Team Notes: Mid-Week Game with Harvard on Deck for Dartmouth
HANOVER, N.H. - It was another weekend split with a familiar feel for the Big Green. Dartmouth opened the two-day slate against Ivy and ECAC Hockey foes with a dominating 6-2 win over Brown on Friday night, before falling to Yale Saturday night, 5-4, in front of a sellout crowd at Thompson Arena.
For the second straight Saturday, there was an epic third-period comeback that eventually resulted in the road team taking the win. However, last Saturday's game saw the visiting Big Green score three times in the third to force overtime, where they won on a Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) redirect in the slot.
This past Saturday night, it was Dartmouth that was on the losing end of a comeback bid as Yale scored three times in the third, including the winner with 34.8 seconds left in the game to earn the victory, 5-4.
The Big Green scored four in the first against the Bulldogs after netting three in the opening period the night before against the Bears. But unlike Friday's game, Dartmouth was unable to hold off Yale's late surge that resulted in the heartbreaking loss.
The Big Green won't have too much time to dwell on their last game as a Tuesday night match-up with ECAC Hockey travel partner Harvard in Cambridge is the third game in a five-day span. The two teams met in Hanover on Black Friday, playing to a 3-3 tie in front of a standing-room only crowd of 4,163 at Thompson Arena.
Tuesday is the middle of five league games in just eight days as the Big Green will head back out on the road to play Princeton Friday and Quinnipiac Saturday night; teams they swept in early November to open ECAC Hockey play.
GAME NOTES
LOOKING TO REBOUND
Saturday's 5-4 loss might be more devastating for
Dartmouth had it not been for this week's schedule which forces the
team to turn the page quickly with Tuesday's meeting with Harvard
just two days later. The midweek game is the first this season for
the Big Green who have only played on Fridays, Saturdays and
Sundays in 2011-12.
GOALS IN BUNCHES
Dartmouth scored 10 goals this weekend against the Bears and Elis,
tying its best offensive output in consecutive games since scoring
10 against Quinnipiac (W, 5-4) and Princeton (W, 5-3) on Nov.
4-5.
SIX SCORES
The Big Green's six goals Friday against Brown were a season high.
Dartmouth had scored five goals in a game three times prior to the
six against the Bears, including the 5-4 overtime win at Colgate on
Jan. 21.
FROM ALL OVER
Dartmouth's offensive attack was completely spread around over the
two games. Nine different players scored the team's 10 goals with
freshman Tyler Sikura (Aurora, Ontario) the only player able to
light the lamp twice. Thirteen (13) different forwards were in the
Big Green lineup this weekend and all of them recorded at least one
point. Defensemen Connor Goggin (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) and Mike Keenan
(South Weymouth, Mass.) also joined the forwards in making a mark
on the scoresheet as Goggin had a goal and two assists, while
Keenan had an assist on the weekend.
JUST MISSED OUT
Senior Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga.) missed out on a chance to score
his 100th-career point at home. Coming into the two games, Jones
was four-points (96) shy of becoming the 36th player in program
history to reach the century mark. Two points in the first six
minutes of the Brown game had many thinking he would do so, but
just one more assist on the third goal against Yale the following
night has Jones stuck on 99 points for his career.
HELPING OUT
Jones' 99 points (25g/74a) might have him one shy of a
career milestone, but his two assists this weekend moved him into a
tie for 10th all-time at Dartmouth with David Whitworth '98 as the
two each have 74-career helpers. Bill Kelleher '97 and Michael
Turner '72 are tied for eighth all-time with 76 and are the next
two players ahead of Jones on the list.
FIRST-LINE ADDITION
Senior Nick Walsh (Shannonville, Ontario) jumped up on the first
line with Jones and sophomore Eric Robinson (Foxboro, Mass.) and
made an immediate impact. Walsh had his first multiple-point game
of the season against Brown and it took just 5:44 to do so. The
elder of the team's two Walsh brothers scored the opening tally
3:43 into the first before assisting on Jones' goal just 2:01
later. Walsh also added an assist Saturday on a Robinson
marker.
THREE OR MORE IN 20
After just two periods of three or more goals in their first 17
games, the Big Green have now scored three or more in a period in
each of the last three contests. Dartmouth scored three in the
third against Colgate, before finding the back of the net three
times in the first against Brown. Against the Bulldogs, the Big
Green scored a season-high four goals in the opening stanza.
SEASON FIRSTS
Seniors Troy Mattila (Rockford, Ill.) and Paul Lee (Garden City,
N.Y.) scored their first goals of the season in the first-period
barrage against Yale. Friday night, it was junior Jason Bourgea
(South Burlington, Vt.) that notched his first of the year with an
empty-net goal with nine seconds left against the Bears.
MAKE FAST WORK
Goals from Mattila and Robinson 25 seconds apart against the Bears
marked the third time this season that the Big Green scored two in
under 30 seconds. Goals 22 seconds apart against Holy Cross in the
first game of the Ledyard Classic on Dec. 30 are the two fastest of
the season, while the 25-second gap Friday ranks second. Tallies
from Connor Goggin and Nick Walsh 28 seconds apart against
Quinnipiac are the other time and came with under two minutes
remaining to cap a 5-4 comeback win. In all, Dartmouth has scored
two goals in under two-and-a-half minutes six (6) times in
2011-12.
GOIN' STREAKING
Currently, 10 Dartmouth players have point streaks of two or more
games. Brandon McNally (Saugus, Mass.), Bourgea, Lee, Sikura and
Walsh all have streaks that began this past weekend. Robinson and
Eric Neiley (Warminster, Pa.) are the only players whose streaks
are at three contests, while both Connor and Mark Coggin (Glen
Ellyn, Ill.) and Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) all have streaks of
four games. Jones has now scored in five straight (3g/5a), one
short of Lindblad's Dartmouth-high six games.
IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS
Dartmouth is now 7-0-1 vs. Brown in its last eight
meetings, including 2-0 this season. In contrast, the Big Green are
winless versus the Bulldogs in the last nine meetings between the
two, dating back to February 2008. Yale won the first two meetings
of this season by one goal, 2-1 (Oct. 29) and 5-4 (Jan. 28).
RECENTLY AGAINST THE CRIMSON
Dartmouth is 3-1-1 in its last five meetings with Harvard dating
back to last season. Included in that figure was the Big Green's
2-1 series victory over Harvard in the ECAC Tournament last March.
But that success has not carried over much further back than that.
Dartmouth is 5-3-2 in the last 10 meetings, but just 8-10-2 in the
last 20 games and 8-14-3 in the last 25. As head coach of
Dartmouth, Bob Gaudet is just 9-21-3 against Harvard in 15
seasons.
DEFENSIVE-64
Both Harvard and Dartmouth have played 20 games apiece this season
and both have allowed 64 goals to rank tied for 45th in the nation
scoring defense at 3.20 goals-against per game.
OPPOSITE ENDS
Entering Tuesday's game, Dartmouth ranks last in ECAC Hockey on
the power play at 13.2% (9-for-68). On the other hand, Harvard not
only leads the league at 31.8% (27-for-85), but is also the top
power-play unit in the nation this season. Alabama-Huntsville
(8-for-109, 7.3%) is the only other team besides Dartmouth without
double-digit power-play tallies in 2011-12.
