Team Notes: Dartmouth Battles UNH for the RiverStone Cup
HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth men's hockey team travels to Manchester to renew its annual rivalry with in-state foe the fourth-ranked University of New Hampshire in the Battle for the RiverStone X at Verizon Wireless Arena. UNH holds a 6-2-1 advantage in the previous nine meetings with the Big Green on the neutral ice.
Dartmouth enters Saturday's game with a 9-5-2 overall record and a 6-3-1 mark in ECAC Hockey play. The red-hot Big Green are 3-1-1 over its last five games with a 2-1 loss to No. 1 Yale as its only blemish in that span. Most recently, Dartmouth captured a 5-1 win over UConn on Tuesday night as the Big Green is being led offensively by Scott Fleming (Plainfield, Ont.), who has 18 points (7g, 11a) in 16 games. Junior netminder James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) has seen the majority of action in net for Dartmouth as he owns a 7-2-2 mark with a 1.78 GAA and a .940 save percentage.
New Hampshire is currently 12-3-4 on the season and is coming off a recent 3-1 win over Massachusetts on Jan. 8. The Wildcats scored goals 45 seconds apart at 14:59 and 15:44 to earn the victory over the Minutemen. UNH is currently being led by the nation’s third-leading scorer, Paul Thompson with 31 points. Thompson is also the team’s leader with 15 goals while Mike Sislo and Phil DeSimone each have 18 assists. In net, Matt Digirolamo has played in 19 games, making 542 saves. The junior has a 2.24 goals against average and a .926 save percentage and has won all of the Wildcats games this season.
The Wildcats and Big Green have met 51 times in the all-time series history with UNH holding the advantage at 32-17-2, which dates back to February 19, 1936. The 'Cats have won four of the last five meetings including last year's 5-2 win on Jan. 16, 2010. Head coach Bob Gaudet owns a 3-7-1 record against New Hampshire while UNH head coach Dick Umile is 10-4-1 against Dartmouth. The last meeting between the two schools on a campus site was Dec. 29, 2000 in a 6-2 Dartmouth win at Thompson Arena.
UNH holds a 6-2-1 advantage in nine previous Battle for the RiverStone Cups. The Big Green captured its first win in the series in a crazy 9-8 game on Jan. 12, 2005, with the other win coming on Jan. 19, 2008 with a 5-3 victory. Dartmouth and New Hampshire began playing on neutral ice in Manchester in 2001. The Big Green will be considered the home team in this year's matchup.
