Dartmouth continued to struggle against ECAC competition, dropping
their third straight on this homestand, to Clarkson 7-4.
Scott Baker put forth one of the most heroic performances I've ever seen from a
goalie but still got tagged with the loss.
Baker stopped a couple of 2-on-0s and at least 5 clean breakaways.  But his
teammates didn't give him too much help, and he gave up many goals that just
weren't his fault.  Baker's play cannot be overstated; if it weren't for him,
Clarkson would have scored *at least* 10 goals.
Anyway, on to the summary of the action....
        The Big Green jumped out to a 1-0 lead, as they did in both games last
weekend.  Dion Del Monte took a pass from the left wing from Jeremiah Buckley,
a freshman recently promoted to the first line.  Del Monte's wrister beat
Golden Knights' goalie Dan Murphy at 1:57 of the first.
        Clarkson answered at 9:32 of the first with a goal by David Seitz.
Jean Houle came down the left boards and broke through two Dartmouth checks as
he went towards the left of the net.  He fed Seitz, who beat Baker top-right
corner to tie the contest at 1.
        Dartmouth scored at 11:30 of the first to take a 2-1 lead.  Brent
Retter took a long shot that fooled Murphy.  He made the stop, falling to the
ground, and the puck squirted out front.  Bob Cancelli hacked at the puck and
Murphy made a save while flat on his back, as he reached out his glove hand and
stopped the progress of the puck.  At this point a barrage of players piled up
in front of the net trying to get at the puck.  Through this confusion, Brent's
younger brother Charlie punched the loose puck over the goal line.
        Right after stoning forward Kevin Murphy on a breakaway, Baker again
got little help from his defense as Clarkson tied the score.  Clarkson's Chris
Lipsett took a feed all alone in front of the net to Baker's right and had
quite a bit of time to think about what to do.  Finally he decided to go to the
backhand and beat Baker inside the post to tie the score at 2.
        Dartmouth's Darren Wercinski put the Big Green ahead at 4:57 of the
second on a great individual effort.  Wercinski's original point shot was
stopped by Murhpy, who couldn't control the rebound and tried to dive on the
puck.  Instead, Murhpy ended up on his stomach and the puck glanced off of his
glove and dribbled in front.  Wercinski, following the play all the way,
swooped in and put the puck into the empty net for a Dartmouth 3-2 lead.  That
was around the time the Big Green lost their discipline.
        Without going into too much detail, suffice to say that the Big Green
committed 3 straight penalties, and Clarkson cashed in on every one of them,
making a 3-2 deficit a 5-3 lead.  Clarkson scored 3 consecutive power play
goals in a span of 2:57.  All 3 goals involved Dartmouth simply being
outmanned, and in each case the Clarkson scorer has a good look at the net and
beat Baker from deep in the slot.  The Clarkson goals in this stretch were
scored by Steve Palmer, Marko Tuomainen and Claude Morin.
Baker did everything humanly possible but he couldn't stop the bleeding.
        The Big Green were being outplayed now, but Owen Hughes pulled them
within one with a goal at 16:26 of the third.  Hughes came in from the point
and with a clear shot at the net, the defenseman elected to fire the puck.  He
beat Murphy high under the crossbar, and Dartmouth was within 5-4.
        Clarkson scored on yet another power play 5:41 into the third .  Palmer
fed the puck from behind the net to Patrice Robitaille, whose one-timer beat
Baker to his right.
        Tuomainen put the icing on the cake with 6:15 left in the game and
Clarkson in a shorthanded situation.  In what became sort of a comedy of errors
by the Big Green, Baker faced not one, but TWO consecutive shorthanded breaks,
and the sophomore stopped both of them.  Then Toumainen came in on the THIRD
consecutive shorthanded breakway and beat Baker through the 5-hole for a 7-4
Clarkson lead.
        Again folks, it's not often that you can say a goalie played
brilliantly and still gave up 7 goals, but this was the case tonight with
Baker.  It seems to me that he's at least earned another start tomorrow night
against St. Lawrence (who beat UVM tonight 8-5).
        The points have been hard to come by lately for the Big Green, and the
Saints will be no easy task in the next game at Thompson.
Perhaps the Dartmouth faithful will come out in bigger numbers tomorrow night;
tonight's game only saw a quiet 2120 at Thompson.
 
 
Jeff Beyer '98
Dartmouth College