Team Notes: February Opens for Dartmouth with Road Swing at Princeton and Quinnipiac
HANOVER, N.H. - Three games into a stretch of five in six days are in the books. Dartmouth wrapped up a weekend spit with Brown and Yale and moved on to a Tuesday night game with Harvard in Cambridge that ended in a tie.
Now, sitting at 9-9-3, Dartmouth will wrap-up a hectic eight-day stretch on the road at Princeton and Quinnipiac this weekend. A win over Brown was followed by a loss to Yale and a tie at Harvard, but the Tigers and Bobcats on Friday and Saturday nights are the now the focus of the Big Green.
Entering the weekend tied with Quinnipiac for sixth in the ECAC Hockey standings, Dartmouth's tie Tuesday night at Bright Hockey Center gave them 14 points and a 6-6-2 league record.
The Bobcats are currently in the midst of a three-week break in the middle of the season as Princeton was in its exam period and Quinnipiac was unable to schedule a non-conference matchup during that down time. A 7-1 win over No. 12 Colgate at home was the last time any member of the Bobcats saw game action.
The Tigers on the other hand will have the same amount of rest as the Big Green after playing a non-conference tilt Tuesday at home against UConn. Playing in its first game in 17 days and trailing 3-2 entering the third period, Princeton rallied with two goals early in the third to take the win, 4-3.
Following Saturday night's match-up in Hamden, Dartmouth will be back to its regular schedule when it hosts Union and RPI at home next weekend.
GAME NOTES
QUICK TURNAROUND
This weekend will be the fourth and fifth games in an eight-day
span for the Big Green who hosted Brown and Yale last weekend
before travelling to Cambridge to take on ECAC Hockey travel
partner Harvard Tuesday night.
SEARCH THE STANDINGS
Headed into the weekend, Dartmouth's 14 points have them tied for
sixth with Quinnipiac in the league standings. Princeton's 12
points have it tied for ninth with Brown.
IVY LEAGUE SPREAD
It's not just the ECAC Hockey standings that are jammed up this
season, the Ivy League standings are also incredibly tight.
Cornell's 12 points are three more than second-place Harvard's
nine, but four teams from third to sixth places are separated by
just two points.
LAST TIME OUT
Dartmouth played to a 2-2 draw with Harvard Tuesday night, making
the second tie of the year between the two teams. On Nov. 25, the
Crimson and Big Green skated to a 3-3 tie in front of more than
4,000 fans at Thompson Arena in Hanover. The tie was the ninth of
the season for Harvard, one shy of tying an NCAA record for most in
a single season.
10 AGAIN
Dartmouth's 10 goals over the weekend against the Bears (w, 6-2)
and Bulldogs (L, 5-4) tied its season high for highest offensive
output in a weekend this season. The only other time the Big Green
managed 10 in a weekend was as part of the sweep of Quinnipiac (W,
5-4) and Princeton (W, 5-3) Nov. 4-5.
18 APART
For the fifth time this season, Dartmouth scored consecutive goals
in under 40 seconds. Freshman Brandon McNally (Saugus, Mass.) and
junior Alex Goodship (Blackfalds, Alberta) notched tallies 18
seconds apart midway through the second period Tuesday night.
McNally scored his fourth of the season at 6:59 on a rebound at the
top of the crease. Goodship's third of the year came at 7:17 from
almost the identical location after also knocking home a loose puck
in the slot. The previous time for the two fastest Dartmouth goals
this season was 22 seconds apart against Holy Cross at home on Dec.
30.
SITTING AT 99
Senior Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) had his five-game point streak
snapped at five games at Harvard. Jones is still sitting at
99-career after his first pointless game since Jan. 7 at Union.
With one more point, he will become the 36th player in Dartmouth
history with 100 in a career.
NOT HIS FIRST RODEO
Senior goaltender Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ontario) made his first
start in the Dartmouth net in 12 games Tuesday against the Crimson.
Making 26 saves on 28 shots, O'Neill's late-game play helped the
Big Green earn the league point after Harvard forced OT with a late
power-play tally. The win pushed his career record to 1-2-2 against
the Crimson.
LATE-GAME HEROICS
The Big Green used two goals in the final two minutes from Nick
Walsh (Shannonville, Ontario) and Connor Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.)
to erase a 4-3 lead to take the 5-4 victory in the ECAC Hockey
opener on Nov. 4.
FIVE FIRSTS
In that Nov. 4 meeting between the Bobcats and Big Green, Dustin
Walsh (Shannonville, Ontario), Jesse Beamish (Mississauga,
Ontario), Mark Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) and Nick Walsh and Connor
Goggin all scored their first goals of the season. The three in the
third from the Goggins and the elder Walsh helped Dartmouth to its
first of two-third period comebacks in 2011-12.
COUPLE OF FIRSTS
Against Princeton the next night, Goodship, McNally and Eric
Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) all notched their first goals of the
season. It was the first in McNally's career and came with an empty
net with 16 seconds left to seal the win.
TEAM STREAKS
- Dartmouth has beaten Princeton in four straight meetings dating
back to last season's Ivy Shootout in New Haven, Conn., which saw
the Big Green win, 2-1. In each of those four contests, the Big
Green have added a goal to its total with the most recent game
ending 5-3 in favor of the team from Hanover.
- After falling in three games on the road to Quinnipiac in the
first round of the 2010 ECAC Tournament, Dartmouth was once again
bested in Hamden in the series opener last season, 2-0, on Nov. 19.
But a 3-1 victory last February and the come-from-behind 5-4
triumph in early November of this season has the Big Green enjoying
a two-game win streak over the league's newest member.
MAKE THE MOST OF IT
Mark Goggin has certainly made the most of his ice time since
being reinserted into the Dartmouth lineup on Jan. 20 at Cornell.
Goggin scored against the Big Red and followed with another against
Colgate. His assist on Goodship's tally Tuesday gives him a helper
in three straight games and a point in a career-best five. He now
has six points (3g/a) in nine games this season.
PLAYER STREAKS
It's not just Mark Goggin that has been feeling it lately. Jones
and Lindblad had considerable scoring streaks snapped at Harvard,
but senior Paul Lee (Garden City, N.Y.) and Robinson used assists
to push theirs to three and four games, respectively.
CONNECTIONS
Dartmouth captain Mike Keenan (South Weymouth, Mass.)
played juniors with Quinnipiac forward Spencer Heichman in the USHL
with Sioux City. Senior Nick Walsh also has a QU connection, having
played the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons with Bobcats' netminder Dan
Clarke with the Cobourg Cougars of the OPJHL before Clarke moved on
to play with the Bowamanville Eagles in 2007-08.
BROTHERLY LOVE
In the last meeting between the Bobcats and the Big Green, both
Goggin and Walsh brothers scored goals. It is believed to be the
first time in college hockey history that two sets of brothers
scored goals in the same game for the same team.
TENDING TANDEM
This season has seen Dartmouth use three goaltenders on a regular
basis, but lately it's been seniors James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.)
and Jody O'Neill in the Dartmouth net. Both are moving up the
program's goaltending lists in their final season in Hanover.
Mello's 26 wins rank seventh all-time, while O'Neill is one spot
back in eighth with 23 wins in a Dartmouth sweater. Mello (.914)
trails only Dan Yacey '05 (.917) in career save percentage with
Jody ranking fourth (.908) after Mike Devine '08 (9.13). Both also
have over 1,500-career saves.
COACHING MARKS
This weekend will feature three head coaches of varying levels.
Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet joined the 300-win club with the
season-opening victory this season and currently has 308 in his 24
seasons between Dartmouth (15) and Brown (9). Quinnipiac's Rand
Pecknold also has 300+ wins, all at Quinnipiac (330-224-60), while
first year-coach Bob Prier is 7-10-5 in just 22 games behind the
Princeton bench.
