The men's team plays its final two home games of the regular season this week, facing off against conference opponents Colgate University and No. 10 Cornell University.
Dartmouth (7-17-1, 5-12-1 ECAC Hockey) sits in second-to-last place in the ECAC standings with only 11 points and four regular season games remaining.
The Big Red (15-7-3, 12-4-2 ECAC Hockey) shares first place with No. 5 Yale University, and has 26 points.
The Big Green lost to both Colgate (12-13-5, 9-8-1 ECAC Hockey) and Cornell during its seven-game losing streak at the start the season.
Dartmouth came back from a 2-0 deficit against the Raiders to tie the game at 2-2 before a power-play goal in the third period secured Colgate's 3-2 win.
"We played well and we fell apart at the end," captain Peter Boldt '10 said. "That is something we are working on staying consistent throughout the entire game."
Against the Big Red, the Big Green was blown out, 5-1, in a battle featuring a combined 21 penalties and 77 penalty minutes.
"Cornell is a really tough team to play at their rink because of their crowd and the atmosphere," Boldt said. "I think we will have more of an advantage at home."
Tension still exists between the Ivy rivals since the Big Red beat Dartmouth in the first round of the ECAC playoffs in the 2007-2008 season, according to Boldt.
On Saturday, Dartmouth beat Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 4-3, after battling back from a 3-1 deficit in the second period for the team's first victory since their Jan. 29 win against Quinnipiac University.
"It was huge for us because we've been right in every game, but we just haven't been winning," assistant captain Joe Gaudet '10 said. "It was great for us to finally break through."
Gaudet scored the game-winning goal for the Big Green on Saturday.
The Big Green lost 5-4 to No. 16 Union College, which is currently second in the ECAC, on Friday after blowing an initial 4-0 lead. The previous weekend, Dartmouth fell to both Brown University and Yale University, also after giving up early leads.
With the ECAC playoffs quickly approaching, the Big Green will close out the season on the road with games against St. Lawrence University on Friday, Feb. 26, and Clarkson University on Saturday, Feb. 27.
Holding a slim advantage in the contest for the last ECAC playoff seed, the women's team is focusing on its weekend pair against No. 6 Clarkson University and St. Lawrence University rather than worrying about postseason scenarios, head coach Mark Hudak said.
"We don't know if we have games next weekend, but we definitely know we have these two games coming up," he said. "Once we're done with the weekend, we'll see where we're at. Right now, there is no reason to think beyond this weekend."
Dartmouth (11-13-2, 8-11-1 ECAC Hockey) currently holds an edge over Yale in the ECAC conference standings with a tie-break advantage. Colgate University also remains in contention for the final playoff spot, sitting only one point out of the coveted No. 8 position.
On the offensive side, the Big Green still leads the league in goals per game and carries a 20.4 percent success rate on the power play.
Dartmouth will make some adjustments against the Golden Knights (20-8-4, 14-4-2 ECAC Hockey) and the Saints (14-11-7, 10-7-3 ECAC Hockey), according to Hudak.
Clarkson plays a high-pressure, high-tempo game as they move the puck from end to end. Hudak said that Dartmouth will run a system that will displace the puck to areas where the Golden Knights cannot pose a threat.
"We are going to try to take time and space away from them so that they have to put the puck somewhere where they don't want to," he said. "We should be able to get to the places where they're going to have to put the puck first."
He added that the team's success hinges on quick transitions.
Dartmouth dropped a matchup against Clarkson earlier in November, losing 3-1.
Moving better around the width of the rink, St. Lawrence boasts a strong defense, including senior co-captain Britni Smith, who is tied for the most points by a defenseman this season.
Along with the Big Green's Amanda Trunzo '11 and co-captain Sarah Parsons '10, Smith was nominated for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award given to the top collegiate player on Wednesday.
Dartmouth begins its final weekend pair of the regular season against the Golden Knights in Potsdam, N.Y on Friday at 7 p.m. and will play its last regular-season game against St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., on Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Big Green men will look to carve up the ice against Colgate at 7 p.m. on Friday at Thompson Arena before facing off against Cornell at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
