Bulldogs’ defense crumbles against Dartmouth

DARTMOUTH 6, YALE 4

Everything was in place for it to be a special night at Ingalls Rink.

Coming off a rock-solid defensive effort 24 hours earlier, all that stood between Yale and taking a major step toward its sixth Ivy League title in the last nine years — and sole possession of third place in the ECAC standings — was Dartmouth, a team the Bulldogs handled with ease back in November.

However, the only celebrations Up next: The Bulldogs hit the road to face Union on Friday. Saturday night would be taking place in the visiting locker room after Dartmouth handed the Bulldogs a 6-4 loss.

Yale came into the game having allowed multiple goals in a period just four times in the first 22 games of the season.

Dartmouth struck for three in the first period, matching the most goals allowed by the normally stingy Bulldogs defense in a period this season, and added two more in the second.

The Bulldogs (13-7-3, 8-6-2 ECAC) had a glorious early chance to cut into a two-goal deficit when Stu Wilson was alone with Big Green goalie Charles Grant less than 2½ minutes into the second period. Wilson waited for Grant to commit, but was forced to try to power the puck past him. It didn’t work, but the Bulldogs did pull within 3-2 when Mitch Witek tucked a rebound inside the left post after some good chances by John Hayden and Mike Doherty.

The power-play goal seemed to inspire the Bulldogs, just as a first-period short-handed goal did, but the Big Green withstood a strong Yale push to take command with goals by Tyler Sikura and Eric Neiley.

Freshman defenseman Adam Larkin scored his first career goal at 4:17 of the third period to pull the Bulldogs within two. Just 2:34 later, Wilson wristed a shot just inside the right post to make it a one-goal game. Yale goalie Patrick Spano, who came into the game in the third period, was unable to cover a puck and Jesse Beamish poked it in

at 9:16.

Yale, which played a complete defensive game in Friday night’s win over Harvard, committed two turnovers on the first shift.

Just 1:36 into the game, Grant Opperman controlled the puck just inside the blue line, circled and flipped a shot on goal that resulted in his fourth goal of the season.

“I don’t think we played very well defensively,” Yale coach Keith Allain said. “We left guys open, we gave up odd-man rushes and that’s what happens.”

Dartmouth (11-9-4, 8-62) had the chance to really assume control of the game when Larkin went off for interference.

However, Doherty and Ryan Hitchcock broke out and Doherty was able to control Hitchcock’s cross-ice pass and ripped home him his team-leading 10th goal of the season.

The goal temporarily tilted the ice in the Bulldogs’ favor, but Dartmouth regained the momentum when Nick Bligh, playing in just his fourth game of the season, took a shot that appeared to be going over the crossbar before it changed direction and snuck into the net.

Brandon McNally’s nifty puck handling enabled him to split two Yale players and beat Alex Lyon with a beautiful shot at 17:03 of the first as Dartmouth moved into a four-way tie for third in the ECAC with three weekends left in the regular season.