The Big Green men's hockey squad will look to return to its winning ways at home this weekend as it prepares for meetings with Union and Rennselaer. This series could have big implications for Dartmouth as it jockeys for home ice position in the ECAC standings midway through the season.
The Skating Dutchmen from Union, long the doormat of the ECAC, have been a bit of a surprise this season with a 4-5-2 league record (8-11-4 overall), which puts them in sixth place, tied with Dartmouth. Union is coming off an impressive 4-1 win over Colgate last Saturday night, in which they held the Red Raiders to only 16 shots on net. This win broke a six game winless streak, which included a 6-0 thumping by Cornell last Friday.
The Dutchmen are led up front by sophomore Jordan Webb, who leads the team with 12 goals, six of which have come on the power play. Captain Nathan Gillies has also been a force in the offensive zone at times with 10 goals on the season. Two of those goals came last Saturday against Colgate. In the net freshman Kris Mayotte has gotten the majority of playing time while posting a solid 2.72 GAA and .913 save percentage.
The other ECAC team from the Capital District region, RPI, will take to the Thompson Arena ice on Saturday evening. The Engineers have had a down year, as their 2-6-2 record within the ECAC would indicate, but given the history between Dartmouth and RPI, no one should expect a cakewalk for the Big Green.
Both regular season meetings between the teams last season were close affairs. At Troy the Big Green managed to score three goals in the last four minutes in a come from behind win, their first victory at Gutterson Fieldhouse in over a decade. In another game full of drama, the Big Green had to battle back in the third period to secure a tie with the Engineers at Thompson Arena.
True to form, the two teams met up again in the playoffs, as they have in three straight years. In the play-in game at Lake Placid, RPI was outplayed for most of the game but managed to score two goals in the final three minutes to steal the game from the Big Green and advance to the semifinals. This sour memory will surely be on the mind of those Big Green players who were part of last year's squad.
Freshman phenom Kevin Croxton leads the Engineers in goals and points (10-11-21), while the rest of the team has struggled to put points on the board. The goaltending tandem of Kevin Kurk and Nathan Marsters have split time between the pipes for RPI. Despite their losing records, both have put up respectable numbers, especially Kurk who holds a 2.49 GAA and .911 save percentage.
This weekend certainly presents an excellent opportunity for the Big Green to pick up some much-needed points before going on the road for two consecutive weekends. To do this, the Big Green must first get some steady goaltending from whoever is in net, the offense will need to get some production from anyone other than the usual suspects and Dartmouth will need to play better team defense and not suffer any breakdowns in their own zone. Should the Big Green do these three things this weekend, they will help out their own playoff cause and come away with four vital points.
