The coach in Dartmouth’s Bob Gaudet had a lot more to savor, but the father in him will have to wait for a quieter time to enjoy it.
From the coach’s standpoint, Gaudet couldn’t find much to fault in the 15th-ranked Big Green’s 5-1 ECAC dismantling of Brown before 3,310 at Thompson Arena last night. One night after plodding through a one-goal loss to Yale, Dartmouth (10-6-0 overall, 7-4-0 ECAC) played more like a team choosing to make things happen than one waiting for fate to intervene.
From the father’s standpoint, Gaudet got to see his oldest son, junior wing Joe Gaudet, produce his most successful game as a collegiate skater. The younger Gaudet scored two goals and set up a third, none of them elegant but all of them effective in the way a coach could truly appreciate.
Joe Gaudet’s linemates, Scott Fleming (one goal, one assist) and Matt Reber (three assists), also had multi-point nights for Dartmouth.
“I’d like to say you have a chance (to notice Joe’s night), but not during the game,” the elder Gaudet admitted. “The intensity of preparation and the intensity of the game just doesn’t allow that, but I catch a glimpse every once in a while.
“I like those goals because you know there’s a lot of guys around the net. You know that any one of them could have scored.”
Dartmouth blew open a 1-1 tie with a four-goal second period, its most productive of the year.
Captain Rob Pritchard started it by one-timing a cross-ice pass from Connor Shields off the leg pad of Brown goaltender Dan Rosen (42 saves) at 4:40. Fleming upped the lead to 3-1 after a Joe Gaudet centering pass found a downed Brown defender and Fleming helped shove both, along with Rosen, into the net at 11:17.
Doug Jones picked the corner over Rosen’s blocker hand at 18:12 and Gaudet netted his second of the night just 32 seconds later on a crease jam while taking a hit from a Brown skater.
“It feels really good, especially after not having scored much this year,” said Joe Gaudet, who had just one goal over his first 15 games. “(Friday), we didn’t give anywhere near our best effort, and we only lost 2-1 against a really good Yale team. It shows how good a team we are, but we just have to come out night in and night out and give our best.”
Gaudet opened the scoring on a backhand wraparound in the first period.
Bobby Farnham netted Brown’s only goal early in the second period, a 40-foot wrister that appeared to catch Big Green goaltender Jody O’Neill (21 saves) by surprise. It was only the ninth even-strength goal of the season for the Bears (1-10-4, 1-5-3).
Brown returns home to meet St. Lawrence and Clarkson next weekend. Dartmouth has its annual Battle for the Riverstone with No. 13 New Hampshire at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester on Saturday.
Greg Fennell covers Dartmouth hockey for the Valley News of West Lebanon, N.H.
