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Dartmouth Hockey's Granite on Ice
1/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Heather Croze
Granite and the State of New Hampshire go hand-in-hand. Granite is a type of rock that can withstand thousands of pounds of pressure, is solid enough to be used for monuments and weathers slowly without breaking down easily. Granite brings to mind such words as solid, grounded, unyielding and set in stone.
The Dartmouth men's hockey team has its own granite in the form of two veteran players on the defense, seniors Ben Lovejoy and Mike Hartwick. Lovejoy and Hartwick have both been solid, reliable players for Dartmouth and that was no more evident then the beginning of this season.
With senior Grant Lewis and freshman Peter Boldt sidelined due to ankle injuries, Lovejoy and Hartwick were suddenly logging extreme amounts of ice time.
“It was frustrating to have so many injuries at the beginning of the season,” Lovejoy said. “I was happy for the ice time but I found it hard to stay mentally into the game and play mistake-free hockey. Having Grant back has been comforting because I know we have so much experience in that position.”“Over the summer I knew that this was the time for me to prove that I could play at the next level,” Hartwick said. “This year, because of the injuries to our d-line, I've gotten opportunities to be on the power play and be more offensive-minded. It was nice to improve different parts of my game.”
“The injuries at the beginning of the season made these two step up more than they thought,” said head coach Bob Gaudet. “It was incredible they played as much as they did early on, but to have these two veteran guys around helped us scratch our way to some big points.”
As natives to New Hampshire, Lovejoy (Orford) and Hartwick (Beford) both realized the importance of playing for Dartmouth early in their careers.
“It's been great playing in front of my family. My parents and grandfather come to every game. In fact I think my grandfather only speaks to me during hockey season so he can come to every home game,” Lovejoy said with a smile. “The whole community has been so supportive of our team and myself. I like knowing that little kids are looking up to me the way I looked up to the Dartmouth players when I came to the games as a child.”
“To have my parents around and coming to my games has been very supportive,” Hartwick said. “They're hoping I can continue my hockey career so they won't have to stop coming to my games.”
Hartwick and Lovejoy traveled different roads to get to Dartmouth.
As a senior at Bishop Guertin, Hartwick decided that Dartmouth was where he would like to play. He took a year to play junior hockey for the Boston Bulldogs before coming to Hanover.
Lovejoy made the decision that he wanted to leave the Upper Valley and he began his college career at Boston College. After a year he knew that BC was not the place for him and made the decision to transfer to Dartmouth.
“I wasn't really sure where I was going to go to college at first,” Hartwick said. “But once Dartmouth came on the scene I realized it was also a life choice, not just where I could play hockey. At the time I didn't realize that Dartmouth would be such a good decision.”
“I came to Dartmouth in an unconventional way,” Lovejoy grinned. “I grew up around here and went to all the games as a kid. So because of that I felt I needed to get away. Skill-wise I was ready but mentally and emotionally I wasn't ready for the rigors of college hockey. Had I been at Dartmouth for that year it wouldn't have been much different, I wasn't ready to play anywhere.”
The past few years these two players have proven themselves more then ready to play at the college level as both have balanced the life of a hockey player with that of a student-athlete with aplomb.
Between the two, 182 games have been played with eight goals and 47 assists scored. Hartwick eclipsed the 100-games played mark on Dec. 16 with Lovejoy seeing time in 83 career contests.
“They've progressed through their careers by keeping the game simple and making the plays that are available. I have a lot of confidence in both of them,” Gaudet said.
“Mike has improved so much in just his mobility and his skating,” Gaudet elaborated. “He has also worked on his strength training. Mike came in as a big guy and through our strength & conditioning program we were able to make his body more proportional. He's so strong from head to toe and that's helped him so much.”
“It's worked out well for us to have Ben transfer here,” Gaudet said. “Even though he was unable to play for a year he was still able to practice with us making the other guys work hard through his intensity. Ben's played on the power play, man-down, all sorts of situations. He's really matured as a player and I'm very pleased with his progress.”
As New Hampshire's symbol, granite is enduring and lasting — words that can be used to describe Ben Lovejoy and Mike Hartwick and their impact on Dartmouth men's hockey.
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