The Big Green dropped their fourth straight ECAC home game to the Saints
tonight.  St. Lawrence jumped ahead of Dartmouth this weekend in the ECAC
standings by virtue of their 2 wins, tonite and last night against UVM.
Big Green starting goalie Scott Baker, who played so heroically in a loss last
night against Clarkson, suffered a leg injury 13 minutes into the first and was
helped from the ice.  Ben Heller replaced him and played well in relief.
Look for a boxscore of tonite's game, which will be posted by Bob Gross, a
little later.
In the meantime, on to the action.
 
For the first time in 4 games, Dartmouth did not score first.  This time, St.
Lawrence jumped out to a 1-0 on a play that has plagued Dartmouth this entire
homestand--the breakaway.  Just as they did last night, Dartmouth proved
vulnerable to the shorthanded break.  Dartmouth defenseman Trevor Dodman had a
point shot blocked by defenseman Scott Stevens(no, not the one on the New
Jersey Devils)
Stevens took the deflection, raced down the ice on a clean breakaway and beat
Baker to the top right corner.
        3:06 later, the Saints made it 2-0 on Thom Cullen's tally.  Cullen took
a feed from behind the net and buried a shot to Baker's right.
        At 15:12 of the first Dartmouth pulled to 2-1 on a pretty passing play.
Freshman Shaun Peet, making a rare start, saved the puck at the point, fed the
puck down low to Owen Hughes, who shoveled it across the middle to David
Whitworth.  Whitworth went to the backhand and shelfed a shot over the shoulder
of Saints' goalie Clint Owen.
        About a minute-and-a-half later, Baker suffered his injury.  As he
tried to slide laterally to make a stop, Baker's skate caught in the ice and
hurt his left leg.  At first it looked like a knee injury, given Baker's
difficulties standing, but Coach Demment said after the game it appeared to be
a pulled muscle.  Baker was seen outside the lockerroom  on crutches.  Ben
Heller took over in net for the Big Green and responded, making 11 saves on his
first 12 shots.
        St. Lawrence extended to a 3-1 lead on Derek McLaughlin's goal.
McLaughlin came down on a slowly developing 2-on-1.  Dartmouth got back, so
McLaughlin fired the puck at the net, with no one to pass to.  Heller got a
clean look at the shot, but it was a tough save nonetheless, and one he
couldn't make.  The puck beat him top right corner.
        The Big Green tied the game 3-3 with two straight goals in the second.
Trevor Dodman's ugly looking shot from the point somehow found its way past
Owen to make it 3-2.  Dodman basically flubbed the shot, and it knuckleballed
towards the lower right corner of the net.  I'm not sure how it found its way
in, but it did.  A bit later, Patrick Turcotte made it a 3-3 contest.  Dion Del
Monte had the puck poked away from him but the defenseman failed to follow up
the play.  Turcotte picked up the puck and as he moved left to right, he
shelfed it under the crossbar.  Yip, he even moved the Gatorade bottle on top
of the net.
        Kris Laamanen put the Saints ahead to stay 4-3 at the 3:30 mark of the
third, with the breakaway bug once again biting the Big Green.  Laamanen got a
breakaway; Dartmouth appeared to have a chance to get back, but the closest
Dartmouth defenseman to the play was heading off the ice towards the bench on a
change, so the Saints' forward came in unmolested and beat Heller.  At 16:15,
St. Lawrence put the game away on a 2-on-1.  Dan Skene came down the left wing
with Cullen in the middle.  A Dartmouth defender played the break well, but
Skene's feed across to Cullen was picture-perfect, and Cullen scored to make it
5-3.
        Joel Prpic, a towering 6-6 center for Saint Lawrence, scored an empty
netter as he came in alone on a breakaway, with 5 seconds left.  This accounted
for the final 6-3 score.
The Big Green go on the road next weekend, after what was, needless to say, a
disappointing homestand that produced no points.
 
Jeffrey Beyer '98
Dartmouth College