Team Notes: Dartmouth Back in Conference Play at RPI & Union
HANOVER, N.H — The Big Green started the new year with two convincing victories over Connecticut at Thompson Arena. On Jan. 1, Dartmouth scored a flurry of goals in a 9-2 victory. The next day on Jan. 2, the Big Green earned its first shut out of the season in a 5-0 win.
SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN
Dartmouth ended a four-game losing streak over the weekend and now
has a two-game winning streak. The Big Green are 8-5-0 overall and
5-3-0 in the ECAC. The squad is tied for fourth in the conference
with Harvard.
Sophomore Sasha Nanji (Markham, Ont.) leads the team in scoring with 16 points. The defenseman has a team-best 10 goals and six assists. Two players are tied for second on the team with 14 points. Senior Amanda Trunzo(Andover, Minn.) has eight goals and six assists, and sophomore Camille Dumais (Beaconsfield, Que.) has four assists and a team-best 10 assists. Junior Kelly Foley (Boston, Mass.) is fourth on the team with 12 points. She has six goals and six assists. Junior Reagan Fischer (Irma, Alta.) is fifth with 11 points on four goals and seven assists. Two other players have double-digit points. Junior Jenna Hobeika (Alpine, N.J.) has 10 points on three goals and seven assists, and sophomore Sally Komarek (Minneapolis, Minn.) has 10 points on two goals and eight assists. Lauren Kelly (Milton, Ont.) leads the freshmen class with six points on one goal and four assists.
In net, freshman Lindsay Holdcroft (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has started eight games and totaled 480:54 minutes. She has 135 saves, a .871 save percentage, a 2.50 goals against average, a 5-3-0 record and one shutout. Sophomore Whitney Woodcox (Oshawa, Ont.) has started five games and played 298:59 minutes. She has 81 saves, a .871 save percentage, a 2.41 goals against average and a 3-2-0 record.
The team is averaging 3.54 goals per game, while only allowing 2.54 goals against. The Big Green are outshooting opponents by over 10 shots per game, averaging 31.6 while allowing 19.2. On the power play, Dartmouth has converted 13 of its 62 chances or 21.0 percent of the time. On the penalty kill, the team has only allowed six goals in 47 chances (87.2 percent).
NATIONAL LEADER
Four months in to the season, and Nanji continues to lead the
nation in points per game by a defenseman. The sophomore is
averaging 1.23 ppg. on 10 goals and six assists. Laura Fortino of
Cornell is the next closest defensive player at 1.07 ppg.
OUTSIDE THE ECAC
The two wins over UConn bumped the Big Green’s
non-conference record to 3-2. All of the games outside of the ECAC
have been against Hockey East opponents, and that trend continues
when Dartmouth finishes its non-conference slate on Jan. 18 at
Vermont. The game against the Catamounts was previously scheduled
for Dec. 29, but postponed due to weather.
CAREER FIRSTS
The beginning of a new year brought with it some career firsts for
multiple Big Green skaters. Holdcroft recorded her first career
shutout in the 5-0 win over UConn. The Pittsburgh native recorded
16 saves in the contest.
Freshman Ali Winkel (Espanola, Ont.) recorded her first goal in the 9-2 victory over the Huskies. Also recording her first goal in that victory was sophomore Margaux Sharp (Carleton Place, Ont.).
SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
RPI enters the weekend with a 6-7-6 mark overall and a 4-3-1
record in conference play. Currently, it is in sixth place in the
ECAC. The Engineers have not played since they hosted Union on Dec.
4 and left the contest with a 3-3 tie.
Sophomore Taylor Horton leads the team with 12 points on five goals and seven assists. Junior Alisa Harrison is second with 11 points on three goals and eight assists. Freshman Jordan Smelker is third with 10 points on six goals and four assists.
In net, Sonja van der Bliek has started 16 games and played 904:26 minutes. She has 323 saves, a .897 save percentage, a 2.45 goals against average, a 6-7-3 record and one shutout.
The team is averaging 1.84 goals per game, but gives up 2.37
goals against. The Engineers take 28.8 shots per game.
SERIES HISTORY
Friday will mark the 12th time the Engineers and the Big Green
have met on the ice. Dartmouth leads the series, 8-2-1. The two
schools first met on October 29, 2006, with the Big Green earning a
5-1 home victory. RPI earned its first two wins in the series last
season with a 2-1 victory on Jan. 22 and a 5-2 win on Feb. 13. The
last time Dartmouth won at RPI was on Jan. 30, 2009.
SCOUTING THE DUTCHWOMEN
Union comes into the weekend with a 1-16-3 record overall and a
0-6-2 mark in the ECAC. The Dutchwomen are in 12th the conference.
They play Harvard on Friday after losing two home games to Vermont
on Jan. 1 and 2.
Two players are tied for the team lead in points with eight. Junior Lauren Hoffman has three goals and five assists, and junior Lauren Cromartie has two goals and six assists.
In net, Kate Gallagher has seen a majority of the action, starting 14 games for a total of 884:18 minutes. She has 456 saves, a .931 save percentage, a 2.31 goals against average and a 1-13-1 record.
The team is averaging 1.25 goals per game, but is giving up 2.75
goals against. Union averages 23.4 shots per game.
SERIES HISTORY
When Union and Dartmouth meet on Saturday it will be the 15th time
the two teams have played. The Big Green have won the previous 14.
The teams first met on Jan. 30 2004, with Dartmouth winning at
Union 7-0. The Big Green are 8-0 at Union, including a 4-0 victory
last season. Seven of the 14 victories have been shutouts for
Dartmouth.
