HAMDEN, Conn. – Landon Smith had been a key factor in Quinnipiac’s depth of scoring the past two seasons, and his natural hat trick Friday night was pivotal in pushing the Bobcats past the Dartmouth Big Green 6-3.
Smith, now in his third year with the program, has settled in nicely on the second line and power play for the Bobcats. In his sophomore year he was fourth on the team in goals and points, but was overlooked by the big three of Anas, St. Denis and Tim Clifton. With close to 100 points of production gone, the Colorado native has remained a potent part of Quinnipiac’s offense.
But to Smith, his evolution is only a natural progression to his game overall, and not indicative of other outside factors.
“I think that’s a goal no matter what as a player. To come into a season and become better at different aspects of the game,” Smith said. “It’s a goal that everybody strives for and I definitely strive for.”
Smith’s goal was one of three Quinnipiac posted on the power play, which went 3-for-9 on the night. His only other goal on the season came two games in against Northeastern in early October. Despite the long stretch of time between goals, Smith seemed even keel about his three goal night.
“I would feel the same way no matter what,” Smith said. “It’s just one of those things, you know, sometimes they go in sometimes they don’t. They haven’t been bouncing for me lately, but tonight luckily they were.”
The evolution in play was not only evident in players on the Bobcats, but from the mark Dartmouth made both early in the game and in its young season overall. Their season has kick-started in a big way, opening the year up with a victory against then No. 10 Michigan at home, following up with an in conference tie and win against Cornell and Colgate respectively.
“We’ve got some really, really good young players and we’ve got some veteran players who are playing hard. We’re trying to play a fast game, it didn’t work out for us completely tonight,” Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet said. “Our consistency, especially when you don’t have the full compliment of guys, and you just have to find a way to play that really close to perfect game, especially on the road.”
Gaudet’s program is young with 11 freshmen in to fill in the gaps left from the two most recent graduating classes. The Big Green were missing a presence in upperclassmen Greg Opperman and Kevin Neiley.
“This is a new group, but I like what these young guys bring to the lineup. They bring it in practice, they work really hard, they all want to play,” Gaudet said. “Last year when we lost to Quinnipiac in Lake Placid, the guys weren’t happy to be there. They were disappointed to get to that point and lose. My hope is that we can continue to grow during the season and have another chance.”
Other ECAC scores
Clarkson 5, Rensselaer 2
A three-goal outburst in the third period broke the tie between the Clarkson Golden Knights and Rensselaer Engineers. Josephs, Sturm and Egle all scored in the final frame for the Knights, pushing the Engineers conference record to 1-4-0.
Colgate 4, No. 19 Yale 1
Charlie Finn made 36 saves en route to the victory at Ingalls Rink. Colgate scored two on the power play and converted on six of the 24 shots posted against new Yale goaltender Patrick Spano.
Cornell 4, Brown 2
A dominant second period gave Cornell the road victory against Brown. Starret, Murphy and Rauter all added goals on even strength as the Big Red outshot the Bears 16-9 in the frame against Brown freshman Gavin Neito, who started in the game.
No. 10 Harvard 5, Princeton 2
Harvard came from behind to defeat Princeton after a pair of early goals in the second period by the Tigers. The Crimson tied the game at two nearing the end of the middle period and pulled away with a three-goal third.
St. Lawrence 2, No. 16 Union 2 (OT)
The Saints and Dutchmen tied after a strong five-on-five game. Nolal Gluchowski broke open the scoring with a shorthanded goal for the Saints. Union’s Spencer Foo would score the eventual game tying goal on the power play early in the third.
