The Dartmouth men's hockey team returns to action this weekend looking to pick up some points in the ECAC against conference foes Princeton and Yale. It's still early in the season, but as the weather gets colder and the snow starts to fall, picking up points in these conference matchups will be crucial to the Green's playoff hopes.
Dartmouth (4-5-3 overall, 1-5-1 ECAC) is in last place in the ECAC with three points, following two tough one-goal losses at Harvard and at Brown last weekend.
The matchups with Princeton and Yale have traditionally been good to the Big Green, but this year things may be different, as the Tigers and Bulldogs are among the ECAC's best.
The Green play host to Princeton (9-3-4 overall, 3-3-3 ECAC) tonight at Thompson Arena at 7:30 and to Yale (11-3-0 overall, 8-1-0 ECAC) tomorrow night.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the Big Green's season thus far is that they have been playing well enough to win most of their games. And just when the squad has appeared ready to get on a major roll, it has suffered tough setbacks.
Case in point: the Big Green looked sharp in the Sheraton/US Airways Classic in late December, ousting Bowling Green and Providence behind the strong goaltending of Eric Almon '00 and the sudden offensive production of defenseman Scott Peach '99.
But the Green followed up the tourney with a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Harvard and a 6-5 overtime loss to Brown .
This weekend the Big Green will need to find a way to keep it close against two of the best -- and most surprising -- teams in the league.
Princeton comes in off of a productive three-point weekend, with a win over Union and a tie over Rensselaer. The Tigers are currently tied for fourth in the ECAC, but they made even bigger waves earlier in the season with a shocking upset of number-one Boston University.
Clearly, facing a team that has already knocked off BU, Dartmouth cannot take anything for granted against the Tigers. One thing the Green must do to win is contain Princeton's Jeff Halpern, the ECAC's leading scorer. Halpern has seven goals and nine assists in his last nine games and leads the league with 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists).
Tomorrow night the Green face league-leading Yale, by far the ECAC's biggest surprise. Already the Bulldogs have defeated tough ECAC foes such as Clarkson and Cornell. Yale is coming off a sweep of Union and Rensselaer last weekend.
With solid offensive production from Ray Giroux and Daryl Jones and the stellar goaltending of Alex Westlund, Yale has been tough to beat all year. The Green will certainly have their work cut out for them.
Tri-captain Shane Ness '98 recognizes the importance of this weekend's games, noting that the team is "ready to go" and adding that when the Green play well, they are capable of beating any team in the league.
Winger Pete Mahler '01 made an appeal to Big Green fans to make a very strong showing at Thompson Arena this weekend, saying that a full house always "helps pick up the team and the whole atmosphere of Thompson."
Of course, as an added attraction, students may be drawn to the Princeton game by the several-year-old tradition of peppering the Princeton goalie with tennis balls following the first Dartmouth score on Saturday.
Potential throwers should beware, though -- throwing anything onto the ice is forbidden by the Dartmouth College Athletic Department and violators, as always, face ejection from the game.
