Dartmouth hockey players John Ernsting, left and Charley Michalowski charge to the puck with Clarkson's Troy Josephs, left, and Sam Vigneault withthem on Feb. 25, 2017 in Hanover, N.H. (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Dartmouth hockey players John Ernsting, left and Charley Michalowski charge to the puck with Clarkson's Troy Josephs, left, and Sam Vigneault withthem on Feb. 25, 2017 in Hanover, N.H. (Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Hanover — The Dartmouth College men’s hockey team hopes last year’s ECAC playoff magic repeats itself at Yale’s Ingalls Rink, for that’s also where the Big Green will begin this year’s postseason. The pairing of the eighth-place Bulldogs and ninth-place Big Green was finalized on Saturday after Dartmouth lost, 6-4, to visiting Clarkson and Princeton beat Yale in the Garden State.

Last year, seventh-place Dartmouth upset Yale, ranked No. 7 in the nation, in an ECAC quarterfinal, best-of-three series after upending Colgate in the first round. The Big Green has won at least one playoff round for six consecutive years.

The Golden Knights broke a 3-3 tie with 11 minutes remaining at Thompson Arena. The tally came on a one-time shot from the left side of the slot and with each team down a penalized player. An announced crowd of 2,298 groaned, then became even more unhappy a minute later when a puck dumped in from center ice and, moving with the unpredictability of a knuckleball, eluded Dartmouth goaltender Devin Buffalo.

The final Clarkson goal came with eight minutes to go, after which Buffalo was replaced by Dean Shatzer. Dartmouth closed the scoring with two minutes remaining on a Cam Strong tally.

The Big Green entered the regular season’s final weekend hopeful of remaining in eighth place in the 12-team ECAC standings and thereby landing home ice for the first round. The conference’s top four teams receive a bye for the opening weekend, while finishers five through eight host teams nine through 12.

The Big Green lost to visiting St. Lawrence, 5-4, on Friday while Princeton whipped Brown, allowing it to leapfrog Dartmouth into eighth place. Its Saturday triumph moved it up to seventh place. Clarkson (15-14-5, 10-9-3) finished in sixth place and will host 11th-place Rensselaer. Other pairings are fifth-place Quinnipiac vs. 12th-place Brown and seventh-place Princeton vs. 10th-place Colgate.

Dartmouth led, 3-0, after Saturday’s first period, but the game was tied, 3-3, after two stanzas. Corey Kalk, Troy Crema and Ryan Blankemeier had the opening period goals.

Troy Josephs scored a pair of goals, his third and fourth tallies at the expense of the Big Green this season after scoring two in the December game in Potsdam, N.Y.

The Knights also got scores from Marly Quincy, Kelly Summers, James de Haas and Sheldon Rempal. De Haas also added three assists.

“They beat us to some pucks in the second period and got some momentum,” a downcast Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said. “We had an early lead and you’d like to be able to sock it away and we just weren’t able to. We just didn’t get any good bounces after the first period, and I can’t put my finger on why. It’s not like we thought the night was over but they got on their toes and we got on our heels and that was the difference.

“I thought we played three real great periods last night, but tonight we didn’t and we have to be better.”

Dartmouth lost its two games against Yale this season, falling 7-0 at home and 4-0 on the road.

“I don’t think that really matters,” Gaudet said. “Everyone starts with a clean slate. We didn’t play great against them the game here but there, I thought we were really solid. Our kids are a resilient bunch and we’ll go there and expect to win.”

Notes: Dartmouth played without injured forward Kevan Kilistoff and forward Shane Sellar was a healthy scratch. That allowed Kyle Nickerson and Jamie McLaughlin into the lineup. … Attending the game was former Dartmouth football player Charlie Miller, who concluded his college career as a safety last fall. The senior said he and classmate Folarin Orimolade will stage a “pro day” next month in Hanover to showcase their physical talents for NFL scouts. … Roger Arend, the timekeeper for Dartmouth men’s and women’s hockey games, is retiring after this season. He began those duties in 1985 and has worked more than 600 such contests. … Dartmouth’s promotions department handed enormous cardboard cutouts of the heads of seniors Nickerson, Crema, Josh Hartley and Grant Opperman to four fans in section 18. The images were attached to wooden sticks with duct tape. … Second-year professional player Tyler Sikura, a former Dartmouth skater, had no points in his first 11 games with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League. Sikura began the season with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye, putting up 29 points in 37 games. Eric Neiley, another 2015 Dartmouth graduate, had 33 points in his first 42 games with the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators. Classmate Rick Pinkston is a defenseman who’s played with the ECHL’s Allen (Texas) Americans and Manchester Monarchs and is currently with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603- 727-3227.