The Big Green women (12-5-2, 9-3-2 ECAC Hockey) are ranked No. 7 in the nation, barely edging out UNH (9-5-5, 5-2-3 Hockey East), which sits at the No. 8 spot nationally.
Dartmouth has a 12-30-4 record all-time against the Wildcats and has gone 1-3-1 in the teams' past five meetings.
In the most recent contest, held last season, Dartmouth lost 3-1 to the Wildcats. The teams were tied at one goal apiece through the second period, but UNH put in two quick goals in the third to win the game, 3-1.
This season, the Big Green and the Wildcats have gone up against many of the same squads, often with similar results. A few contests, however, have ended with notably different outcomes.
Most recently, each team faced Providence College just three days apart. While Dartmouth ended the contest with a 7-3 victory, UNH fell 0-5 to the Friars.
Both teams also faced St. Lawrence this season. The Wildcats came out with a 3-2 victory, while the Big Green fell, 3-0. Dartmouth, however, defeated Colgate 7-2, while UNH lost to the Raiders, 5-4.
Despite the close rankings and similar game results, Dartmouth head coach Mark Hudak said he was confident about the team's chances in the game.
"I think the outlook, given the way we've been playing for the past few games, is very good," he said. "UNH is a very good team, we're certainly going to have our hands full and playing down there on a bigger ice surface is always something that takes a part of the game of getting used to, but I think we're playing with quite a bit of confidence right now, and things seem to be going our way, and hopefully that continues on Friday."
The Whittemore Center at UNH, where the game will take place, has an Olympic-sized playing surface that is fifteen feet wider than Thompson Arena's rink.
While a number of players, including Amanda Trunzo '11 and Maggie Kennedy '09, have emerged as high scorers, Hudak stressed the importance of the team as a whole.
"The focus really is on the whole team playing well, and I think that our success over the last four games is that we've been getting contributions from everybody, whether it's the goalie, defensemen, forwards," he said. "A lot of different people have been scoring. You certainly see some of the consistent scorers, a Trunzo or a Kennedy, but we've been getting little bits and pieces from everybody else. And that's another piece we keep seeing, that if everybody can give just a little bit more, you multiply that by twenty people on the team that are playing, now you've got a lot more."
Co-captain Shannon Bowman '09 said the team is hoping they will be able to come out on top against their biggest in-state rival.
"We need to come out strong from the first drop of the puck and play our game for a full 60 minutes, which is something that we have struggled with a bit this year," she said. "UNH has always had a great program and we are looking forward to an exciting game for the New Hampshire bragging rights."
The No. 18 Dartmouth men's hockey team (10-6, 7-4 ECAC Hockey) will also face No. 13 UNH (10-6-4, 7-4-3 Hockey East), in a struggle to hold onto the Riverstone Cup, awarded to the winner of the Dartmouth-New Hampshire matchup each year.
Although the Big Green was the most recent winner, UNH has won the last two of three contests. In the all-time series, Dartmouth remains behind the Wildcats with a record of 17-30-2.
UNH and Dartmouth have played relatively few of the same teams, but their results in overlapping contests have been similar. Dartmouth beat Rensselaer 5-2, while UNH prevailed 1-0. Both teams beat Providence with almost identical scores of 4-2 for Dartmouth and 4-3 for UNH. Each team lost to Boston College, the Big Green with an outcome of 1-2 and the Wildcats with a final score of 6-8. The one team that Dartmouth and UNH split results against was St. Lawrence.
The Big Green won 4-3 in an overtime victory, while the Wildcats lost 1-4.
Dartmouth women's hockey will compete against UNH on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H. Dartmouth men's hockey will face the Wildcats at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H.
