No. 11 Yale, No. 12 Cornell, No. 10 Princeton and No. 15 St. Lawrence, ranked first through fourth in the league, respectively, all received a first-round bye.
"We're not too disappointed," Scott Fleming '11 said. "It would have been nice, but we're just trying to focus on what we are given. We have RPI now, and we just want to beat them and start playing good hockey."
The best-of-three series against RPI will consist of a game at 7 p.m. on Friday night, 7 p.m. on Saturday night and 7 p.m. on Sunday night, if necessary.
"Especially when we get a good crowd here, we're comfortable playing in this rink," Fleming said. "Home ice is always important."
Dartmouth beat RPI twice during the regular season, both times by a score of 5-2.
Sophomores led the Big Green in the first match-up against RPI, as Fleming and Joe Stejskal '11 scored two goals each. Defenseman Evan Stephens '11 also stepped up and drilled the puck into the net for Dartmouth.
Dartmouth's second game against RPI was more of an individual scoring event, as five different Big Green players scored each of the five goals. Fleming scored another goal for the Big Green during this game. Three of his 11 goals this season came against RPI.
"I'm a little bit excited, but we just want to beat them," Fleming said. "I just want to get the win, and if it involves me scoring, I'll gladly take it."
Some of the Big Green players, however, have been dealing with injuries lately.
"It's getting late in the season, so a lot of guys have bumps and bruises," Fleming said. "It's something that you have to work through. I'm pretty sure that [Andrew Owsiak '11 and Josh Gillam '10] will be in the lineup, which will help us a lot."
RPI will enter into this series coming off of five consecutive losses to Yale, Cornell, Colgate University, Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University.
"You're only as good as your last game," Big Green goaltender Jody O'Neill '12 said. "I'm sure they are going to have no problem getting motivated to play us, and we're going to have to bring our 'A'-game. We can't take them for granted."
The No. 9 Dartmouth women's hockey team, coming off of a series victory over Colgate last weekend in the first round of the ECAC tournament, will travel to Boston this weekend to battle for the championship. The remaining games of the tournament will take place at Harvard's Bright Hockey Center.
The Big Green takes on St. Lawrence, ranked just above Dartmouth at No. 8 in the country, Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
The other two teams left in the tournament are Harvard and RPI, who will face off Saturday at 1 p.m. The winners of the two games will meet on Sunday in the deciding matchup of the tournament.
The Big Green hopes to take its momentum from last weekend into the finals. After falling to Colgate in overtime, 7-6, in the first game of the series, Dartmouth won two games in a row, the latter by a convincing margin of 7-3.
Dartmouth has already faced off against St. Lawrence twice this season, falling to the Saints both times. During the teams' first meeting on Nov. 14, Dartmouth fell 3-0, and then lost to the Saints again on Feb. 21 by a one-goal margin, 4-3.
Dartmouth has matched-up against nationally-ranked teams six times this season, with the team's only win coming against a Boston College team that was ranked fourth at the time.
The Big Green will be bringing its big guns to Boston, with three skaters on the team having passed the 100 career-points milestone. Maggie Kennedy '09 and Shannon Bowman '09 will look to continue to rack up goals for the Big Green, while Sarah Parsons '10 is coming off a huge weekend against Colgate, tallying 5 goals and 2 assists in the three-game series.
Other key threats on the Big Green team will include the tenacious Amanda Trunzo '11, whose on-ice performances have been frustrating opponents all season. Two first-year skaters, Reagan Fischer '12 and Kelly Foley '12, have also blossomed into offensive snipers.
At the other end of the rink will be Carli Clemis '09, who continues to star in goal. With 56 career wins, including 10 shutouts, Clemis has been a brick wall for the Big Green.
