HANOVER — In what was a back-and-forth affair at Thompson Arena on Friday night, the Dartmouth men’s hockey team came out victorious 5-4 against ECAC and Ivy League rival Harvard.
A match-up marked by multiple momentum swings and lead changes was ultimately won off the stick of sophomore forward Hank Cleaves.
About midway through the third period, Cleaves netted the rebound off a shot by sophomore defenseman Colin Grable that rang off the bottom post to give the Big Green a decisive 5-4.
“Just an exciting Friday night at Thompson,” Big Green Head Coach Reid Cashman said after the game, which was a sellout. “It was great to have our students back. The Upper Valley has been supporting us all year.”
Sophomore forward Hayden Stavroff, who is in the top five in the nation for points per game and goals per game, was key offensively for the Big Green as he scored twice and added an assist.
Cleaves, freshman forward Brock Cummings and sophomore forward Jack Silverberg each had a goal. While junior defenseman Eric Charpentier, freshman forward Jason Stefanek, Grable and Cleaves each added two assists.
While Cashman noted there were mistakes his squad needed to clean up, like allowing two short-handed goals, he was proud of his team’s ability to overcome them and pick up the win.
“Our bench never wavered. The language our guys used on the bench… there’s just this common language when Harvard would score and tie it, we just didn’t waver, our guys didn’t waver, and that, for me as a coach sitting back, was the thing I was most proud of,” Cashman said.
One of those mistakes Cashman referenced opened the door for Harvard to take an early lead. On a power play, the Big Green surrendered a short-handed goal to the Crimson on a shot from sophomore forward Mick Thompson and fell behind 1-0 12:06 into the first period.
Dartmouth looked to be facing a 2-0 deficit late in the first, but a Harvard goal was overturned on a successful Big Green challenge to keep the score at 1-0.
Under a minute later, Stavroff, assisted by Cleaves, whistled a shot past Harvard’s sophomore goaltender Ben Charette that went bar down to tie the game at one goal apiece heading into the second period.
The scoring opened up in the second period with five goals between both squads in the frame. Dartmouth got on the board first about four minutes into the second period on Cummings’ goal, which Charpentier and Stefanek assisted to take a 2-1 lead.
That lead was short-lived, though, as the Big Green had another error on the power play, allowing a second short-handed goal, this time from freshman forward Richard Gallant to make the game 2-2.
“When you’re careless with the puck, whether it’s five-on-four or five-on-five, we knew going into it they have the ability to really hurt you… it doesn’t matter if it was power play or not, we were careless with the puck,” Cashman said of his team’s special teams miscues.
Both squads traded goals again past the midway point of the second period, but it was Dartmouth who went into the locker room for the second intermission with a 4-3 lead.
With under a minute to play in the period, Silverberg made a nice move around Charette and sent the puck off the back of the Crimson goaltender’s skate into the back of the net to give his squad the lead.
The scoring slowed down in the third period, and Harvard eventually broke through to tie the game at 4-4 on a goal from junior forward Ryan Fine about six minutes into the final frame.
In the end, while the Crimson might have struck first, it was the Big Green who had the last laugh, hunkering down defensively to secure the 5-4 win after Cleaves’ goal midway through the period.
“Ivy League matchup, ECAC, and it was the only one of the weekend, so it was a really big one,” Cleaves said after the win.
Stavroff was also happy with the win, saying, “Probably didn’t play our best for 60 (minutes) but we found a way to get the win, which was good… only one game on the weekend so, good to get those points.”
With the win, the Big Green, who are ranked 11th in the nation, moved to 13-4 overall and 7-2 in conference play, and next hosts Clarkson on Friday at 7 p.m.