The Dartmouth men's hockey team has won three straight games, and is clearly on a roll. But the Big Green will find out just how good they are this weekend when they hit the road to face the Clarkson Golden Knights and the St. Lawrence Saints, two of the top teams in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.
The Big Green (3-6-0 ECAC, 4-11-1 overall) pulled themselves out of the ECAC basement last weekend with a sweep of Princeton and Yale, and the squad is now in a three-way tie for ninth place in the conference with six points.
But both Clarkson and St. Lawrence have stellar ECAC records, and, based on the Big Green's poor recent performances against these two squads, Dartmouth will have to pull out all the stops this weekend if the team hopes to earn any points. The Big Green lost twice to both Clarkson and St. Lawrence last season.
For the Big Green, goalie Scott Baker '97 figures to be in net again this weekend, in light of his outstanding play last weekend. Baker was huge in both the 4-3 win over Yale and the 3-2 victory against Princeton last week.
Offensively, forward David Whitworth '98 has been on a tear since he began playing on a line with Ryan Chaytors '99 and Bill Kelleher '96. Chaytors missed last Saturday night's game with the flu.
Tonight, the Big Green will play Clarkson (6-2-1 ECAC, 12-5-2 overall) at Cheel Arena in Potsdam, NY. The Golden Knights may have lost a step from last season, because a good number of talented players from the 1994-95 squad, including Hobey Baker contender Brian Mueller, have since graduated.
But the Golden Knights sit in fifth place, and are still well within striking distance of first in the conference.
As a warm-up for this weekend's action, Clarkson last weekend beat both Providence and Maine, two of the best teams in the rival Hockey East conference, on back to back nights.
Despite losing a lot of offense from last year's team, the Golden Knights are still an explosive squad, with one of the best offenses in the ECAC. In fact, Clarkson junior forward Todd White, who had three goals and four assists in two games last weekend, is the second-leading scorer in the conference.
Other members of Clarkson's high-octane offense include J.F. Houle and Chris Lipsett.
In goal tonight, the Big Green will almost certainly face Clarkson's sophomore-sensation Dan Murphy, who has started every game Clarkson has played this year. The sparkling netminder has compiled a 6-2-1 record in ECAC play, as well as a stingy 2.82 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.
Tomorrow night, the Big Green travel to Appleton Arena in Canton, NY, where they face the St. Lawrence Saints (7-1-1 ECAC, 11-7-1 overall).
The Saints are also a dangerous team, and they currently sit comfortably in a tie for third place in the ECAC, with 15 points. Until last weekend, the Saints were in first place all by themselves.
St. Lawrence also has a very potent offense, led by senior Captain Burke Murphy. Murphy is among the ECAC leaders in scoring, and he had a hat trick last weekend in the Saints' 5-3 win over Providence.
The Saints also have two other high-scoring forwards on the conference high-scorers list, namely Paul DiFrancesco and Derek Ladouceur.
In net, the Saints split their goalie chores between junior Jon Bracco and sophomore Clint Owen. Owen has played particularly well this season, compiling an unbeaten 4-0-1 record in the ECAC.
