Feb. 19, 2005

New Haven, CT - Dartmouth jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second period, then held off a Yale comeback attempt for a 5-3 win Saturday night at Ingalls Rink. Chris Snizek had two goals for the Big Green, which kept alive its chances of catching Vermont for fourth place and a first-round playoff bye (Dartmouth trails by two points with two games left). Yale got 26 saves from senior Peter Cohen in relief work on senior night but was unable to overcome the early deficit.

J.T. Wyman beat Josh Garter high on his stick side 1:33 into the game to start a wild first period. A feed from Snizek set up Ben Lovejoy for the next goal, as Lovejoy deked Gartner out of position and backhanded the puck past him at the 5:10 mark. A turnover in the Dartmouth zone allowed Yale to get back in it, as C.J. Nibbe broke up a clearing pass and got the puck to Robert Burns all alone in front of Dartmouth goaltender Dan Yacey (25 saves). Burns had enough time to execute a few fakes before deciding to go high with the puck to pull Yale within 3-1 at 7:45. Nick Johnson answered with a power play tally at 14:46, knocking in a rebound and ending Gartner's night. Snizek added a goal just 59 seconds before intermission to cap the busy frame.

Snizek got another one past Cohen 2:26 into the second but the senior then settled in as his team came charging back. Blair Yaworski and Joe Zappala set up a Nate Jackson goal at 5:13, and as the Blue began taking control of play Dartmouth called timeout midway through the period. Yale kept the pressure on, and things started getting interesting as the period drew to a close. Bill LeClerc worked the puck ahead to Jackson for a 2-on-1 opportunity, and just as the junior appeared ready to get off a wrist shot he instead passed to a wide-open Jeff Hristovski for Yale's third goal. Coming just 52 seconds before intermission, it finished off a period in which Yale outshot the Big Green 14-11 and appeared positioned for a comeback in front of another sellout crowd at Ingalls.

Cohen was the star of the third period, denying a half-dozen quality scoring chances for Dartmouth ranging from breakaways to point-blank slapshots. Yale was unable to carry that momentum over to the other end of the ice, however, getting just five shots on Yacey. Two of those came on a Bulldog power play that started with 5:13 to play and represented Yale's last good chance to get back in the game. Cohen (26 saves) was pulled with 1:39 to play, but Yacey made a nice save to deny Jackson and Dartmouth twice missed the empty net as the final seconds ticked away on the 5-3 final.

Yale honored its three seniors - Cohen, Nibbe, and captain Nick Shalek - at the game and also held a special ceremony commemorating Tot Farrel '31, a former Bulldog and Olympic gold medal winner (1932). A plaque in Farrel's honor will be on display at the rink, and members of his family were on hand for the presentation.

report by Sam Rubin '95, Yale Sports Publicity Department