HAMILTON, N.Y. " The members of the Dartmouth men's hockey team sated their appetites last night. Now they'd like to sate their desire to move up in the ECAC standings.
After eating their traditional team dinner at the Colorado Mine Co. Steakhouse in Colonie, N.Y., the Big Green men headed deeper into spacious upstate New York for their first two-game league road trip since mid-November.
Dartmouth will do battle with a mediocre Colgate team tonight at Starr Rink before heading s outhwest to face staunch rival Cornell tomorrow night in Ithaca.
Dartmouth (7-6-1, 4-2-1 ECAC) is coming off a 1-1-0 weekend in which it walloped Vermont, 5-2, at Thompson Arena before losing a 4-1 decision to 11th-ranked Maine last Sunday in Portland.
Last season, the Colgate-Cornell road trip proved to be a fruitful venture, as the Big Green earned three of four possible points with a convincing 4-1 win over Colgate and a hard-fought 1-1 tie with Cornell.
As Dartmouth enters the heart of its schedule " the team has played 14 games and has 15 remaining, all against league opponents " it is hoping that similarly positive results this weekend will propel it toward the top of the ECAC standings.
"We know we're starting to get into the bulk of our ECAC schedule," co-captain Jamie Herrington '02 said. "We can't have any half-hearted efforts. We have to be ready to go every night. As we've seen in the past, every point matters in the end, whether it means playing at home in the playoffs or having a bye in Lake Placid. So we'll be ready to go."
The game plan for Dartmouth this weekend is to take care of business at Colgate tonight and then bring its "A" Game tomorrow to Ithaca.
The Raiders are 4-11-0 (2-4-0 ECAC) and eminently beatable. They tend to play tough in their own rink but have been mediocre in all venues this season as they languish at 11th place in the ECAC standings.
The Big Red (8-4-1, 4-1-1 ECAC), on the other hand, is among the favorites to win the league and has spent time in the national rankings all season.
Dartmouth has yet to win a game against a ranked team, but on the other hand, has fared well historically against Cornell. The Big Green is unbeaten (4-0-1) in its last five meetings with the Big Red.
"Cornell is known for having a strong hockey program," Herrington said. "And we, as Dartmouth players, try to propel ourselves into the national spotlight, we work hard to beat teams like Cornell because we know it will earn us recognition and help our confidence. The Cornell game is always an exciting one for us."
The biggest intrigue surrounding the team throughout the week was the goaltending situation.
In a sense, all three netminders can make a case for the starting spot, as Nick Boucher '03 is second in school history in career wins, Darren Gastrock '04 played well in last Friday's 5-2 win over Vermont and rookie Dan Yacey '05 kept an injured Dartmouth squad within shouting distance in a 4-1 loss to Maine last Sunday.
The coaches informed Yacey yesterday that he will start tonight, according to players and the rookie netminder himself.
"It's an absolute honor to be a part of this organization, let alone getting a chance to start a league game," Yacey said. "I feel confident going into the game."
As for the injuries, Dartmouth is still without Dan Casella '02 (shoulder), who will be out until February, but will regain the services of Kent Gillings '03, who has finally recovered from a bout with the flu.
Defenseman Pete Summerfelt '03, who has been battling tendenitis in his left ankle, will be a game-time decision.
Wait a Week: Casella, who was expecting to find out yesterday if he is one of five nominees for the prestigious College Hockey Humanitarian Award, will have to wait another week, as the announcement of the five finalists was postponed until next Friday.
"I'm disappointed that I didn't hear any news today," Casella said, "but I'll continue to wait and hope to find out something good next Friday."
Nards Out? According to sources close to the situation, Frank Nardella '02, who has played all 107 games of his Dartmouth career, is likely to be left out of tonight's lineup as a healthy scratch.
The decision would move Mike Murray '03 down to the second line to take Nardella's center spot between Chris Taliercio '02 and Chris Baldwin '02, while Gillings' re-entry into the lineup would place him between Mike Maturo '02 " who also has played all 107 games " and Chris Snizek '05.
