This weekend, the Dartmouth men's hockey team (9-13-4) will fight for home ice in the first round of ECAC playoffs, but they know one thing for sure.
The youthful Big Green squad will be playing in the postseason for the first time since 1996.
Dartmouth is currently tied for third place in the ECAC with a 8-8-3 conference record.
Coming off a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Cornell Big Red last Sunday, Dartmouth will play at Clarkson tonight and St. Lawrence on Saturday. Dartmouth is 4-7-0 in away games this season.
Seven teams are hunting for the remaining three home-ice playoff spots and six teams can end up anywhere between third and ninth spot.
In case of tied records, here are the rules for tiebreaker.
1.Head-to-Head Record
2.Record Versus Top Five Teams
3.Record Versus Top Ten Teams
4.Goal Differential Head-To-Head 5.Goal Differential Versus Top Five Teams
- Goal Differential Versus Top Ten Teams.
Dartmouth's best scenario is a third place finish. The Big Green needs to sweep both teams and neither Princeton nor RPI win two games. Or the Green end up in a tiebreaker for third with RPI and Harvard is not in the Top Five.
Dartmouth's worst scenario is a ninth place finish, in which the Big Green lose two games and Yale wins twice and Dartmouth loses the tiebreaker with the Tigers.
Unfortunately for Dartmouth, they will have to face two of the hottest teams in the ECAC.
ST. LAWRENCE
Ranked number seven in the nation, the St. Lawrence Saints leads the conference with a 15-3-1 conference record. The Saints also have a 12-1-0 home record and a 20-7-3 overall record.
St. Lawrence has outscored their opponents 96-71 this season and the Saints are 11-1 in the last 12 ECAC games.
Earlier in the season, the Big Green took a 4-3 home loss in overtime against St. Lawrence on Jan. 28.
CLARKSON
The Clarkson Golden Knights needed eight ECAC games to clinch their first conference victory. Yet the Golden Knights have won the last four games, including a convincing 4-1 victory over then-nationally ranked Rensselear.
The Golden Knights are now tied at third place in the ECAC along with Dartmouth. They have a 8-8-3 ECAC, 14-13-3 overall record.
Clarkson is 6-8-1 at home this season and Dartmouth defeated Clarkson 5-3 on Jan. 30.
DARTMOUTH
The Dartmouth team is led by trio of sophomore forwards. Frank Nardella leads the team with 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists). He is followed by Mike Maturo, who has 14 points (7g, 7a), and Ryan Sinclair, who has 13 points (5g, 8a).
In the net, freshman Nick Boucher posts a 7-6-2 ECAC record with a .917 save percentage and a 2.57 goals-against-average.
