Late Gould Slapshot Breaks 2-2 Tie, Gives Wildcats ECAC Championship

The moment, frozen, University of New Hampshire captain Bob Gould, having just uncorked a vicious slapshot from about 45 feet, glances towards the goal before heading in for a prospective rebound. The backskating Dartmouth defenseman, unaware of what is happening behind him. His glove outstretched, hoping for the reassuring thwack of rubber into leather, Dartmouth goalie Bob Gaudet. 14,490 fans, waiting, ready to explode. The Boston Garden scoreboard: UNH 2, Dartmouth 2, 2:43 to play.

The puck, about four feet off the ice, bulging the upper left hand corner of the net.

When time resumed its normal course, the red light flashed, the sizable contingent of UNH fans went nuts, and the Wildcats mobbed their captain and each other. A few minutes later, after Tourney MVP Greg Moffat frustrated a few desperate, last-minute Big Green attempts to send the game into overtime, the icemen from Durham, N.H., had grabbed a hard-fought contest, 3-2. It was their first ECAC Division One championship in ten tries at post-season play.

It wasn't easy. Although the defending national champion "Where's B.U.?" Terriers had been conveniently knocked out in the semis, upset-minded Dartmouth proved no pushover. The Big Green, which had gone 0-3 in the playoffs before this year, stunned first-seeded B.U. on Friday night (5-3), matching number two UNH chance-for-chance and hit-for-hit until the final buzzer.

Dartmouth jumped out to an early lead at 4:49 of the first period. A blast from the left point by defenseman Ric Mellum was stopped in front, but Steve Higgins backhanded the rebound to captain Mark Culhane, who rapped it home.

But after hanging tenaciously to its tenuous one-goal lead for nearly 24 minutes, the Big Green produced the Big Screw-Up. Coach George Crowe chose the worst possible time to change both his line, and defensemen on the fly and gave UNH a three-on-nothing breakaway. Gaudet made a chest-save on Ralph Cox, but Bob Francis (son of Emile) flipped the rebound past his left shoulder to knot the contest at one apiece.

When Bruce Crowder neatly tipped in a centering pass from linemate Terry Flanagan at 9:09 (only 37 seconds after Francis' tally), the Wildcats had a 2-1 lead. Unfazed by this quick turnabout, Dartmouth pressed for the tying goal and nearly got it when a Mark Burton slapper beat Moffett cleanly but hit the post.

The Big Green's efforts were rewarded 6:16 into period three. After Moffett had him twice from in close, and a UNH defenseman had batted away another shot that had goal written all over it, Higgins knocked in a loose puck as he fell to the ice to make it 2-2.

Though the contest ended with Dartmouth dejected and UNH estatic, both squads gained a berth in the NCAAs (Detroit, March 23-24). Anyone for a rematch?