Dartmouth's worst loss this year came on Nov. 9 at the hands of the Harvard Crimson, whose team is equipped with three Olympians, including Salt Lake City gold-medalist Angela Ruggiero. The Big Green played at home that afternoon and lost by a convincing score of 9-2.
It was an early sign of a tough road to the Frozen Four for the lady icers. However, Dartmouth held on to its number four ranking in the nation and has posted a stellar record of 8-2-0 since their encounter with Harvard. The Big Green has the momentum of a three game winning streak going into this weekend's two-game series.
Their opponent will be the Bulldogs from Minnesota-Duluth, the number two team in the nation boasting a 15-1-2 overall record. The Bulldogs also have six Olympians who will carousel on and off the ice.
Five out of the six Olympians are forwards for the Bulldogs, which adds incredible depth to their potent offensive lines. Among the forwards is Team USA star Jenny Potter, who currently leads the nation in scoring with 50 points is just 18 games. Other returning Olympians include Maria Rooth and Erika Holst, a pair of 5'10" seniors from Team Sweden, Hanne Sikio, a 5'10" senior from Team Finland, and gold-medalist Caroline Ouellette from Team Canada, who stands over six feet on skates. Their imposing forwards are anchored by goaltender Patricia Sautter, who delivered a 3-2 victory in last year's championship game.
In fact, Minnesota-Duluth has claimed the last two NCAA championships with their last playoff loss dating back to March 25, 2000.
Coincidentally, that was also the last time the Bulldogs played the Big Green.
Dartmouth has reason to believe that history will repeat itself this weekend in the two-game series, but in order defeat the talented Bulldogs, the Big Green will have to make adjustments in their game plan and stay extremely disciplined.
Due to the their relative lack of depth on defense, the Bulldogs run a unique system called "the torpedo" where only one defender anchors four attacking forwards. The Big Green will have to find a way to deal with this unorthodox lineup in order to have success in the game. Furthermore, since the Bulldogs convert nearly one out of every four of their power-play opportunities, the Big Green need to stay especially disciplined during the game, something that the team has not been able to do in a good portion of their games.
If the Big Green can capitalize on a few Bulldog mistakes and stay aggressive throughout both games, two victories are well within reach.
Back in 2000, Carly Haggard '03 tallied a hat-trick as a freshman against the Bulldogs, scoring the game-tying and winning goals within one minute of each other in the third period. Now a senior, Haggard looks to give another stellar performance and help the team to pass a big test on its pursuit of a national title.
