"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.