Dartmouth Men's Hockey Jumps Into 2008-09 Season with Two Games this Weekend

10/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER,N.H - The Dartmouth men's hockey team begins its 103rd season of play with the first ECAC Hockey League game of 2008-09 against Harvard on Friday at 7:00 pm before opening up the home portion of the schedule against Vermont on Sunday at 7:00 pm. The Big Green will have 18 underclassmen dressing in the Green and White this year as Dartmouth will have one of its youngest teams in recent history.

SCOUTING HARVARD
Harvard has played just one exhibition game, defeating Quebec-Three Rivers, 3-1. Rookies Alex Killorn, Ryan Grimshaw and Rence Coassin all accounted for the goal scoring. The Crimson welcomes back four of its top six scorers from last season, including forwards Doug Rogers and Michael Biega. Last season Rogers ranked second on the team in goals (13), assists (19) and points (32) as a sophomore. Biega paced the Crimson attack through the middle of the season, finishing with nine goals, five on the power play. Rogers scored six power-play goals and both players will again be key players on a man-advantage unit that ranked 11th nationally, converting 20.5 percent of its chances (31 for 151). In 2007-08 the Crimson led the league in both scoring defense (1.86 goals allowed per game) and penalty killing (.913, 94 for 103) in ECAC Hockey games and ranked second with 65 points by defensemen. Five players return after playing in 22 or more games last season, and two top prospects join them on the Harvard blue line. The Crimson enter the season without an experienced netminder, as junior John Riley and sophomore Ryan Carroll have played a combined 30 minutes in their careers. Each is competing for the starting job, along with newcomer Matt Hoyle.

VERSUS HARVARD
Dartmouth and Harvard have been rivals since a Crimson win on Feb. 16, 1907. Harvard is currently the Big Green's second longest running series. The Crimson hold a 122-53-8 lead in the series as the Crimson won both contests last season. Dartmouth's last victory was on Oct. 27, 2006.

SCOUTING VERMONT
Prior to Oct. 27 Vermont was skating with a 2-1-1 overall record as the Cats had begun the season with three straight wins before a tie and loss on Oct. 17 and 18. Vermont took a 3-2 exhibition win over McGill before taking nonconference 4-1 and 4-3 victories over Rensselaer and Miami (Ohio). A tie to Miami and a loss to Hockey East foe Boston College set the Cats up for another league matchup with Boston University prior to coming to Thompson Arena. Senior Peter Lenes leads the team in scoring with seven points as he's notched two goals and five assists. Two sophomores are second and third as Jack Downing has four points and Justin Milo is one of five with three points. In net Mike Spillane has played in three games while freshman Rob Madore has seen time in one contest. Spillane has made 66 saves and has a .904 save percentage while Madore has made 26 saves for an .897 percentage. Spillane has allowed seven goals against for a 2.35 GAA and has a 2-1-0 record. Madore has allowed three goals for a 2.77 average and has a 0-0-1 record.

VERSUS VERMONT
Dartmouth began the series with Vermont, winning, 10-0 at home. The Catamounts however, hold a 42-25-4 lead in the overall series. Last season the Big Green walked away with a 4-2 victory at Vermont's Gutterson Fieldhouse. Dartmouth has won the past two meetings.

RADIO/LIVE STATS
Once again the 2008-09 season will be showcased on the radio. All Big Green games can be accessed through the Dartmouth Sports Network at http://www.dartmouthsportsnetwork.com/. Local radio personality Chris Garrett will provide the play-by-play. By accessing DartmouthSports.com you can keep up with Big Green action by logging on and watching live stats or becoming a Big Green Insider which gives you access to video feeds.

AND SO IT BEGINS
The Dartmouth men's hockey team kicks off the 2008-09 season against the Harvard Crimson. The contest will be the first official ECAC Hockey game of the season.

NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN
Since Bob Gaudet came back to his alma mater in 1996-97 the Big Green and the Crimson have met in the season opener four times with Harvard winning all but once.

LET'S GET IT STARTED
Dartmouth opens up the 2008-09 season on the road. The last time the Big Green began its season away from the friendly confines of Thompson Arena was 2007-08 against Harvard. Dartmouth is 67-30-3 in home openers and is 31-21-2 when opening up on the road. Under the tutelage of Bob Gaudet, the Big Green has gone 6-5 in the first game of the year.

Gaudet's Opening Games
10/31/97 vs. Army (W, 7-1)
11/8/98 vs. Niagara (W, 8-5)
11/5/99 at Harvard (L, 2-7)
11/3/00 at Western Michigan (L, 0-5)
11/4/01 at Harvard (L, 2-5)
11/2/02 vs. Wayne State (W, 5-3)
11/1/03 vs. Holy Cross (W, 3-1)
10/30/04 vs. Quinnipiac (W, 3-1)
10/29/05 at Harvard (L, 2-6)
10/27/06 vs. Harvard (W, 5-2)
10/28/07 at Vermont (W, 4-2)

UP NEXT
On Sunday the Big Green opens up the 2008-09 home portion of its schedule with a game against twin-state rival, Vermont. The two will square off at Thompson Arena at 7:00 pm. The following weekend Dartmouth hits the road, traveling to Albany to take on Union and Rensselaer.

IT'S HERE
Because of Ivy League rules that state men's hockey teams cannot begin practicing prior to Oct. 13 and can begin play of regular season games on Oct. 27, this will be the first real game for Dartmouth. The game against Harvard will take place exactly three weeks and two days after six of the teams in ECAC Hockey were able to begin play.

YOUNG ?UNS
Dartmouth will boast a very young squad this season as the Big Green will have 18 underclassmen, nine sophomore and nine freshmen. Dartmouth welcomes three defensemen, two goalies and four forwards to Hanover for 2008-09.

IT WAS ALL THANKS TO THE ROOKIES
The Big Green rookies were very important to Dartmouth's output last season. In 32 games all nine of its newcomers had at least one point. Evan Stephens led not only his squad but the ECAC in defenseman scoring as he had 22 points. Kyle Reeds was second with 19 while Scott Fleming and Matt Reber each scored 11.

TOP DOG
Junior Joe Gaudet enters the 2008-09 season as Dartmouth's top returning goal scorer with 10. He had 15 total points last year.

THE GAUDET BOYS
Head coach Bob Gaudet will have both of his sons on the roster for the next two seasons as freshman Jim joins his brother Joe, a junior. The last time a head coach had both of his sons on the same roster was Bob Johnson with sons Mark and Peter at Wisconsin in 1997-78 and 1978-79.

HOME AND AWAY
Dartmouth finished 2007-08 with a 5-6-2 record at home and was 5-10-2 on the road. The Big Green was 2-0-0 at neutral site venues.

FIRST SCORE WINS
Dartmouth was 4-10-2 when its opponents notched the first goal of the game last year and was 10-0-2 when leading after the second period.

POWER SURGE
The Big Green allowed 27 opponent power play goals last season.

ON THE OTHER HAND
The Big Green notched 28 of its own extra-man goals in 2007-08.

NEED MORE POWER
Nick Johnson and J.T. Wyman led Dartmouth in power play scoring last season with 10 total. Rob Pritchard is the Big Green's leading power play scorer returner as he notched four. Kyle Reeds potted two and six other returning players had one each.

SIN BIN
Dartmouth finished 2007-08 as the least penalized team in the nation, averaging just 10.3 penalty minutes per game.

THIRD PERIOD TEAM
Dartmouth really was a third-period team last season, scoring 44 goals in the final stanza.

SCORING FIRST
The Big Green was 8-6-1 when scoring first last year.

RANKED OPPONENTS
Seven of Dartmouth's opponents this season are already ranked in the national polls.

JUST NUMBERS
Connor Shields scored the first goal of the 2008-09 season at 18:23 of the first period on Oct. 25 in an exhibition game against the University of Quebec-Three Rivers.

THE HEAD HONCHO
Head Coach Bob Gaudet begins his 12th season behind the bench. In 2004-05 Gaudet reached a career milestone, garnering his 100th Dartmouth and his 200th overall win. His career numbers stand at 256-293-72 while he's 163-151-41 at Dartmouth. Gaudet's first win at Dartmouth came in his first game, a 7-1 victory over Army Oct. 31, 1997.

HE'S A WINNER
With a victory over Clarkson on Jan. 13, 2008 Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet recorded his 250th career win.

CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
Senior forward Rob Pritchard is the 2008-09 Big Green captain. He will be the 117th captain in Dartmouth men's hockey history.

ALL IN THE FAMILY
The Big Green has several players on the team who have had relatives attend Dartmouth. Peter Boldt is the 14th member of his family to attend Dartmouth. Joe and Jim Gaudet are the sons of head coach Bob Gaudet's. Both of Coach Gaudet and his wife attended Dartmouth. Connor Goggin's grandfather, uncle and father all played hockey for Dartmouth while his mother was a member of the basketball and field hockey squads.

OH TO BE YOUNG AGAIN
Of the 28 players on the Dartmouth roster this season, 18 are underclassmen. The Big Green has nine sophomores and nine freshmen.

SO LONG, FAREWELL
Dartmouth lost eight players from last year's squad. Five graduated and three left the team. Two key losses for the Big Green were Nick Johnson and J.T. Wyman. Johnson was Dartmouth's leading scorer last season with 35 points. He tallied his 100th point on Dec. 30, 2007.

MORE FAREWELL
The Big Green lost 90 points, including 32 goals, from the departed cast of Nick Johnson, J.T. Wyman, Jon Grecu, Harry Taylor, Chris Johnson and Will Boardman.

NEWCOMERS
Dartmouth adds nine newcomers to the 2007-08 roster.

FORWARDS
Doug Jones (Marietta, Ga. - Cedar Rapids Roughriders)
*2007-2008 Stats: 63 GP ? 17 G, 41 A, 58 Pts.
Paul Lee (Garden City, N.Y. - Avon Old Farms)
*2007-2008 Stats: 28 GP ? 23 G, 24 A, 47 Pts.
Troy Mattila (Rockford, Ill. - Tri-City Storm)
*2007-2008 Stats: 60 GP ? 13 G, 17 A, 30 Pts.
Nick Walsh (Shannonville, Ont. - Quinte Hawks)
*2007-2008 Stats: 40 GP ? 25 G, 16 A, 41 Pts.

DEFENSE
Jim Gaudet (Etna, N.H. - New Hampshire Junior Monarchs)
*2007-2008 Stats: 47 GP ? 2 G, 9 A, 11 Pts.
Connor Goggin (GlenEllyn, Ill. - The Choate School)
*2007-2008 Stats: 25 GP ? 7 G, 23 A, 30 Pts.
Kyle Schussler (Okotoks, Alta. - Okotoks Oilers)
*2007-2008 Stats: 62 GP ? 5 G, 19 A, 24 Pts.

GOALTENDERS
James Mello (Rehobeth, Mass. - New Hampshire Junior Monarchs)
*2007-2008 Stats: 31 GP ? 19-8-1, 2.14 GAA, .930%
Jody O'Neill (Rockford, Ill. - Tri-City Storm)
*2007-2008 Stats: 39 GP ? 11-3-2, 2.65 GAA, .910%

ROSTER BREAKDOWN
The 2008-09 Dartmouth roster features five seniors, six juniors, nine sophomores and nine freshmen. This season's Big Green hail from eight states and four Canadian provinces.

Alberta (4): Connor Shields, Rob Smith, John Gibson, Kyle Schussler
British Columbia (1): Rob Pritchard
Connecticut (2): Peter Boldt, Jonathan Wolter
Georgia (1): Doug Jones
Illinois (1): Connor Goggin, Troy Mattila
Massachusetts (2): Kevin McCarthy, James Mello
Michigan (1): Evan Stephens
Minnesota (4): Brandon Harrington, Matt Reber, Adam Estoclet, Joe Stejskal
Missouri (1): Kyle Reeds
New Hampshire (1): Joe Gaudet, Jim Gaudet
New York (2): Dan Markowitz, Paul Lee
Ontario (5): Josh Gillam, Dan Goulding, Scott Fleming, Jody O'Neill, Nick Walsh
Saskatchewan (1): Andrew Owsiak

DARTMOUTH AND THE NHL
Lee Stempniak '05 is currently in his fourth NHL season with the St. Louis Blues. He recorded his 100th career NHL point on Dec. 22 after posting a six-game point streak from Nov. 30-Dec. 11, notching seven points (4g, 3a) over the span. Tanner Glass '07 began the 2007-08 season with the Rochester Amerks but quickly made his way to the Florida Panthers and played 41 games in the NHL, scoring two points. David Jones '08 left school early to sign a contract with Colorado and this year he has played in every game for the Avs, notching two points.

BIG GREEN IN THE PROS
There are several former Dartmouth men's hockey players who are playing professional hockey. Listed are the players and their stats to this point in the season (as of Jan. 23).

Nick Boucher '03   Fort Wayne Comets   2 GP, 2.00 GAA, .930
T.J. Galiardi '11   Lake Erie Monsters   8 GP, 1-1-2
*Scored first AHL goal on Oct. 22 2008*
Tanner Glass '07   Rochester Americans   8 GP, 2-2-4
*Made NHL Debut on 11/12/07 ? Recorded first point on 1/22/08*
Hugh Jessiman '06   Hartford Wolfpack   5 GP, 0-0-0
Nick Johnson '08   Wheeling Nailers   5 GP, 6-1-7
David Jones '08   Colorado Avalanche   7 GP, 1-1-2
*Made NHL Debut on 12/21/07 ? Recorded first point on 1/19/08*
Grant Lewis '07   Chicago Wolves   7 GP, 0-3-3
Ben Lovejoy '07   WB-Scranton Penguins   7 GP, 2-3-5
Mike Ouellette '06   Hartford Wolfpack   7 GP, 1-0-1
*Scored first AHL goal on Dec. 7, 2007*
Lee Stempniak '05   St. Louis Blues   4 GP, 0-1-1
*Notched his 100th career NHL point on Dec. 22 at Boston*
J.T. Wyman '08   Hamilton Bulldogs   3 GP, 0-0-0