After Harvard’s third period, two-goal comeback stunned Union during last night’s 3-3 tie at Messa Rink, the message was clear coming into Saturday night’s tilt against Dartmouth: remedy the shortcomings from the night before.
Union did just that, netting three goals in the first period en route to a high-octane 7-1 drubbing of the visiting Big Green.
“They played with a lot of jump, and a lot of passion,” said Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet of Union’s effort.
His counterpart echoed similar sentiments.
“We have a lot of offensive power, as you saw tonight,” said first-year Union coach Rick Bennett. “I don’t want this team playing on its heels one bit,”
Union received strong individual efforts from junior Daniel Carr, who netted two goals, and freshman Trevor Mingoia, who registered two goals and an assist. But the story of the night was Union’s power play, which remained perfect for most of the game, ultimately converted four times out of six on the man advantage.
“Their power play was fabulous,” said Gaudet. “We had no answers for it.”
Jeremy Welsh opened the scoring at 7:14 of the first period, unleashing a lethal wrist shot that sailed over Dartmouth goaltender Cab Morris’ left shoulder. Welsh’s tally was his 14th of the year.
Freshman defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere found the score sheet next. After Eric Robinson was whistled for hooking, Union took to the power play. With Wayne Simpson parked in front of Morris, “the ghost,” a moniker given to him by Bennett, threaded a slap shot past Morris to put Union up 2-0.
Dartmouth (7-6-2 overall) fell to 4-4-1 in ECAC play. The only Big Green goal was scored in the waning minutes of the third period, as Jesse Beamish netted his fourth of the year, short handed. After a five minute major and game misconduct to freshman Brandon McNally, Beamish capitalized after Welsh bobbled the puck on the Dartmouth blue line. The Ontario native streaked down the right boards, cutting sharply toward Union’s crease. Colliding with a defender, Beamish was able to sneak the puck past sophomore Troy Grosenick before sprawling on the ice.
The game was not without incident, however.
Union (10-5-6 overall, 4-2-3 ECAC) battled with Dartmouth throughout the game, sometimes spilling over into on-ice fisticuffs. Tensions ran especially high after McNally was whistled for charging Union’s Taylor Reid. Reid crumpled to the ice while McNally was led off the ice to a cascade of boos from a sold-out crowd of 2,404 at Messa Rink.
Although Dartmouth managed 30 shots, Grosenick turned them away with ease.
Carr, who was reunited with Welsh and Josh Jooris, lauded Grosenick’s play.
“He’s been a rock back there for us [and] he’s done that all year,” said Carr.
Grosenick entered the game sporting the nation’s best goals-against average (1.74).
Freshman Trevor Mingoia, a healthy scratch last night, saw significant ice time, playing on the first power play unit. Bennett’s decision paid off as Mingoia tallied his second career multi-point game, the first since Dec. 3 at Princeton. He accounted for Union’s fourth and fifth goals of the evening (his second and third of the season).
After Carr partially fanned on a shot at the point, Mingoia pounced on the rebound to put Union up 4-0. Minutes later, after receiving a cross-ice pass from Kevin Sullivan, Mingoia moved laterally to his right before depositing Union’s fifth tally of the evening. That was all for Morris as Gaudet replaced him with Jody O’Neill at 1:58 of the second period.
Carr, not to be outdone, sandwiched his two goals between Mingoia’s. Both of Carr’s came on the man advantage, as he picked up his 19th and 20th career power-play goals and is now tied for second in the country with eight power-play goals (North Dakota’s Brock Nelson has nine and Yale’s Brian O’Neill also has eight).
After Mingoia fed Josh Jooris behind the net, Jooris found Carr lying in wait in the high slot. Carr’s one-timer made the score 3-0. On his second tally, Carr whistled one from the high slot past O’Neill to make it six unanswered. Union would go up 7-0 on a Cole Ikkala goal before Dartmouth broke Grosenick’s shutout.
Grosenick is now 9-3-3 on the season.
