The men's team returns home to Thompson Arena this weekend to face off against No. 16 Union College tonight and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday.
Union (15-7-6, 9-3-4 ECAC Hockey) is tied for first place in the league with 22 points, sharing the top spot with No. 6 Yale University and No. 8 Cornell University.
RPI (15-12-3, 8-6-2 ECAC Hockey) trails in fifth place with 18 points, while Dartmouth (6-16-1, 4-11-1 ECAC Hockey) remains in the second-to-last spot with nine points.
Earlier this season, the Big Green seized a 3-1 upset win from the Dutchmen but fell, 2-1, to the Engineers.
Union averages 3.64 goals per game second only to Yale while the Big Green average only 2.70.
Entering the weekend, Dartmouth looks to rebound from last weekend's disappointing loss to Yale and overtime tie with Brown University.
After Dartmouth established an initial 2-0 lead in the first, the Bulldogs (14-6-3, 10-4-2 ECAC Hockey) notched four consecutive goals one penalty shot goal, two power play goals and one shorthanded goal to bury the Big Green under a 4-2 deficit.
Against the Bears (7-13-3, 5-8-3 ECAC Hockey), Dartmouth allowed three goals in the third period, giving up a 4-2 lead, before Adam Estoclet '11 netted the game-tying goal to force an overtime period.
"We know we played good hockey [against Yale and Brown] but we need to keep working hard," assistant captain Scott Fleming '11 said. "We are working on limiting our mental mistakes. We just have to try and keep it simple."
In the loss and tie, the Big Green gave up five penalty-kill goals while going only 1-9 on the power play.
"I think that we struggled this weekend with discipline, but I don't think it was a step back," captain Peter Boldt '10 said. "We worked hard, but I don't think that our penalty kill is the only reason we lost."
The battle for the net continues between goaltenders James Mello '12 and Jody O'Neill '12, with Mello earning both starts last weekend against Yale and Brown.
O'Neill earned his most recent start in a 5-3 loss to Princeton University on Jan. 30.
After confronting Union and RPI, the Big Green have only two home games remaining facing Colgate University and Cornell on Feb. 19 and 20, respectively.
"We know we are playing well, and there are only six games left to the playoffs," Estoclet said. "We need to get our position up before the playoffs start."
The women's team will also look to notch a few more wins before the start of the postseason.
This weekend, the Big Green (10-12-2, 7-10-1 ECAC Hockey) will take to the road and look to avenge a 2-1 loss to RPI and repeat its 8-1 thrashing of Union earlier in the season.
The Big Green collected four much-needed points last weekend after sweeping league foes Yale and Brown.
Only the top eight teams make the ECAC playoffs, and Dartmouth is tied with the Bulldogs for the coveted No. 8 ranking with 15 points.
Currently, 10 of the conference's 12 teams are separated by less than three points.
The Big Green stands in a precarious position and will take these games seriously, but head coach Mark Hudak said the team is in the driver's seat.
"A lot of it is in our control," he said. "If we win the next four games, we will definitely be in the playoffs."
Rather than catering to the specific opponent this weekend, Hudak said that Dartmouth will focus on its own game. "We need to not be thinking about who we are playing," he said. "I have been pretty happy with what I have seen when we are playing our game, and I think that we have as much success doing that as trying to prepare for a specific team."
Hudak emphasized that the team will concentrate on maintaining a high tempo for the full 60 minutes and staying prepared for every shift change.
Looking at RPI (12-10-7, 9-4-5 ECAC Hockey) and Union (5-24-1, 1-16-1 ECAC Hockey), Hudak said that the schools' main difference lies in their skill levels.
The Engineers recently handed a loss to No. 3 Clarkson, who currently leads the conference with 29 points.
After hosting its own event in support of breast cancer research, the Big Green will once again "think pink" this weekend, as the Dutchwomen host their "Pink at the Rink" event on Friday.
Union's attitude is anything but rosy, however, after having lost its previous six games.
The Big Green demonstrated its offensive prowess during an eight-game homestand this past month Dartmouth tops the ECAC with 26 power-play conversions.
Co-captain Sarah Parsons '10 now leads the team with 35 points and 24 goals.
In prime form for their weekend pair, the Big Green travels to Schenectady, N.Y., to face off against Union tonight at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, the team visits RPI in Troy, N.Y., for a 4 p.m. face off.
The men's team stays home to face off against the Dutchmen tonight at 7 p.m. before taking on the Engineers on Saturday at 7 p.m.
