If it’s Overlock, it’s a lock.
With a two-goal, one-assist night from junior defenseman Garret Overlock, Dartmouth continued its drive toward a first-round ECAC Hockey League tournament bye with a come-from-behind 5-1 win over Clarkson at Thompson Arena Saturday night. The Big Green (14-9-2 overall, 11-7-0 ECACHL) was mentally slow to arrive for the second successive evening, but once in the building was too much to handle.
Overlock keyed the effort with a pair of power-play goals, breaking a 1-1 tie with his first and putting an end to Golden Knight goaltender Dustin Traylen’s evening with his second. Nick Johnson, Eric Przepiorka and Lee Stempniak also struck for the Big Green, which has won six of seven and remains tied with Vermont for the fourth and final bye with four games to play.
“I think we did pretty well,” said Big Green forward Jarrett Sampson. “The only complaint I think Coach [Bob Gaudet] is going to have on Monday is we came out flat in both games. It took us to almost to the 10-minute mark of each second period to get really going. Then once we got going, I think that shut the other team down.”
Tied 1-1 after one period, Overlock threaded a power-play wrister from the blue line past Traylen’s right skate at 11:38 of the second to put Dartmouth ahead for good. Sampson and Przepiorka then hooked up for the night’s highlight goal at 14:16, with Sampson dropping a blind wraparound pass in the left circle for Przepiorka to drill home after Clarkson’s Max Kolu cut off Sampson’s angle to the goal.
Stempniak wrapped a Ben Lovejoy rebound around the downed Traylen 35 seconds into the third period for a 4-1 lead. Overlock doubled his pleasure at 3:31, beating Traylen from center point again just three seconds after Clarkson’s Jay Latulippe drew a high-sticking minor.
“It had nothing to do with Dustin; Dustin played great in the second period, and the score could have been a lot worse,” Roll said. “I was upset with our mental preparation. We weren’t focused in the second or third periods whatsoever.”
Max Faulkner accounted for the only goal for Clarkson (11-17-2 overall, 7-10-1 league), a 50-foot wrister that caught Dartmouth goaltender Dan Yacey (25 saves) by surprise at the 17-minute mark of the first period.
But Nick Johnson equalized for Dartmouth just 42 seconds later, and Yacey was a block of Big Green granite the rest of the evening.
As for Overlock, Dartmouth has now won the last nine games in which the junior from Greenwich, Conn., has recorded a point.
“I’ll take it whenever I can get it,” said Overlock, who now has 20 points on the season, nearly double the output of his first two years. “The puck’s been real nice for me this year; it’s been going in the net pretty constantly, which hasn’t happened in the past. But I think a lot has to do with the way the whole team’s working.”
Greg Fennell covers Dartmouth hockey for the Valley News of West Lebanon, N.H.
