November 17, 2011

Team Notes: Dartmouth Heads to St. Lawrence and Clarkson

HANOVER, N.H. - After six games at home to start the season, the Dartmouth men's hockey team will head out on the road for the first time in 2011-12 when it travels to take on St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend.

The upstate New York road swing comes after the Big Green dropped back-to-back games against Colgate and Cornell Friday and Saturday nights to even their home mark at 3-3.

Shutout by the Raiders Friday night in a 4-0 loss, Dartmouth came back with a solid effort the next night against the Big Red. Despite notching their first power-play goal of the season and outshooting Cornell by nearly a 2-1 margin, the Big Green fell, 3-2, in the conclusion of the second longest homestand in the last three years.

Now, the team will turn its attention to the Saints and Golden Knights as it leaves Hanover for the first time since last season's trip to Atlantic City for the ECAC Hockey Championship.

The first game of the weekend will see the Big Green take on St. Lawrence in Appleton Arena Friday night in Canton, N.Y., before the short trip to Potsdam and Clarkson's Cheel Arena for a Saturday night tilt.

Last season, Dartmouth was 6-6 in road games.

SCOUTING ST. LAWRENCE

  • After five-straight losses to start the season, the Saints have begun to right the ship as of late with wins in each of their last three games.
  • Starting the season by being swept at home vs. No. 6 Ferris State, St. Lawrence took another loss when they traveled to Michigan and were beaten, 10-3, at Yost Arena on Oct. 13. The Saints fell, 6-5, in overtime at RIT two days later.
  • A 2-0 loss to Union at home to start ECAC Hockey play has since been followed by wins over RPI (2-0) and at Quinnipiac (3-2, OT) and Princeton (1-0).
  • Junior Kyle Flanagan leads the team in goals (6), assists (7) and points (13), while being called for just one penalty this season.
  • Sophomore Matt Weninger has played the overwhelming majority of time in goal this season for the Saints, posting a 3-4-0 record with a 2.80 goals-against average and .901 save percentage. He also has both of his team's shutouts in 2011-12.
  • St. Lawrence is just one of two teams in ECAC Hockey without an NHL Draft pick on its roster (Union).

SCOUTING CLARKSON

  • In what will be a long travel season for the Golden Knights, the team started the year by playing at Alaska Anchorage (T, 4-4) and Alaska (L, 3-1) on consecutive days in early October. They will also play games in Florida, Winnipeg and Lake Placid this season.
  • On back-to-back weekends, Clarkson swept Sacred Heart and American International, outscoring its opponents, 18-4, in that four-game span.
  • The Golden Knights managed a 1-1 tie at Quinnipiac last Friday night before falling 3-0 at Princeton the following night. They opened league play with a 4-1 win over RPI and a 3-1 loss to Union two weeks ago.
  • Senior forward Louke Oakley leads the team with 12 points and is tied with Boston Bruins draft pick Nick Tremblay for the team lead with six goals.
  • Senior goaltender Paul Karpowich has been the goalie for Clarkson this season, playing all but 3:47 (empty net) of action. Posting a 6-3-3 record 12 games into his final season, Karpowich has an impressive 1.81 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage.

1 IN 100
Senior Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) picked up his first point of the season with a first-period assist against Cornell Saturday night. The game with the Big Red was the 100th in his collegiate career. He now has 83-career points (18g/65a) and is just 17 away from becoming the 36th player in program history to join the 100-point club.

SIXTH TO SCORE
Freshman Tyler Sikura (Aurora, Ontario) scored the first power-play goal of the season for the Big Green 15:05 into the first period against the Big Red. The goal was the third for Sikura and was his first non-game winner this season.

FIRST GAME, FIRST POINT
Freshman defender Andy Simpson (Chesterfield, Mo.) was inserted into the lineup for the first time this season against Cornell. Making his first collegiate debut in a Dartmouth sweater, Simpson picked up his first-career point with an assist from the point on Sikura's first-period power-play tally.

UPS AND DOWNS
A week can make a big difference for a team. A week after scoring 10 goals against Quinnipiac (5-4) and Princeton (5-3), the Big Green were held to just the two goals this past weekend against the Raiders (0-4) and Big Red (2-3). The last time Dartmouth was held to three or fewer goals a week after scoring 10 or more came last season against (ironically) Quinnipiac (0-2) and Princeton (3-2) on Nov. 19-20 after beating Clarkson (7-1) and St. Lawrence (6-1) the previous weekend.

OVERTIME ODDITIES

  • In a series that began in 1929 and stretches 94 games, Clarkson and Dartmouth have played just nine overtime contests. The last six that have gone to OT have all ended in ties. The last win by either team came on March 6, 1979 with Dartmouth taking the 2-1 victory. The Big Green's goaltender that night was current head coach Bob Gaudet, who made 26 saves, including two in the extra period.
  • In 83 games between the Saints and Big Green dating back to 1950, only seven have been tied at the end of regulation. Of those seven games, only two have ended without a winner. St. Lawrence holds the overtime advantage, 3-2-2.

BIG PLAYERS PLAY BIG ROLES
In six games against both the Golden Knights and the Saints, Jones has seven points against each opponent. Against Clarkson, the senior has posted no goals, but has assisted on seven. He has managed two goals and five assists for his seven points against St. Lawrence over the course of his career with the Big Green.

THE CAPTAIN'S RECORD NIGHT
A defensive stalwart, junior captain Mike Keenan (South Weymouth, Mass.) has just four goals and nine assists in his career. But last season at St. Lawrence on Nov. 12, 2010, Keenan was an offensive force. In a 6-1 win, Keenan scored twice and had three points. Both figures remain his single-game career highs.

ROBINSON CONTINUES TO QUIETLY SCORE
Sophomore Eric Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) continues to be one of the top offensive producers this season for the Big Green. His second goal of the season tied the game with Cornell at 2-2 with 2:28 showing on the clock in the second period. He is tied for second on the team in scoring with five points (2g/3a) with Sikura (3g/2a). 

SPREAD THE WEALTH

  • The sixth game of the season where one of the team's goal-scorers was not picking up his first of the season. Dartmouth's two goals against Cornell came from Sikura (third) and Robinson (second). Each of the previous games (except for the shutout loss to Colgate) featured at least one member of the team scoring his first of the season.
  • Junior Dustin Walsh (Shannonville, Ontario) scored the team's 10th goal of the season against Princeton, becoming the first Dartmouth player this year to find the back of the net multiple times.
  • In all, 11 different players have combined to score the Big Green's 15 goals this season.

HOW ABOUT THE GOALIES?

Senior goaltenders James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) and Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ontario) have combined to go 5-1 against St. Lawrence and 2-3-1 against Clarkson in their careers. Mello is 3-0 against the Saints with 77 saves, while O'Neill has stopped 107 St. Lawrence shots in posting a 2-1 record. Against Clarkson, Mello is 1-2-1 with 108 saves, while O'Neill is 1-1 with 56 saves.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

  • After starting 3-3 at home, Dartmouth will head back out on the road for the first time this year. Last season, the Big Green were 6-6 in true road games, including 6-5 at league opponents. Despite the .500 record on the road, Dartmouth scored 39 of its 70 (55.7%) goals against ECAC Hockey foes away from Thompson Arena in 2010-11.
  • The last regular-season road game for the Big Green was Feb. 19, 2011 at Cornell (L, 3-2 OT). Dartmouth ended the season with two home games, before hosting Harvard in the ECAC Hockey playoffs for three games and then heading to Atlantic City for two neutral-site contests to wrap-up the year.