for himself in this one with three punishing checks on Yale penalty killers.
Yale had a solid chance off of their best-sustained offensive zone pressure. A rebound came out to Evan Smith who went to tap the puck into the Green net but a tremendous leg save by Adrian Clark kept the score at 1-0. That’s how the first would end with Dartmouth controlling the game. The Green outshot the Bulldogs 9-8 and won the face-off battle 10-8.
The second period continued on in the same vein. Dartmouth built on their lead when Baker started the action into the Yale zone. The sophomore had the puck on the Yale boards, drew a defender his way, fired a pass to Drew O’Connor, who dished across the ice to Collin Rutherford who’s shot on Kaczperski trickled in the crease behind the goalie. Baker had crashed the net and knocked home the Green’s second goal of the game at 7:18. Yale had a power play when Brendan Demler was called for Interference at 9:17. Dartmouth outshot Yale 11-9 for the middle frame.
The third period started off with Yale getting a power play half a minute in as Cam Strong was called for Interference. Yale found their flow and started gaining better opportunities on Clark. The junior keeper has been solid for the Green and tonight was no different. The pace of the period was a frenetic back and forth. The Green had chances of their own, but some help from the post bailed Kaczperski out around the 11:30 mark. The intensity seemed to go up when the out of town scores were announced over the Thompson Arena PA system. Yale’s Brett Jewell was called for Boarding at 16:49.
“It was just a really good game,” Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet said after the win. “I thought both teams played well and our kids competed fiercely for sixty minutes, right from our goalie Adrian Clark, out. I thought we protected him well. He made some really good saves, I thought we were on our toes the whole night. Yale’s a very good team, really skilled, and playing very good hockey. It was a good college hockey game and a very big ‘W’ for us.”
The fifth shutout of the season for Clark ties a Dartmouth record from 1919-20. This season Yale was unable to put the puck past Clark in two games as the Green bested Yale 2-0 tonight, and 3-0 in November for the season shutout, a first for Dartmouth. The Green play host to Brown tomorrow at 7:00 pm, while Yale travels to Harvard, also at 7:00 pm.
