Hanover
This turned out to be a blessing for the Big Green, which scored the three-round shootout’s only goal partially because of the narrow path dry-scraped on the ice. Dartmouth’s last shooter, Corey Kalk, bobbled the biscuit as he brought it across the cleared strip’s lefthand lip, preventing him from firing and forcing him to settle the puck as he drifted in on goaltender Parker Gahagan.
By the time Kalk had the rubber under control, he was approaching the far post and Gahagan, who had come out to challenge him, couldn’t stretch all the way to the pipe. Kalk tucked the puck inside it on his forehand as he sailed past and toward the corner, exciting an announced crowd of 2,949 at the 28th Ledyard Classic’s second game of the day.
“In a shootout, you tend to panic and think you have to get a shot on net right away, but I didn’t have a choice,” said Kalk, whose team reached the Classic’s title game for the fifth time in the event’s last six years. “I was going to (fake) and try to get him standing still, but I looked up and he was way out on me. Thankfully, he left me a little spot on the far side. It was just a reactionary play.”
The teams tied, 2-2, through three periods. Technically, the result goes down as a deadlock followed by a “skills exhibition,” but it propelled the hosts into a matchup with No. 7 UMass Lowell tonight. The River Hawks defeated Colgate, 3-2, during Friday’s first game. The Raiders and Black Knights will face off in the de facto consolation contest today at 4 p.m.
“There aren’t a lot of times in a season where you play for a championship, even if it’s just in a tournament,” said Kalk, who played his first game since suffering a Dec. 2 injury and who has scored in his last three games. “We don’t get many chances to play Hockey East teams, either, so that’s a bonus for us.”
Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said his team had a shootout contest during its Friday morning skate, but when defensemen Cam Roth and Clay Han prevailed, he called an audible. Forward Troy Crema went out first against Army, but was denied by Gahagan. Kalk scored, and Big Green goaltender Devin Buffalo foiled his third consecutive Black Knights shooter to seal the unofficial victory.
“It’s total guesswork,” Gaudet said with a laugh, adding that Will Graber would have shot third. Dartmouth improved to 4-0-1 at home this season.
Army coach Brian Riley, meanwhile, wrote down his three shooters — Conor Andrle, Alex Wilkinson and Tipper Higgins — before the game, but by late in the second period and with his team down by two goals, he wasn’t sure he’d need those notes. The Black Knights scored just 1.3 seconds before the second intermission, however, then tallied again 45 seconds into the final stanza.
“If we go into the third period down, 2-0, I don’t know that the game ends at 2-2,” Riley said. “Getting that first goal so late in the second period was a big momentum boost for us.”
Army (9-6-2) misfired on several prime scoring chances during the game’s first 30 minutes and it was Dartmouth that struck first, capitalizing on a power play created by a holding call on Army’s Nash Warden. Troy Crema passed from the right sideboards and into the slot, which Kalk had just entered from the far side. Kalk received the feed, took his time cradling the puck and fired a waist-high wrist shot past goaltender Gahagan during the second period’s 18th minute.
“I was out there for a while on the power play and I was looking to change,” Kalk said. “But I kind of just ended up in the slot and I got the puck (unexpectedly), and I wanted to make sure I controlled it and got good wood on it. You don’t want to fan on those chances.”
The Big Green (4-5-3) doubled its lead 46 seconds later, following a Carl Hesler faceoff win to Gahagan’s left. Roth gained possession against the near boards and fired a shot off Gahagan’s pads. The rebound caromed directly to Cam Strong on the slot’s left side, and he one-timed the puck inside the near post.
Army, which held a 26-16 shot advantage after two periods, halved its deficit just before the second intermission. Dominic Franco’s pass from behind the goal line and to one side of the net found Blake Box pinching down from center point. Buffalo was unable to slide out from the post quickly enough to stop a low one-timer.
The Black Knights needed less than a minute of the third period and a determined forecheck to pull even. Buffalo denied a Nick DeCenzo slap shot from the left point but had no teammate nearby to clear the rebound. Andrle, parked atop the crease, deposited it inside the net’s unguarded right side.
Army’s Franco intercepted a clearing pass in Dartmouth’s end but couldn’t convert the ensuing breakaway midway through the third period. Buffalo shined during the shootout, capping a strong night for the junior.
His 12 consecutive starts to begin the season are the most in such a circumstance since Mike Devine started the Big Green’s first 17 games during the 2006-07 campaign.
Dartmouth played without injured defenseman River Rymsha and Tim Shoup. The former underwent shoulder surgery earlier this month and is likely out for the season, and the latter probably has another two weeks of rehabilitation remaining to overcome lower leg injury. That puts even more weight on the team’s 11 freshmen, six of whom played Friday.
Notes: Army and Dartmouth share a connection in that late Black Knights coach Jack Riley once was a Dartmouth playing standout. Riley played for the Big Green during the 1940s, coached the 1960 U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal and guided Army from 1950-86. A son, Rob, replaced Jack at West Point and he was succeeded in 2004 by his sibling, Brian. Jack Riley died in February, and Dartmouth on Friday wore its jerseys from last season, which feature a patch that includes a shamrock and the initials JPR. … Gaudet said next year’s Classic will feature No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth, New Hampshire and Yale. … Tonight’s game will be Gaudet’s 900th career contest behind the bench. … Army coach Brian Riley, then playing for Brown, scored a goal on then-Dartmouth goaltender Gaudet during the teams’ Feb. 14, 1981 meeting at Thompson Arena. The Big Green won that contest, played in the morning on Winter Carnival weekend, 8-4. … Dartmouth’s scratches were the injured Kyle Nickerson (broken thumb) and the healthy Charlie Michalowski, Jamie McLaughlin and Kevin Neiley.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.