Hanover
“They scored on us in special situations and that’s a special team,” an admiring Gaudet said after the River Hawks scored on 3-of-5 power plays and added another tally during a stretch of 4-on-4 competition. “Our kids battled and they’re disappointed that we lost, but we lost to a great team with some really good shooters.”
Gaudet often compliments opponents who might not be fully deserving of his praise. In this case, however, No. 7 Lowell looked every bit a juggernaut. The River Hawks reached the national quarterfinals last season, and at 12-5-3, appear as if they could go farther in 2017.
“Their fourth goal?” Gaudet asked rhetorically, then made a raspberry noise with his tongue while shaking his head. “That was ridiculous.”
He was referring to Dylan Zink’s sharp-angle, under-the-bar tally five minutes before the second intermission. The senior drifted into the lower third of the right circle, received a feed from high in the slot and ripped a laser over the shoulders of both kneeling defender Cameron Roth and goaltender Devin Buffalo for a power-play goal.
Zink’s strike put the River Hawks up, 4-3, after they’d blown a 3-1 lead earlier in the middle stanza. Lowell started backup goaltender Garrett Metcalf, who was replaced by starter Tyler Wall after Dartmouth forged a 3-3 tie midway through the second period.
Dartmouth wasn’t done, however. Charlie Michalowski skated out from behind the net and sent a loose puck to Daniel Warpecha in front for his second goal of the game. An announced crowd of 2,192 cheered the 4-4 tie with 13 minutes remaining.
The beginning of the end came four minutes later when Zink scored again, this time slipping lower and closer to Buffalo’s left and absolutely crushing a one-time shot into the net’s open, near side. The River Hawks tacked on a pair of empty-net goals late, dropping Dartmouth to 4-6-3. The Big Green hosts Princeton and No. 14 Quinnipiac this weekend.
“They move the puck really fast and like it’s on a string,” Gaudet said of Lowell.
“It’s the passer but it’s also the receiver. That subtle movement of his feet to get a puck that’s six inches off target on his forehand. They’re stick-ready and always prepared to shoot.”
Lowell, which had lost in the Ledyard final twice before, surrendered the game’s first goal when Michalowski drove around the net from right to left and threw it out front during the third minute.
The puck deflected off a Lowell skate and to Warpecha, who’s tied for the team lead with five goals. Those tallies have all come in Dartmouth’s last six games.
Lowell’s C.J. Smith scored twice in two minutes to put his team up, 2-1, eight minutes into the contest and Joe Gambardella scored his team’s second power-play goal of the night six minutes after the first intermission.
Dartmouth’s Clay Han pulled the hosts within 3-2 with a high, power-play shot through a crowd midway through the stanza. Roth notched his first collegiate goal 41 seconds later, a fluttering effort that trickled in after striking the bottom of Metcalf’s glove.
Then came Zink’s highlight-reel goal. Lowell coach Norm Bazin wasn’t surprised to see such a strike, but admitted his power play was at full force on Saturday.
“They were on today, really the whole team,” Bazin said. “When you move to open space and the puck follows, everything gels. But these type of games are few and far between, having this much success on special teams.”
Gaudet said the margin for error against such a lethal, man-up unit is almost zero. Failure to cleanly handle a bouncing puck, clear the defensive zone or execute properly on a faceoff often results in an opposition goal. Lowell’s power-play successes came nine, 24 and 74 seconds after the penalty calls that created them.
“You want to measure yourself against the best teams in the country because that’s how we’re going to grow and learn,” Gaudet said. “We don’t want to bring someone in just for a tune-up. That’s not going to do us any good, but we also didn’t come into tonight saying we were just going to give it the old college try.”