Team Notes: Dartmouth Opens 2011 Against Yale and Brown
HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth men's hockey team opens the 2011 calendar year with three straight home games, beginning with Yale and Brown this weekend in an ECAC Hockey tilt as the No. 1 ranked Yale Bulldogs comes to Thompson Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. before Brown comes in on Saturday at 7 p.m. On Tuesday, Jan. 11, the University of Connecticut makes its way to Thompson Arena for one of two remaining non league games left for the Big Green.
Yale, ranked No. 1 by both national polls for the fifth straight week, recently scored a huge 10-3 win over Holy Cross as the Bulldogs have the nation's longest winning streak with seven straight. Yale currently sits a point behind first-place Princeton and a point ahead of Dartmouth with a perfect 6-0 record.
Brown comes to Hanover after having earned a 6-1 win over #10 Boston University. The Bears are in ninth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 2-3-1 record. Former Dartmouth assistant coach Brendan Whittet is in his second season with his alma mater and has a 13-20-4 career record.
The Big Green is 4-1-1 over its last six outings and is giving up under three goals a game with junior James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) getting most of the action in net. Classmate Nick Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) has a team-best seven goals while senior captain Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.) has moved into the team lead with 15 points. Rookie Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) has led the team most of the season and is second with 14 points. Junior Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) has a team-high 11 assists with senior Matt Reber(Edina, Minn.) chipping in 10.
Last week in its annual Ledyard Classic tournament, the Big Green went 1-0-1 earning a tie with Mercyhurst in the first round before taking an overtime win over Colgate in the consolation game. Fleming and Reber were both named All-Tournament after each had five points in the two games.
