The equalizer came from freshman Harry Schwefel, who looped around the Dartmouth net and whipped a wrister past goaltender Eric Almon (12 saves). Freshman Tim Stay delivered the game winner at the 12:14 mark when a seemingly harmless shot from the right point took an odd bounce and trickled by Almon.
"The way the team performed, I really couldn't ask for much more," said Dartmouth's Gaudet. "We generated some good offense and we've been playing well lately. We're getting there. It just would have been nice to win tonight."
Despite chances for both teams in the third period, the lamp would not light up "Considering all the things that have happened to us in the past week, this was a big win for us", Tomassoni said. "The kids hung in there tough and showed a lot of character once again, but this time it was a 'W'--and it's always better when it's a 'W.'" Vermont 4, Harvard 3 The Catamounts' offensive firepower had been all but non-existent before the new year began. A 1.93 goals-per-game average would never have been heard of in Burlington during the reign of the French Connection, the now-graduated duo of Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin. As a result, for the first time in years, Harvard could not be called the underdog when facing off against the Catamounts (5-9-2, 2-3-2). Unfortunately for the Crimson, the odds do little to precipitate results. Vermont, which is now 4-0-1 in its last four games at Bright Hockey Center, came off its first ECAC win the night before against Brown and carried its momentum into Cambridge. "[Vermont] was the only team that we haven't yet really been able to get a feel for [before a game]," Tomassoni said. "They've been having trouble scoring goals, but they have been competitive in every game. They've always been a good skating team". It was an evenly-played contest right into the final minute--a minute which was as bizarre as any in the recent history of collegiate hockey. With both teams deadlocked at two goals apiece and the game clock winding down, Vermont winger Matt Sanders rifled a blast from just inside the right face-off circle. Jonas (29 saves) kick-saved the shot to his right, only to have Gernander one-time the rebound into an open net to give Vermont a precious 3-2 lead. Only 51 seconds remained. "That was a bit of a breakdown for us", Tomassoni said. "We went for the puck and we were a little lax and they got a nice bounce that went their way. [Gernander] was way off to the weak side and in most cases--nine times out of 10--the puck doesn't go to him. Unfortunately this time it did." With Vermont now employing a prevent defense and Harvard clearly desperate, Jonas was pulled from hit net with 44 seconds left. The Crimson pounded the puck deep into the Vermont zone, and an attempted centering pass from behind the net found no Harvard stick as the puck slipped down the length of the ice--and into the empty Harvard net. The last Dart-mouth player to touch the puck was goal-tender Andrew Allen, so according to the rulebook the empty-netter belonged to the freshman. The goaltender was clearly ecstatic in achieving such a momentous rarity. More importantly, it extended Vermont's lead to 4-2--all the more important because of what happened next. Harvard, left for dead, rallied back and with only one second left, junior Henry Higdon stuffed home Harvard's third goal of the contest. The scoring ended there, but Higdon's late tally allowed Allen's empty-netter to become the game-winner. "It was sort of weird that it went through and went down into our own net", said Higdon. "That kind of thing only happens once in every blue moon. It was a bizarre bounce and a frustrating loss because we definitely had chances to win the game before that and shouldn't have had to be in that position in the first place". Read more in Sports
