Dartmouth skates past Clarkson

Dartmouth College proved to be too much for the Clarkson University Hockey team on Friday night as the Big Green received goals from six different players and James Mello made 34 saves in the Big Green's 7-1 victory over the Golden Knights before 2,144 fans at Cheel Arena.

Dustin Walsh led the Dartmouth attacked with his first two goals of the season as the Big Green evened their record to 2-2-1 overall and to 1-1-1 in ECAC Hockey play. The Golden Knights, who suffered their second straight loss at home, fall to 4-4-2 overall and to 0-2-1 in the conference.

Dartmouth came out with a dominating first-period effort, out shooting the Golden Knights 21-10 en route to a 2-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes. The Big Green skated on three power plays in the period, connecting on their last two man-advantage attempts.

With just one second left in a power play, Matt Lindblad tapped in a pass from Mike Keenan at the side of the net for his second goal of the season at 12:44. Dustin Walsh also assisted. With less than two minutes remaining in the period, Dartmouth struck again on the power play when Dustin Walsh’s shot from the top of the left circle found its way through traffic and deflected in off the Knights’ junior goaltender Paul Karpowich (Thunder Bay, ONT) for his first goal of the year at 18:43.

The Big Green continued to roll in the middle frame adding three more goals for a commanding 5-0 lead after 40 minutes. Troy Mattila knocked in a rebound off a shot by Nick Walsh on the goal line for his third tally of the season at 3:52. Dustin Walsh recorded his second goal of the night, knocking in a bouncing puck in front at 10:28. With 8.7 seconds left in the second, Adam Estoclet connected for his first goal of the season during a scramble in front to build the visitors’ lead to 5-0.

Nick Walsh and Taylor Boldt added third-period goals for Dartmouth before Clarkson freshman Alex Boak (Norwood, NY) spoiled Mello’s shutout bid with his first collegiate goal at 18:04.

The Big Green out shot Clarkson 54-33. Dartmouth was 2-of-5 on the power play while the Knights were 0-of-1 with the man-advantage. Karpowich finished with 34 saves through 40 minutes. Junior Richie LaVeau (Arlington Heights, IL) posted 13 stops in the third period.

On Saturday, Clarkson hosts Harvard, 4-2 winners at St. Lawrence on Friday, while Dartmouth plays the Saints in Canton.