On Nov. 1, the men’s hockey team opened its regular season with a 2-1 win over Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Following its victory against the Crimson, the Big Green hosted Stonehill College on Sunday for its home opener — beating the Skyhawks 5-2.
The Big Green last defeated the Crimson in the 2018-2019 season, in a 7-6 overtime win and have been looking to return to that level of play. With two straight wins to start the season, they look to repeat the success they had in the 2023-24 season.
Last year, the team reached the ECAC semifinals for the first time since the 2015-2016 season but blew a 3-1 lead in the third period against No. 14 Cornell University. The Big Red scored five goals in the third period to end the Big Green’s season with a 6-3 win. Despite that loss, head coach Reid Cashman said the team’s staff “expects just growth, daily growth.”
“We just need to be the best versions of ourselves at the end of the year, and we did a good job of that last year,” Cashman said. “We got better from week to week, from game to game, and that’s the challenge for this year’s group — to continue to have that mindset and not be so focused on what could happen in March or April.”
While the team has lost several standout players — seniors Joey Musa ’24, Ryan Sorkin ’24 and Josh Waters ’24 and starting goaltender Cooper Black ’26, who signed a National Hockey League contract with the Florida Panthers in April — the Big Green is hoping to recreate the magic they found in the 2023-2024 season, according to co-captain Sean Chisholm ’25.
“We got a taste of it, and we lost it at the end,” Chisholm said. “But I think it's good we went through that experience, and we won’t make that mistake again.”
Cashman added that the team has maintained a cohesive group of players.
“The nice thing is we have an unbelievable returning group of leaders that I’ve welcomed with open arms, and our guys are feeling comfortable,” Cashman said. “We really like the depth that we have in our program in all three positions with our forwards, our [defense] and our goalies.”
In addition to the returning leaders, some players made their mark on the ice for the first time. Roan Clarke ’27, who was the backup goalie his freshman year, played his first complete game on Friday and made 37 saves on 38 shots. Harvard scored just one power play goal 11 minutes into the second period, going one-for-five on the man advantage as the Big Green spent a total of 7:13 minutes in the penalty box.
Clarke’s strong performance made him one of the ECAC Men’s Hockey Three Stars of the Night and the men’s Richards Group Athlete of the Week.
“The rookies we have are great,” Chisholm said. “They’re going to be a big part of our team.”
Both goals for Dartmouth came in the first period, with Braiden Dorfman ’25 scoring the first goal of the season within nine minutes. Less than one minute later, rookie Hayden Stavroff ’28 made it 2-0 with his first collegiate goal.
After a break on Saturday, the Big Green suited up again for its home opener on Sunday — the first time Dartmouth has hosted Stonehill in program history.
Chisholm set the tone in the first 10 minutes, scoring his first goal of the season on a 5-on-3 power play.
“It felt really good,” he said. “Obviously, in the last few years, it has taken a few more games [for me] to get [my] first goal, but it doesn’t matter. The team helped me out a lot, and it’s good to get the first one out of the way.”
Neither team ended up scoring for the rest of the period. The Big Green got its second goal on yet another power play at the the 8:22 mark in the second, this time from Stavroff.
Nikita Nikora ’27 made a pass that seemed intended for Chisholm, but Stavroff was able to recover it cleanly and score. With two goals in his first two collegiate games, Stavroff earned the title of ECAC Rookie of the Week.
“I try not to look at the numbers too much and just keep trying to win games,” Stavroff said.
The Big Green added three more goals in the second period, from John Fusco ’25, Nikora and Cam MacDonald ’26.
“We just stuck with our game plan,” Chisholm said. “Our game plan is fast and playing before their structure, and we did a good job at that. We had a few minutes of each period where we got away from it, and [Stonehill] took advantage of it.”
Emmett Croteau ’27 took the net on Sunday to make his Big Green debut after transferring from ECAC rival Clarkson University. He kept the Skyhawks scoreless until the third period, when Stonehill put up two on the transfer.
“We made sure not to overlook our opponent,” Croteau said. “They are a strong team. They just came off a win against Saint Lawrence. We approached it like any other game, and we were ready for it.”
With less than five minutes remaining, Stonehill and Dartmouth players each started to pile up on Croteau. Play was stopped, and Anthony Galante earned two minutes in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct, while Croteau received a penalty for roughing.
“You have to stand your ground,” Croteau said. “The other boys were there to come to my aid as well. We’re family, and we will take care of each other.”
Despite the pileup, Croteau was able to complete the game for a 5-2 win in his first Dartmouth start.
Even without Black in goal, Cashman said he was very impressed by his goalie tandem this past weekend.
“Roan and Emmett get to be evaluated on a day-to-day basis, and they each did their job this weekend,” Cashman said. “They each got their wins and played well. Now we’ll go in the next week and have some really good internal competition to figure out who’s going to play Friday versus Quinnipiac [University].”
The game was followed by a postgame skate when the public was able to join the Big Green on the rink at Thompson Arena.
The Big Green will be back in action on Friday at 7 p.m. to face ECAC rival Quinnipiac University at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Conn.
