Schenectady, NY (Jan. 8, 2005) Union freshman Jake Schwan (Clifton Park, NY) picked an opportune time to bag his first goal of the season, breaking a scoreless tie at 13:01 of the third period to defeat Dartmouth 1-0 in ECACHL men's hockey action at Messa Rink. Despite being outshot 32-15 Union connected on the power play in its fifth and final chance and fought off a late rush by the Big Green to improve to 10-10-1 on the season and 7-3 in league play. On the other side Dartmouth falls to 6-7-2 and 4-5 in the league. The win was Union's first over Dartmouth at home in seven games with the last one coming back on February 15, 1997 in a 2-0 game.
Union goaltender Kris Mayotte (Pittsburgh, PA) was nothing short of spectacular in net. The junior made 32 saves, including 15 in the first period to keep Dartmouth at bay. It was Mayotte's first shutout of the season and third of his career against the Big Green.
On the other end of the ice the Dutchmen had a tough time solving Sean Samuel as he turned aside two prime scoring opportunities in the first period. The first came at 15:25 as Scott Seney (Silver Spring, MD) was denied on a breakaway chance. Thirty seconds later Olivier Bouchard (Quebec City, QUE) had his shot turned away by Samuel as he fired from the right side off a face-off.
In the second period Union's Jonathan Poirier (St. Jerome, QUE) came up empty at the 14:00 mark when he fanned on the puck as it slid in front of the Dartmouth goal off a centering pass. Dartmouth raced down on the counter attack and Tanner Glass fired a slap shot from the left that Mayotte sent away with his right blocker. Mike Hartwick was right there for the Big Green to pick up an immediate rebound shot but the Union netminder slid over into position in time to snag the puck out of the air as it sailed toward the far corner on goal.
With the game scoreless through two periods, the stage was set for Schwan's game-winning heroics. After Dartmouth's Ben Lovejoy was whistled for a tripping penalty at 11:36, Union went to work on the power play. With the puck in the Dutchmen zone Sean Streich (Kimberley, BC) sent a quick pass up ice in transition to Poirier as he skated into Dartmouth's end. Poirier sent a cross ice pass to Josh Coyle (Brooklyn, OH) on the right side who sent a perfect strike on the tape to Schwan. The play was capped off when Schwan one-timed the puck just inside the far post as it rang home.
With 1:13 left Dartmouth pulled Samuel in favor of an extra attacker but Union was able to hold off the siege.
Union continues its homestand next Friday when they host Cornell at 7:00 p.m.
