The Dartmouth men's hockey team will look to emerge from the chaos near the bottom of the Eastern College Athletic Conference this weekend when the squad plays host to the St. Lawrence Saints and the Clarkson Golden Knights, two of the ECAC's best teams.
The Big Green host St. Lawrence tonight at Thompson Arena at 7:30 p.m. and will play Clarkson tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m.
In playing the first-place Saints and the fifth-place Golden Knights, the Big Green will be looking to avenge defeats at the hands of both of these squads just two weeks ago. Dartmouth was slapped 7-2 by Clarkson and 7-3 by St. Lawrence in road games on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20.
The Big Green (3-8-1 ECAC, 4-13-2 overall) sit in ninth place in the conference, but both Union and Yale are close behind with six points each. Princeton, mired in the middle of a horrific season, is in last with four points.
Coach Roger Demment has opted to juggle his lineup a bit for this weekend's games, so the fans at Thompson will see a slightly new look when the Big Green hit the ice tonight.
Forward Matt Giedt '99 and defenseman Dave Risk '99, both regulars in the lineup this season, will sit in favor of Bill Kelleher '96, who is returning from a hand injury after missing one game, and veteran defenseman Scott Dolesh '96, who has been in and out of the lineup this season.
Kelleher returns to the first line, where he will center David Whitworth '98 and Scott Peach '99. Peach scored one of the goals in last Saturday night's crucial tie with Vermont.
Darren Wercinski '95, who played with the first line last weekend, will move over to Giedt's spot on a line with Charlie Retter '98 and Curtis Wilgosh '99 .
Tonight's game will have a little something special added to it, as captain Dax Burkhart '96 will enter the history books when he plays in his 100th career game for Dartmouth. He will become only the 22nd player in Dartmouth history to crack the century mark in games played.
After slumping at the beginning of the season, the Big Green have righted the ship, and the squad is 4-4-2 in its last 10 games.
Demment, though, thinks the team is even better than its recent play may indicate.
"I think we're capable of playing better than .500 hockey," he said. "We can't sit and think we're all set in ninth place ... I don't think anybody on this team is satisfied with ninth."
The keys to the weekend for Dartmouth, according to Demment, will be the team's special teams units -- the powerplay and penalty kill.
Demment said if the team plays well, especially when a man down, "I think they'll be two real close games, which is what we want."
Tonight the Big Green will have to play an extremely disciplined hockey game when they face St. Lawrence. The Saints (10-1-1 ECAC, 14-7-1 overall) sit in first place in the ECAC with 21 points, and boast the league's most productive offense.
The Saints attack is led by senior winger Burke Murphy, who in the Jan. 20 meeting between the two teams, had a career night, torching the Big Green for five goals. Murphy, a strong candidate for the Hobey Baker award, which honors college hockey's best player, is tied with Boston University's Jay Pandolfo for the most goals in all of Division I college hockey.
Dartmouth must prepare to face either Clint Owen or Jon Bracco, both of whom are skilled goaltenders. Bracco was in net for the Saints' 7-3 drubbing of the Big Green earlier this year.
Tomorrow night will be an equally difficult challenge for the Big Green, when Clarkson visits to Thompson Arena. The Golden Knights (7-4-1 ECAC, 13-7-2 overall) are in fifth in the conference with 15 points.
The Clarkson offense is led by Todd White, the conference's third-leading scorer, and Steve Palmer, who registered a hat trick in the Golden Knights' 7-2 win over Dartmouth on Jan. 19.
Dan Murphy has carried the load for Clarkson in net this season and will most likely get the start between the pipes for the Golden Knights tomorrow night.
