Dartmouth Manhandles M. Hockey, 7-0

Friday night's matchup against Dartmouth at Thompson Arena was an all too familiar repeat of the Crimson's performance against Boston College in the first round of the annual Beanpot Tournament.

But the Big Green (10-10-2, 7-6-2 ECAC) are not ranked No. 2 in the country.

The Harvard men's hockey team suffered its worst defeat in over twenty years this weekend, falling 7-0 to a surging Dartmouth squad. The last time the Crimson (10-11-1, 9-6-1 ECAC) fared so poorly was an 11-3 loss to Cornell during the 1978-79 season.

"We played a very good hockey team tonight, and we played well." Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet said. "We got the puck to bounce our way, we got some key goals and some great stops early in that game. The score is definitely not indicative of the Harvard team, so they'll be back."

Perhaps the most improved squad in the ECAC, Dartmouth has continued to rack up bragging rights throughout the league and in non-conference action.

The Big Green had not gotten a win over Harvard since the 1995-96 season, when Dartmouth picked up a pair of victories over the Crimson.

"Coach Mazzoleni would probably say that they lost to a good team," Gaudet said. "It probably stings to lose to Dartmouth but we're trying to change that."

"You have to give credit to them," Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. "They out-played us, out-coached us, out-everythinged us. They were on every loose puck and they beat us to every loose puck.

"We just ran around and they exploited us. They beat us in every part of the game."

Dartmouth blueliner Trevor Byrne gave a hint of the impending onslaught when he hit a ringing slapshot off the left post barely 30 seconds into the game. But Dartmouth would only need another minute to get on the board.

At 1:27 into the opening frame, Dartmouth center Frank Nardella worked the puck deep behind the Crimson's net and sent a pass up to winger Chris Taliercio on the doorstep. Taliercio one-timed the pass top corner over senior goaltender Oliver Jonas's left shoulder to tally the eventual gamewinner..

"We don't have our legs right now," Mazzoleni said. "We look like a team that's tired and beaten up. We have many guys who've missed practice this week because of the flu."

The Crimson was able to stave off most of the Big Green's chances throughout the first period, as Jonas stoned a breakaway from Dartmouth tri-captain Jamie Herrington, and lucked out when defenseman Pete Summerfelt missed a wide open net at 15:44.

But the Big Green wouldn't miss its next shot 20 seconds later. With Jonas out of position, tri-captain Michael Byrne swung back towards the net and tucked the puck over the line. Rookie winger Tyler Kolarik tried to clear the puck from the net before crossing the line, but officials ruled in favor of the home team, giving Dartmouth an unnecessary insurance goal.

The second stanza was essentially a repeat of the first, with the Big Green picking up another pair of tallies to go up 4-0 at the end of the period. Dartmouth's Kent Gillings took a sharp-angle shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that caught the edge of the pipe only 10 seconds into the period. Chris Baldwin added the fourth at 18:13 with a shot that squirted through Jonas's sliding pad save.

One of Harvard's best chances to notch a point came at 13:06 on the penalty kill. Moore and younger brother Dominic surged down the ice in the man-down situation and fired a sequence of shots on netminder Nick Boucher. Summerfelt raced in to make the final save as Boucher was out of position on the third shot from the elder Moore.

"We had a power play in the second period that Boucher was just immense on," Gaudet said. "They got some chances, and that was a key point in the game."

Although it didn't require much effort--he faced only 22 shots in three periods--Boucher recorded his first whitewash of the season last weekend, and his last blanking since Dartmouth's win over RPI last January.

Jonas wasn't as fortunate as the opposing goaltender, turning in an uncharacteristically poor performance. The Big Green chased Jonas from the game after the second period, as Mazzoleni sent in freshman netminder Will Crothers to tend the final 20 minutes.

Crothers, a little green himself with only one full game under his belt, turned in an admirable effort, but was unable to stave off the Dartmouth offense, giving up a trio of goals in the third period, two of which came on the power play.

Harvard's power play--ranked near the top of the league at approximately 20 percent--did not click on any of its four chances despite the fact that the Big Green post only a 74 percent penalty kill success rate.

"You have to have leadership. We're coaching the same way we did in the beginning. It's what's going out there, and the attitude that goes with it."

The loss drops the Crimson to fourth place in the ECAC, as St. Lawrence takes control of the conference for the first time this season. Cornell and Clarkson are tied for second, only a point ahead of the Crimson, and Dartmouth is right on Harvard's heels in fifth.

Harvard sees its final non-conference regular season game tonight against Northeastern in the Beanpot consolation game and hopes to erase the memory of this past weekend with a win over the Huskies.

"We better put this one behind us, or we'll get beaten 7-0 nothing again," Mazzoleni said.