Brown chops down Dartmouth in men’s hockey

HANOVER — Saturday’s ECAC and Ivy League men’s hockey clash between Dartmouth College and Brown began with Big Green center Carl Hesler chopping the stick of the Bears’ Brent Beaudoin in half as the puck was dropped.

The hosts were cut down in the end, however, falling 2-0 and allowing Brown to tie them at 21 points, but leapfrog them into sixth place by virtue of having won both head-to-head matchups this winter.

With two regular-season games remaining, seventh-place Dartmouth cannot earn one of four first-round byes for the upcoming conference playoffs, but should gain home ice for a clash with one of the 12-team circuit’s bottom four finishers.

The Big Green, 10-13-4 overall and 9-8-3 in ECAC play, closes the regular season with games at Union and Rensselaer, the teams are just behind them in the conference standings. Colgate, Princeton and St. Lawrence bring up the rear.

Brown (11-12-4, 10-7-3) appeared as if it might have opened the scoring two minutes into the second period when a shot off the crossbar was initially ruled a goal before being overturned upon video review. Less than a minute later, Dartmouth’s Matt Baker was denied by Brown goaltender Luke Kania on a breakaway.

Brown took a 1-0 lead six seconds into a power play midway through the middle stanza. Dartmouth’s Will Graber was whistled for goaltender interference, and Bears’ captain Tommy Marchin then ripped a one-time shot past Big Green goaltender Adrian Clark from the left circle.

Brown’s Brady Schoo knocked the puck past Clark for a 2-0 lead with 13 minutes to play, converting Marchin’s cross-crease pass and eluding a Jeff Losurdo check. Dartmouth coach Bob Gaudet urged the officials to review whether the Bears had been offsides when they brought the puck into the offensive zone, but to no avail.

Clark made 22 saves in his 17th consecutive start, the most by a Dartmouth netminder since 2008 graduate Mike Devine.

Notes: Honored on Senior Night were Cam Roth, Connor Yau, Alex Jasiek, Carl Hesler, Kevin Kilistoff and John Ernsting. … Brendan Whittet, Brown’s 10th year coach is 95-179-44 overall and 61-115-31 in ECAC play. He was previously a Dartmouth assistant and a Brown player under Gaudet. … Dartmouth freshman defenseman Harrison Markell missed his third consecutive game with an upper body injury. …

Friday’s result marked the first time Dartmouth has shut out Yale twice in a season. … Saturday’s game pitted a native of Montana, Dartmouth’s Cam Strong, against a native of Utah, Brown’s Anea Ferrario. … Neither the Bears nor the Big Green currently feature an NHL draft pick. However, Brown had three last season. … Devin Buffalo, a former Dartmouth goaltender and 2018 graduate, is with the Reading (Pa.) Royals, his third ECHL club this season. Buffalo is a combined 3-4 in 11 appearances. … The Dartmouth women’s hockey team finished 5-21-3, tying the program record for fewest victories in a season, set last season, when the Big Green was 5-19-3. Dartmouth is 23-80-9 the past four years. …

Paul Stewart, the ECAC’s longtime supervisor of officials and a former University of Pennsylvania player, has written a book. Ya Wanna Go? details his experiences as a World Hockey Association and NHL enforcer and NHL official. … Taking part in a between-periods contest in which two contestants played soccer while inside giant, inflatable plastic balls was Dartmouth senior Matt Kaskey, a 6-foot-7 offensive tackle on the football team. … Attending the game was Len Angelli, previously a Big Green athletic trainer and now holding the same position at Canaan’s Cardigan Mountain School.

Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.