The sound of sharp skates carving up fresh ice has returned to Hanover as the Big Green men's hockey team looks to start the 2009-2010 season.
Dartmouth fell to McGill University (6-2-1) by a score of 7-4 in an exhibition meeting Saturday evening, and dropped a scrimmage to No. 9 Yale, 4-2, on Sunday. Both games took place at Thompson Arena in Hanover.
Dartmouth was ranked No. 5 out of 12 by both the ECAC Hockey League coaches and media preseason polls, an improvement over the team's preseason ranking of 11 last season.
Head coach Bob Gaudet attributed this upgrade to the team's increased maturity.
"We have a more experienced team," he said. "The sophomore group last year really came through. We don't have a lot of older players on the team, but we have an experienced group."
Notable juniors include forwards Adam Estoclet '11 and Scott Fleming '11 as well as defenseman Evan Stephens '11.
Scoring twice in Saturday's exhibition game against McGill, Estoclet also led the team in scoring last season with eight goals and 24 assists.
Fleming led the team last year with 13 goals, and also had 12 assists.
Stephens was the team's highest scoring defenseman in the 2008-2009 season with five goals and 14 assists, and was recently named to the ECAC Hockey coaches' preseason all-league team.
The position of netminder, which was wide open at the beginning of last season after the loss of goalie Mike Devine '08, was filled by Jody O'Neill '12, who was named the rookie of the year last season in both the Ivy League and the ECAC.
O'Neill saved five shots and allowed only one goal in over 29 minutes of play against McGill.
O'Neill posted a save percentage of .923 during the 2008-2009 season, and played in 30 out of 31 games.
"Last year at this time, we were really inexperienced in goal," Gaudet said after the McGill exhibition game. "But, O'Neill played a great game tonight."
Upperclassmen will fill the void created by the loss of influential seniors, including last year's captain Rob Pritchard '09.
"The senior leadership last year on the team was good, and we had a lot of respect for those guys," captain Peter Boldt '10 said. "But, I think this year we have built really great team chemistry. The loss of those guys won't affect us this year."
Last year, the Big Green finished the regular season tied with Harvard for fifth place in the ECAC standings. RPI swept Dartmouth in the first round of the ECAC playoffs, eliminating the Big Green from the postseason after two games.
The increased experience level of the Big Green players, however, should contribute to greater consistency throughout this new season, Boldt said.
"That should be really helpful late in the season when we need to bring it every game," he said. "In the past, we have been a little immature and sort of fallen off at the end of the season."
Boldt said that the team's goals for the 2009-2010 season include winning the ECAC regular season championship and the ECAC tournament, as well as making it to the national tournament.
Defenseman Mike Keenan '13 and forward Mark Goggin '13, two of Dartmouth's dynamic freshman additions, both scored during the exhibition game against McGill.
Goggin was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the seventh round of the NHL draft in 2008.
Other freshmen with the potential to impact the team include forwards Dustin Walsh '13, who was drafted by the Montreal Canadians, and Jason Bourgea '13.
"Keenan is a really good defenseman," Gaudet said. "He is a real diligent kid and a hard worker, and I think that Bourgea is a really feisty, skilled player."
Despite the weekend's losses, the Big Green is optimistic about its regular season potential, Gaudet said.
"I thought we played a good, solid game," Gaudet said. "I thought we were better defensively, but as a team we made a couple of errors, and they ended up in the back of the net. Overall, it was a good test to help us prepare for the future."
Looking forward to future match-ups, Dartmouth will be facing non-Ivy ECAC teams that already have multiple games under their belts.
"It just takes a little while to try and accelerate things as quickly as we can," Gaudet said. "It takes a little while to catch up, but we are getting there. No excuses."
Impending Ivy-League competition includes No. 6 Cornell, No. 8 Princeton and No. 9 Yale. The Bulldogs are at the top of the ECAC preseason polls, immediately followed by Cornell and the Tigers.
Dartmouth will confront rival Harvard in a charged home opener this Friday at 7:00 p.m.
Harvard is ranked fourth in ECAC preseason polls and tied McGill 3-3 in an exhibition match-up this past Friday night.
"I know that guys are really excited to play next Friday night against Harvard at home and to really get the season under way," Boldt said.
