The waiting is almost over for the Big Green men's hockey team, which come into this season sporting new uniforms and a new level of confidence.
After bowing out early in the ECAC playoffs last season to RPI, Dartmouth brings experience to this year's campaign with 22 returning letter winners. The grueling road back to the playoffs gets underway tonight at Thompson Arena at 7:30 p.m. against the Cadets from Army.
Dartmouth's only test this fall has been an exhibition game against the University of Ottawa last Sunday afternoon in which the Big Green prevailed 5-3. That game was marred by numerous penalties, resulting from both the referee's desire to make close calls early on, and the aggressive nature of the Ottawa squad.
Going into the third period tied at two goals apiece, the Big Green finally found the net on three unanswered goals to seal the game. Jon Sturgis '98 scored the final two goals of the game to give the Big Green the win.
Coach Roger Demment was pleased overall with the team's effort, especially the fact that the Big Green outshot Ottawa 68-18.
"We created a ton of good goal scoring opportunities, and we were pretty good on our end of the ice, even though we didn't spend a lot of time there," Demment said. "In the first two periods, I thought we played undisciplined hockey, but we came out and played a good third period."
Going into the season with a plethora of experienced forwards allowed the coaching staff to create four solid lines capable of lighting the lamp. Last year's leading scorer, David Whitworth '98 returns to lead the gold line but will have to get used to drawing a crowd.
"Anytime you wind up being the top scorer on the team and first team All Ivy League as a sophomore, people are going to pay attention," Demment said. "David will have to challenge himself to stay on his game and play within himself."
Other team members appear poised to raise their level of offensive production, however, to take some of the heat off of Whitworth and Bill Kelleher '96 the second leading scorer from last year. Demment was especially pleased with Sturgis in that regards.
"John made a big step last week in fulfilling the kind of role we see him having on this team as a guy who can bury the puck for us," Demment said.
Looking ahead to Army tonight, the Big Green find themselves facing a team who has already played five regular season games, and comes to Hanover with a 3-2 record. They are a big, physical team that could cause the Big Green problems if they are allowed to control the tempo.
"Army is a strong, bruising team, and I think it will be a close checking game," Demment said. "We will try to use our speed to our advantage against them. They'll be a lot of hitting out there, but probably not too many goals scored."
The major issue for Dartmouth, though, will be shrugging off any first game jitters early on against a team that is already comfortable playing in game situations. If the Big Green can come out strong and use their overall team speed to control the game's tempo, they should prevail.
Face off is at 7:30 p.m.