MLX Skates Weekly Awards Presented to Walsh, Lindblad & Mello

HANOVER, N.H. – Three Dartmouth men's hockey players made key contributions last weekend as the Big Green swept league rival, Harvard, 8-2 and 5-2 on Friday and Saturday with those players earning the MLX Skates weekly awards. Goalie James Mello (Rehoboth, Mass.) and forward Matt Lindblad (Winnetka, Ill.) each earned their second award of the season while forward Nick Walsh (Shannonville, Ont.) picked up the first of his career as Dartmouth swept the weekly awards for the first time this season.

Mello was named the league's goalie of the week for the second time after picking up wins four and five on the year last weekend. The junior continues to be one of the top goaltenders in the nation and is currently ranked second with a 1.27 goals against average and a .958 save percentage. With all five of his wins coming in ECAC Hockey play, Mello also leads the league in GAA and save percentage as the victories against the Crimson were the first of his career. On Friday night he came up huge with 14 saves in the first period alone while allowing just one goal. He tallied 25 saves total in the game. Mello allowed just one more goal on the night as his team took care of the rest with its single best goal output of the season. The next night, Mello came away with 31 saves in the win as the junior had to make several acrobatic saves with the Crimson putting pressure on him late in the contest.

Lindblad picked up his second rookie of the week award after tallying four points in two wins against Harvard. On Friday against the Crimson he recorded three points in a game for the second time this season. He earned his first point of the night with an assist on the opening goal and then in the third his power play strike midway through the frame along with his assist on the seventh goal gave him his final points in the game. The next night, the Big Green picked up a sweep of Harvard with Lindblad scoring one of three Dartmouth goals in a span of 87 seconds in the opening period of the game. With those four points, Lindblad continues to lead the team in scoring as he has 12 points. He is also the league's top scoring player as well as freshman.

Walsh was named the player of the week for the first time in his career after scoring five points in two games last week. On Friday against Harvard, he recorded his first collegiate hat trick while also scoring an assist. In the second period, Walsh began his scoring with an assist on the first goal before scoring one of his own giving the Big Green a three-goal lead. In the third, his final tally was a power play strike that gave Dartmouth the 8-2 final score. On Saturday, his goal at 17:27 of the first period proved to be the game winner as the Big Green recorded three goals in less than a minute and a half to give Dartmouth an early 4-0 lead. Walsh is second on the team in scoring with 10 points.

The Big Green will be back on the ice, Sunday afternoon, Dec. 12, hosting Vermont at 4 p.m. at Thompson Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU. After that game the team will be off until Dec. 30 and 31, hosting the Ledyard National Bank Classic.


Matt Lindblad	James Mello	Nick Walsh

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