Last season, when Dartmouth hosted Cornell and Colgate on Feb. 15 and 16, Jamie Herrington '02 generated enough electricity to power the Granite State with a pair of breath-taking, game-winning goals.
This time around, the season is young and so is the Dartmouth team. Herry the Hero is gone, but the Big Green has played quite well despite its youth up front.
Dartmouth must try to dig itself out of a three-game hole the team fell into on the road against Merrimack, Harvard and Brown. This weekend presents a critical opportunity to tally some points in the ECAC standings.
Colgate (4-4-1, 1-1-0 ECAC) will step up to the plate first against the Big Green, after falling victim to Yale's first victory of the season last Saturday by a five-goal margin.
"Our focus is exclusively on Colgate, we'll turn it around after Friday night," Coach Bob Gaudet '81 said despite the eagerly-anticipated match-up with Cornell. We really have our hands full with Colgate, they're a fast, experienced team now."
The Raiders return several quality forwards this season, including P.J. Yedon, who was the team's leading scorer last season with 24 points. Colgate is a bit shaky in the net, however, something that Dartmouth will look to exploit.
After losing the first two games of the season, junior goaltender David Cann handed over his starting job to sophomore Steve Silverthorn, who was then yanked in favor of Cann after giving up four goals to the Bulldogs.
Dartmouth's goalie situation is no less complicated.
Darren Gastrock '04 impressed the home crowd last year when the Big Green hosted the Raiders in the playoffs, allowing just three goals in the two-game sweep, while recording a .965 save percentage. Gastrock, however, has never played against Cornell.
Nick Boucher '03 has fared well between the pipes but did not start at Brown last Saturday, so it remains to be seen who will try to stop the puck this weekend.
"We're a young team up front that is playing really hard, but I have to rely on a lot of young players to do a job defensively," Gaudet said.
The young centers practiced their defensive zone work and cooperation with the veteran defensemen in Tuesday's early practice.
"We're playing a really quick team in Colgate, and a big, strong team in Cornell, so there are different issues," Gaudet said.
Cornell (3-0-0, 2-0-0 ECAC, 2-0-0 Ivy) grinded out a 3-1 victory at Ohio State on Nov. 1 in its first game of the season. The Buckeyes have only lost to sixth-ranked Minnesota since falling to the Big Red.
No. 9 Cornell carried the momentum from a huge nonconference road win back home into familiar ECAC and Ivy League action against Princeton and Yale. The Big Red beat the Bulldogs, 6-2 and shut out the Tigers, 3-0.
"Cornell is a team that's built to go not only a long way in our playoffs but in the national tournament," Gaudet said.
"They're as good a team as maybe there is in the east as far as just defensively sound, strong, physical -- a team that's not going to beat themselves. They're an outstanding team.
Dartmouth does have a bit of recent history in its favor: Cornell hasn't beaten the Big Green since Nov. 20, 1998. This year, however, Dartmouth must rely on its veteran blue line and hope to put significant pressure an equally solid Big Red defensive corps.
Lee Stempniak '05 (four goals, two assists) currently leads the ECAC in power-play goals with three while Assistant Captain Pete Summerfelt '03 has the conference lead in power-play assists and points.
"We've got good puck movement and we're working hard at getting the puck back," Stempniak said of the team's power play. We're crashing the net and we're getting the bounces -- on the power play at least."
Stempniak has five career goals in just four games against the Raiders and has one goal against the stingy Big Red.
Co-captain Kent Gillings '03 has been a bit banged up recently, but will play this weekend, giving the Big Green a veteran center it can hardly do without.
The puck drops at 7 p.m. here at Thompson Arena on both Friday and Saturday nights, as the Big Green looks to rebound with a little help from the home crowd.
