Hanover
Stepping into the breach Saturday night was the Big Green men’s hockey team, which thoroughly dominated nonconference rival New Hampshire during a 5-1 victory at Thompson Arena. An announced crowd of 3,051 saw the hosts gain revenge for last year’s 6-3 loss to the Wildcats in Durham and prevail despite missing six injured players.
Those absences necessitated the use of two freshmen defensemen and six freshman forwards, but you wouldn’t have known it by the way Dartmouth played. The Big Green led, 1-0, after a period and 4-0 just two minutes into the third stanza. The hosts never allowed UNH (8-7-2) to feel it was ever on top.
“We didn’t back off in practice this week, even though I was fearful of losing another guy to injury,” said Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet, whose 4-5-2 squad is off until hosting Army on Dec. 30 in the Big Green’s holiday tournament. “We had a really good week of work and we really showed confidence in the young players. They meshed in so well, you don’t see the difference until someone scores and guys are getting the puck out of the net for him because it’s his first college goal.”
The outcome was especially sweet for Dartmouth goaltender Devin Buffalo, who made 24 saves after being yanked midway through last year’s clash with UNH. The junior sat patiently behind older netminders the past two years and now appears entrenched as the Big Green’s starter, having played all but 51 minutes this season.
“It’s a confidence thing,” Buffalo said. “I’m a big believer in paying dues, and I have more of a role this year. Before tonight, I went over last year’s game (with UNH) in my head. We were trying to send other teams a message going into the holiday break.”
Said Gaudet: “Buff’s played a lot of hockey and he was outstanding tonight. He’s still growing and learning but he’s never flustered. A couple of games he’s been beaten but he always focuses on the next play.”
Five players scored for Dartmouth, John Ernsting tallying during the first period and Daniel Warpecha, Troy Crema and Grant Opperman during the second stanza. Clay Han closed the scoring with two minutes remaining and into an empty net after the Wildcats’ Jason Salvaggio made the score 4-1 three minutes into the third period. It was Han’s first college goal.
Dartmouth’s victory over UNH was its first since 2012, when it beat the No. 2 Wildcats at Thompson. The Big Green lost to its in-state rivals in 2014 and tied them the next year. The four-goal margin of victory was Dartmouth’s largest against UNH since a 7-3 triumph in March of 1979 during the national tournament’s third-place game. Saturday’s result was the Big Green’s 10th victory over the Wildcats in 33 tries since that time.
Gaudet said he expects forwards Corey Kalk and Alex Jasiek back from injury for the Army game and perhaps defensemen River Rymsha and Tim Shoup, who was on crutches and wearing a boot on his right foot Saturday. Forwards Ryan Blankemeier and Kyle Nickerson appear out for a longer term, each recovering from surgery.
UNH will return to Dartmouth for its 2017 holiday tournament and Gaudet said he expects the teams to play a home-and-home, weekend series the next season.
Notes: Former Dartmouth forward Matt Lindblad, who last played for the Big Green during the 2012-13 season, is now a professional scout for the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Lindblad played the only four NHL games of his three-year pro playing career with the Bruins. Jamie Herrington, another former Dartmouth player, is a New York Rangers bird dog. … Dave Collins, who has done radio and internet play-by-play descriptions for Dartmouth hockey, basketball and baseball since 2006, has apparently called his last Big Green game. The Philadelphia-area native has taken a job with a Cleveland-based audio processor company and starts there next week. Collins has also worked in local radio. … Dartmouth’s softball team will spend 11 days in California, occupying the Golden State from March 16-27 to play seven games. That trip follows nine games split among trips to Louisiana and Georgia and totaling eight days earlier in the season. The baseball team will play its first 16 games in Florida and South Carolina from Feb. 25 to March 26. That stretch includes three separate trips. … Dartmouth has installed FieldTurf, an artificial playing surface, on its lacrosse, football, softball and baseball fields and in Leverone Field House during the last decade. Recent New Jersey Advance Media articles allege the company sold defective surfaces from 2005-12. However, Dartmouth’s deputy director of athletics, Bob Ceplikas, said none of the Big Green’s fields are of the particular type targeted in the investigative pieces.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.