HANOVER — Sophomore Drew O’Connor scored his first career hat trick, capped by his 20th goal of the season, as the Dartmouth College men’s hockey team beat Union, 5-3, at Thompson Arena on Saturday night to clinch home ice in the first round of the ECAC tournament.
O’Connor scored in each period for Dartmouth (13-11-4 overall, 10-9-2 league), which never trailed. Jeff Losurdo put the Big Green ahead, 2-1, late in the first period, and O’Connor struck in the opening minute of the second stanza. He closed his scoring with 4:58 left in the game.
Will Graber had three assists and Adrian Clark stopped 29 shots. The Big Green hosts RPI on Saturday.
ITHACA, N.Y. — The Big Green (11-15, 4-7) threw down a 48-point second half to end a 20-game road losing streak in Ivy League play and keep its faint conference tournament hopes alive.
Dartmouth hit 55.6% from the floor for the night, opening up a 34-26 halftime lead. The Big Red (6-18, 4-8) made a second-half charge, closing to within 55-53 with 9:14 left, to which the Big Green responded with a 7-2 run to regain breathing room.
Ian Sistare struck for a game-high 25 points for Dartmouth. Aaryn Rai had 18 points, Chris Knight netted 17 and James Foye had 14. The Big Green visits Columbia on Saturday night.
HANCOCK, Vt. — Dartmouth’s men and women swept their respective alpine races to sit second overall halfway through the season-ending Middlebury Carnival.
Over at Middlebury Snow Bowl, Dartmouth women swept second through fifth place in the women’s slalom, led by Claire Thomas (1:39.49) and Abi Jewett (1:40.15). The Big Green men nipped host Middlebury by a point, with Kalle Wagner taking a team-best third place (1:35.42).
Even without Katharine Ogden and Lauren Jortberg again, the Big Green cross country women finished second in their 5K freestyle at the Rikert Nordic Center as Molly Gellert landed in third place (13:27.7). Walker Bean was a team-best 16th (23:56.6) for the Dartmouth men.
Vermont holds a 453-415 lead on Dartmouth, with Middlebury third (405).
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The Cavaliers (7-3) jumped on the Big Green (2-3) for seven first-inning runs for an easy victory at Davenport Field.
Nic Kent led a 22-hit Virginia attack, going 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs. Blake Crossing had both of Dartmouth’s hits, and Kolton Freeman had the only RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh. Austen Michel took the loss on the mound for the Big Green.
The teams meet again on Saturday.
LONGWOOD, Fla. — The Big Green (3-4) opened The Spring Games by losing to Florida International and Albany (N.Y.) at the Soldiers Creek complex. Dartmouth managed just three hits in the opener against FIU and scored its sole run in the bottom of the seventh before a seesaw loss to the Great Danes in the nightcap.
Dartmouth continues its five-game weekend in Florida against Western Michigan on Saturday morning.