Team Notes: Dartmouth Returns to Action vs. Sacred Heart
HANOVER, N.H. - After six games at home to start the season, the Dartmouth men's hockey team ventured out on the road for a weekend in upstate New York in mid November. A split at St. Lawrence and Clarkson gave the Big Green a 4-4 record headed into Thanksgiving and a break in the usual ECAC Hockey scheduling that is a staple of each season.
The biggest crowd of the season of nearly 4,200 gave Thompson Arena an electric atmosphere on Black Friday as the team returned home and skated to a 3-3 tie with Harvard.
Senior Connor Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) played in his 100th-career game that night and saw his team play an exciting back-and-forth contest with its ECAC Hockey travel partner.
Freshman Tyler Sikura (Aurora, Ontario) started the scoring for Dartmouth in the first period, before sophomore Eric Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) and senior Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) netted markers in the middle frame. A scoreless third period and overtime session saw the saw the game end knotted at 3-3, marking the first tie of the season for the Big Green.
Just two days later, Dartmouth made the hour-and-a-half trek up I-89 to take on Vermont at Gutterson Fieldhouse in a Sunday matinee. Despite two goals from Robinson, three assists from sophomore Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) and a one-goal lead in the third, the Big Green fell to the Catamounts, 5-3, in the nonconference tilt.
This weekend, Dartmouth takes on Sacred Heart for just the fifth time in program history. It marks the only game in the first four weeks of December for the Big Green who will enjoy the rest associated with the break for exams.
When the team returns from its holiday respite, it will have a tough slate waiting at Thompson Arena for the annual Ledyard Classic.
The 2011 edition of Dartmouth's holiday tournament will feature a Merrimack team that had been ranked No. 1 in the country for much of the first month and a half of the season. St. Lawrence will also make the first of two scheduled trips to Hanover in 2011-12, taking on the Warriors in the weekend's first match-up. Holy Cross and the tournament hosts will play the second game Friday evening, set for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Following the two-day tournament, a return to ECAC Hockey play awaits the Big Green in early January. The annual "Battle for the Riverstone" with UNH at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester resumes on Jan. 14 and is the final nonconference game of the regular season for the Big Green.
Currently, Robinson leads Dartmouth in scoring with eight points and is tied with Sikura for the team lead with five goals. Senior James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) has played a majority of time in goal, posting a record of 3-4-1 with a 2.99 goals-against average and .899 save percentage.
SCOUTING SACRED HEART
- The Pioneers have had a rough go of it in 2011-12, posting a record of 1-14-1 coming into the week. Sacred Heart plays Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn., Friday night before making the trip up I-91 for Sunday's tilt with the Big Green.
- With just one win in their first 16 games overall, the Pioneers have also struggled against Atlantic Hockey competition. Sacred Heart is 0-10-1 thus far against league opponents, including a 10-4 loss to Robert Morris in its most recent contest on Saturday, Dec. 3.
- The team's lone win was arguably the biggest upset of the college hockey season as it knocked off Yale, 7-6, at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. Sophomore Chad Filteau broke a 6-6 tie with 4:14 left in the third period to complete the early-season stunner.
- Junior Eric Delong and senior Matt Gingera are tied for the team lead with 13 points this season with freshman Brian Sheehan close behind with 12. Gingera's eight goals are tops on the Pioneers, while Delong and Sheehan each have a team-best seven assists.
- Sunday marks just the fifth meeting all-time between the two programs. The first came between Dartmouth and Sacred Heart's club team on Dec. 13, 1937 in a game played in Hanover. The two last met on Dec. 13, 2009 with the Pioneers taking the 4-1 win.
BREAK IN THE ACTION
Sunday's game will be the first for the Big Green since a 5-3 loss
at Vermont on Sunday, Nov. 27. The 13-day break is the second
longest respite of the season with 18 days between games after the
contest with the Pioneers and hosting Holy Cross in the Ledyard
Classic on Dec. 30.
LAST TIME OUT
Dartmouth held a one-goal lead in the third period, but could not
hold off Vermont in the final 10 minutes in its last game played,
falling, 5-3, at Gutterson Fieldhouse. The line of sophomores Matt
Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) and Eric Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) and
senior Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) combined for seven points (3g/4a)
in the nonconference loss.
ROBINSON'S CAREER YEAR
Coming into the season, Robinson just had three-career goals to
his credit in a Dartmouth sweater. This season, the sophomore
winger has five markers, including three in the last two games. He
scored once at home against Harvard on Nov. 25 before potting two
against the Catamounts in the team's last game. Robinson is
currently tied with freshman Tyler Sikura (Aurora, Ontario) for the
team lead this season.
LINDBLAD DISHES OUT THREE
At Vermont, Lindblad had a Big Green season-high three assists. He
was a part of both Robinson goals and was also credited with a
helper on Jones' second of the season exactly four minutes into the
third. It was the second three-point game of the season for any
member of the team as junior Dustin Walsh (Shannonville, Ontario)
had a goal and two assists against Princeton on Nov. 5. The three
points matched a career high for Lindblad, who twice had three in a
game during his freshman season (both 1g/2a).
SPEAKING OF MULTI-POINT GAMES
Dartmouth had three players with multiple points at Vermont. The
season high for the Big Green in 2011-12 was four players with
multi-point efforts on Nov. 4 against Quinnipiac. Freshmen Jesse
Beamish (Mississauga, Ontario) and Brandon McNally (Saugus, Mass.)
along with Robinson and Dustin Walsh all had two points as the Big
Green came from behind to beat the Bobcats, 5-4.
JONES GOES BACK TO BACK
For the second time in as many games, Jones found the back of the
net against Vermont. He scored his first goal of the season two
days before in the match-up with Harvard after failing to score in
the first six games of 2011-12. The last time Jones had goals in
consecutive games was last season against UConn (Jan. 11) and New
Hampshire (Jan. 15).
DOUBLE-DIGIT POINTS
In all, Dartmouth players racked up nine points against Vermont.
The team's season high of 13 came in that Nov. 4 win over
Quinnipiac.
NYCHOLAT ON THE SCORESHEET
Northeastern transfer and senior defender Dan Nycholat (Calgary,
Alberta) picked up his first point as a member of the Big Green
with a third-period assist on Jones' goal. Nycholat was credited
with the helper after pushing the puck to Lindblad in the neutral
zone, who, in turn, fed the puck to Jones for the goal. But since,
Nycholat had gone off for a line change after making the pass, he
was not on the ice for the goal and was not credited with a
plus.
HOMECOMING
Junior winger Jason Bourgea (South Burlington, Vt.) returned home
to the Green Mountain State for the match-up with the Catamounts.
It marked his first college game in the state and against his
hometown team. With family and friends in attendance at Gutterson,
Bourgea picked up his second assist of the season, knocking back a
loose puck into the slot to set up Robinson's second goal of the
game.
998 AND COUNTING
Coming into the season, the Big Green needed just six wins to
reach 1,000 wins in program history. A skid of 1-4-1 over the last
six games has put reaching that mark on hold for a bit, but a
three-game homestand in December might allow for the milestone win
to happen on Thompson Arena ice.
STAY OUT OF THE SIN BIN
Entering the week, Dartmouth's figure of 9.9 penalty minutes per
game rank as the third fewest by any ECAC Hockey team this season
and the sixth fewest in the nation. Sacred Heart ranks as the
second-worst team in the nation on the power play as they are
5-for-79 (6.3%) with the man-advantage. Dartmouth is just ahead of
the Pioneers in this category, going 2-for-31 (6.5%) on the
season.
BIG GREEN IN THE BIG SHOW
Dartmouth leads all ECAC Hockey programs with six players
appearing in the NHL this season. Taking into account games played
through Dec. 8, those six players (T.J. Galiardi, Tanner Glass,
Nick Johnson, David Jones, Ben Lovejoy, Lee Stempniak) have
combined to play in 148 games, score 26 goals, record 31 assists
for 57 points in 2011-12 NHL action.
PREVIOUS MEETING
Only eight Dartmouth players have suited up against Sacred Heart
in their careers, while goalie James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.)
dressed, but did not see action in the Dec. 13, 2009 meeting
between the two. The Pioneers' 4-1 win that night was the only
victory over the Big Green in the program's history. No current
player registered a point in that contest.
AGAINST ATLANTIC HOCKEY
Since the start of the 2000-01 season, Dartmouth is 10-2-5 against
teams from Atlantic Hockey. The last time the Big Green did not
play a team from the conference was in the 20002-03 season.
