What's for Encores?

Coach George Crowe hopes Dartmouth hockey fans will lower their expectations just a bit. Crowe's teams, over the past two years, have won two Ivy League championships. They have won four Eastern College Athletic Conference playoff games and have appeared in the E.C.A.C. tournament final at Boston Garden in both years. They have twice been among the four collegiate teams selected to appear in the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship playoff. "I don't know how often this is going to happen. The odds are against this type of thing. I hope the people won't think it will happen every year," said Crowe, who has coached the Big Green to 76 victories and three ties in 136 games since arriving in Hanover five years ago. Dartmouth, which dominated Ivy League hockey during the late 1930s and 19405, had not won an Ivy title since 1963-64 and had not notched back-to-back league crowns since 1958-60. Before 1979, the Green had not advanced past the first round of the E.C.A.C. tournament in three tries.

"They've done a good job," Crowe said of his squad prior to the N.C.A.A.'s at the Providence, Rhode Island, Civic Center in late March. "This is not a team of superstars but a good blend of players who seem to have a certain chemistry that fits well." It took a while to get the proper mix, however. Early in December Dartmouth had won only one game in six tries, and it looked next to impossible that the Green could duplicate last year's exploits, which ended with a third-place national ranking. "We had lost six seniors and started right in with no scrimmage games," explained Crowe. "It takes a few games to get adjusted. It was not a question of us playing poorly, we were just not winning." Dartmouth started moving with a victory over Harvard at Cambridge, and on January 8 defeated Northeastern, 6-3, at Thompson Arena.

That victory started a streak of 11 E.C.A.C. games in which the Green skaters were unbeaten. Included in the string were five games in a week and a half against the top teams in the E.C.A.C. Dartmouth defeated Boston College and Cornell at Hanover and downed Cornell, Providence, and Vermont on the road. "During that big stretch of five games," Crowe said, "we thought it would be great if we were one game ahead in the win column. But we came off it 5-0, and it gave us a lot of confidence. During the season we beat every team, with the exception of Boston University, in Division I."

Dartmouth clinched the Ivy League title February 27 with a 6-5 overtime victory against Harvard in Hanover. Senior Ross Brownridge scored the game-winner, which gave him his third hat trick of the season. Brownridge's goal was the 68th of his career, third best on the Dartmouth goalscoring list. Brownridge also became the first Dartmouth player to score more than 50 points in a season since Dave Leighton '63 did it back in the 1961-62 season. The senior co-captain was named the team's most valuable player for the second consecutive year. He was also named to the all-E.C.A.C. first team and selected for the all-America East squad.

The team dropped its regular season finale at Brown, 5-4, but bounced right back to defeat Rensselaer, 8-0, in the opening round of E.C.A.C. play at Hanover. It took co-captain Dennis Murphy only 32 seconds to score what proved to be the game-winning tally. All four Big Green lines scored at least once as third-seeded Dartmouth defeated the sixth-seeded R.P.I, sextet to earn a trip to the semifinals at Boston Garden.

For junior goalie Bob Gaudet, who had stopped 23 shots to shut out R.P.1., the trek to Boston was almost a homecoming. Gaudet grew up in nearby Saugus, Massachusetts, and played pee-wee hockey in South Boston as a child. When he was a junior at Saugus High School, he played against Needham High in a state tournament game at the Garden. "It's a big thing to play in the Garden," Gaudet observed. "It's not that great a place. The ice is lousy and it's too hot, but it could be concrete as far as I'm concerned. Having seen the Bruins play there, it's just great to be in the Garden."

Dartmouth started off slowly against fifth-seeded Clarkson, falling behind, 3-0, early in the second period. But Dartmouth quickly began to whittle away at the Golden Knights' lead. Goals by Tom Cross, Murphy, and Mark Bedard tied the score, and Carey Wilson put the Green ahead with 20 seconds left in the period. Clarkson knotted the score early in the third period but Rich Ryerson scored two third-period goals to give Dartmouth the come-from-behind 6-4 victory and entry into the championship final. A large turnout of Dartmouth supporters was on hand for the game, including a number of Gaudet relatives from Saugus and friends from East Boston. "There were a lot of people excited about the whole thing," noted Gaudet, who was a first team all-Ivy League selection as a so'phomore last year and will co-captain the 1980-81 team with Bedard. "My mother didn't come, though. She gets really nervous. But she did say that she would come to the nationals in Providence."

Gaudet said he's not usually nervous before a game, but that it was a little different in the Garden with the added pressure, the atmosphere, and so many people in the stands. "We wanted to put on a good show because sometimes people try to put down Ivy League hockey. I think we can show that we can play with the best," Gaudet said. The visual studies (art) major was dazed a bit early in the game when he was hit in the nose of his face mask by a slapshot that he didn't see, and he told one reporter that the impact woke him up. Gaudet also had some help from the stands. The Garden was relatively quiet at one point when Gaudet moved out to clear the puck away from his end. "Bobby, get back in goal!" yelled one woman for all to hear.

Dartmouth was pitted against Cornell in the Saturday-night final. The Green was favored, but Cornell, which had just barely reached the final round of eight, had already upset top-ranked Boston College and second-seeded Providence College. The Big Red's momentum continued, with its netminder turning back 49 Dartmouth shots in a 5-1 victory. Despite a ten-minute onslaught on the Cornell goal at the start of the game, Dartmouth was unable to score, and the Red held a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period. Murphy's thirdperiod goal was the Green's lone tally. "We didn't play that badly," said Gaudet. "We had some lucky bounces the night before but didn't have the luck with us against Cornell. I hope we'll get another crack at them at Providence."

Gaudet would like to see Dartmouth return to the Garden next year and win the E.C.A.C. tourney. It would be his third appearance there in as many years. Eventually he would like to have a shot at playing in the National Hockey League. "I'll probably have a tryout, but I'm not putting any pressure on myself. If I have the luck, I'll give it a shot. I'd just love to play one game for the Boston Bruins. If it happens, it happens. It's a goal but not what I'm really shooting for. I've had a lot of fun playing college hockey."

Dartmouth was matched up against North Dakota in the semi-final round of the N.C.A.A. tournament at Providence. It's the same team that defeated Dartmouth, 4-2, in the first round of the N.C.A.A.'s at Detroit last March. "Western hockey, most people feel, is a lot stronger," observed Crowe. "But I think we know where we stand with them. We feel a lot more confident." Gaudet pointed out that only four teams reach the N.C.A.A. tournament. "We've got to be good," he said. "No one can deny that."

Gaudet: awakened by a slapshot to the nose.