Team Notes: Big Green Face Road Tests at Cornell and Colgate
HANOVER, N.H. - From here on out, it's all repeats. The Dartmouth men's hockey schedule the remainder of the 2011-12 season will feature league teams that have already faced off with the Big Green at least once this season.
In the cases of Brown, Yale and St. Lawrence, Dartmouth will see them for a second or third time down the road.
But it begins this weekend with ECAC Hockey road games against league-leading Cornell and nationally-ranked Colgate.
It begins Friday with the Big Red in Ithaca, N.Y., against a team that already made the trip to Hanover this season and beat the home team, 3-2. That Nov. 12 game was an exciting brand of hockey that featured scoring, strong defensive play from both teams and good goaltending. Now, Cornell sits atop the ECAC Hockey standings at 7-1-2 and will look to make it four-straight wins over the Big Green dating back to last season.
The next night will see the Big Green take on a struggling Colgate team. Despite its No. 18 ranking in the most recent USCHO.com poll, the Raiders have lost four straight, including a 7-1 beating at Quinnipiac last Saturday night in Hamden. One of two teams to shutout Dartmouth this season, Colgate came to Hanover on Nov. 11 and left Thompson Arena with a 4-0 victory. Now fourth in the league standings, the Raiders will play host to Harvard on Friday night before welcoming Dartmouth to Starr Rink for the Saturday night affair at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES
LAST TIME OUT
It started out okay, but Saturday's Battle for the RiverStone Cup
XI ended with a 4-1 loss to in-state rival New Hampshire at
Manchester's Verizon Wireless Arena. The loss dropped the Big Green
to 3-7-1 against the Wildcats in the neutral-site setting.
LINDBLAD LIGHTS THE LAMP
For the first time since Nov. 18 and just the second time this
season, sophomore Matt
Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) found the back of the net
against UNH. Despite just the two goals this season, Lindblad
is tied for first on the team in scoring with 11 points as he alos
has a team-best nine assists.
MOVING UP
With his sixth assist of the season coming on Lindblad's marker in
Manchester, Doug
Jones (Marietta, Ga.) moved into 14th place all-time at
Dartmouth with 70 in his career. Jones is third on the team this
season with the six helpers, trailing only Lindblad's nine andDustin
Walsh's (Shannonville, Ontario) seven.
CLOSING IN ON 100
Jones' assist against UNH was the 92nd point of his career as
well. Coming into the season with 82-career points, his 10 so far
this season have him knocking on the door of becoming the 36th
player in program history to reach the milestone (22g/70).
MELLO BACK IN NET
After a five-game absence, senior James
Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) made his return to the Dartmouth
net Saturday against the Wildcats. Mello faced 32 shots in the game
and was only beaten by UNH's Stevie Moses, who scored all four of
his team's goals.
BOLDT'S HELPERS
Sophomore Taylor
Boldt (Niwot, Colo.) also picked up an assist on
Lindblad's goal Saturday night. Starting the play from his own end,
the defenseman now has a new career high with three assists this
season. As a freshman, Boldt had a goal and two assists for three
points in 2010-11.
SCORING DROUGHT
With just one goal in each of its last two games, the Dartmouth
offense has been struggling as of late. After scoring three times
in the second period at RPI on Jan. 6, the Big Green have scored
just two goals in the last 145:40.
EVEN STRENGTH
Don't expect too many power-play opportunities from either team
Friday night as Dartmouth and Cornell rank near the bottom
nationally in penalty minutes per game this season. The Big Green
are 52nd (11.5), while the Big Red are 53rd (11.3) in the
country.
PLAYERS ON THE OTHER BENCH
Dartmouth will have to go up against two of the better players in
ECAC Hockey this weekend. Colgate's Austin Smith is second in the
nation in points with 35, including NCAA-leading 22 goals coming
into the weekend. Cornell's Brian Ferlin is one of the top freshman
in the country, ranking 15th in PPG (0.88) and is tied for the
league lead with 15 points in his debut campaign (6g/9a).
BROKEN UP
Against UNH, the line of Jason
Bourgea (South Burlington, Vt.), Alex
Goodship (Blackfalds, Alberta) and Paul
Lee (Garden City, N.Y.) was broken up for the first time
since Nov. 4 against Quinnipiac when Bourgea and Goodship made
their season debuts; ending a streak of 14 games. Lee played on the
third line Nick
Walsh (Shannonville, Ontario) and Jesse
Beamish (Mississauga, Ontario), while freshman Charlie
Mosey (Prior Lake, Minn.) jumped into the lineup with
Goodship and Bourgea against the Wildcats.
SAVE THE PUCK, BECAUSE IT DOESN'T HAPPEN
OFTEN
Moses' second goal of the game was a shorthanded marker; the first
allowed by Dartmouth since Feb. 25 of last season when St.
Lawrence's Aaron Bogosian netted one a man down.
AGAINST THESE TEAMS
- As just a sophomore, Lindblad leads all current Dartmouth players in scoring against the Raiders. In six-career games against Colgate (including five last season) Lindblad has nine points (2g/7a). Jones is the top Dartmouth scorer against the Big Red with seven points (1g/6a) in eight-career games.
- Both Mello and fellow senior Jody O'Neill (Nepean, Ontario) have two wins apiece against Colgate and one victory against Cornell.
LOOKING SHARP!
Since switching over to the new Reebok Edge jersey design in
December, the Big Green are 3-2-1 in six games. In the new whites,
Dartmouth is 2-0-1 and 1-2-0 when wearing the green sweaters.
