This weekend marks Dartmouth's first meeting of the season with No. 10-ranked Harvard (13-5-2, 10-4-1 ECACHL) and the up-and-coming Brown Bears (11-6-3, 6-5-2 ECACHL). The Bright Center in Cambridge, Mass., will be the scene of Dartmouth's most consequential league battle of the year. If the Big Green (11-8-2, 8-6-0 ECACHL) cannot find a way to topple the Crimson tonight, they will fall six points behind third-place Harvard, and even further out of contention for an all-important first-round bye in the postseason.
With only eight league games remaining, only two of which are against a team ahead of Dartmouth in the ECACHL standings (both against Harvard), every opportunity for victory -- and thus point gains -- is indispensable. The fifth-place Big Green are looking to complete their comeback from an early season drought, in which they went 4-5, scoring one or less goals in five of those games. Dartmouth is currently riding a three-game win streak during which it has exploded for 15 goals. The Big Green icers must continue their offensive proficiency to stand a chance against Harvard, which has compiled a three-game win streak of its own.
Led by senior center Tom Cavanagh (21 points), the Harvard attack has proven that it is capable of erupting at any given moment. The Crimson have scored 12 goals in its past two games and has eight players in double-digit scoring. Furthermore, Harvard goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris heads the Crimson defensive front with a 10-4-2 record, accompanied by a .941 save percentage and 1.78 goals against average.
There is no doubt that the men in green have their work cut out for them, but the team remains poised.
"Our team has been playing very well the past few weeks and we're a much more confident team," captain Lee Stempniak '05 said. "We've focused on doing the little things and having the intensity every shift that will put us in position to win games."
Stempniak said the team will work at creating scoring opportunities.
"Looking at Harvard, we know that they are a very strong team with wins over highly rated teams," Stempniak said. "Our focus has been shooting the puck and driving to the net to generate scoring chances, and playing tenacious defense."
Mike Ouellette '06 said he relishes the chance to face off against Harvard again.
"We've had trouble with Harvard in the past and they're ahead of us in the standings, so it would be great to steal one in their building," Ouellette said. "I've been looking forward to this match-up since we saw them last year in Albany," he said, referring to last season's ECACHL playoff game.
On Saturday, Dartmouth will travel to Providence, R.I., colliding with Brown at Meehan Auditorium. The Bears are coming off of an Ivy League weekend sweep, beating Yale and Princeton on consecutive nights. Offensively, Brown is led by current ECACHL player of the week Mike Meech, who recorded a hat trick against Yale and leads the team in points with 18. Defensively, the Bears boast their phenomenal freshman netminder Adam D'Alba. The Illinois native is the reigning USCHO national defensive player of the week. He leads the nation in save percentage and is third in the country in goals allowed per game.
Brown, sitting in a three-way tie for sixth place, trails the Big Green by only two points. A loss on Saturday, just like one on Friday, would greatly diminish Dartmouth's hopes for improving their league standing and returning to their lost national prominence.
The Big Green undoubtedly recognizes the considerable importance of this weekend.
"This weekend should be a great test for us. There are some huge Ivy League games at stake and it is definitely one of the toughest road trips of the year," Ouellette said. "We're really on a roll right now and a couple wins this weekend would be tremendous for picking up even more momentum."
