Season Preview: High Expectations for Dartmouth in 2014-15

HANOVER, N.H. - Two hundred and thirty seven days will have passed by the time the puck is dropped on Nov. 1 in Cambridge at the newly renovated Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

That's a little more than 33 weeks to reflect on the shining moment of the 2013-14 season — an amazing third-period comeback in the third and decisive game of the ECAC Hockey first-round series with seventh-seeded Rensselaer.

Despite the time period elapsed, very little has changed about the Dartmouth hockey team on the ice that Sunday evening at Houston Field House in Troy, New York, and the one that opens the 2014-15 season against Harvard.

The Big Green lost just three players to graduation and bring back 98.6 percent of its total point production, a figure that is only bested by the recently elevated Penn State (100%) Division I program.

Confidence gained from last season's turnaround stretch run, combined with the wealth of experience and talent that is coming back should be enough to keep the Big Green from flying under the radar at the start of the season.

Avoiding the slow start that bogged down Dartmouth at the start of last season and lasted into early January will be crucial this winter. That's where the successes of February on can come into play, serving as a reminder of how good this team can be.

Those 237 days have also provided something else that may be the most important piece to a winning team in 2014-15: time to heal.

No other team in ECAC Hockey lost more man-games to injury last season than Dartmouth's 120. And no other player accumulated more of those games by himself than senior Eric Robinson, who missed the final 32 contests of the year after suffering a shoulder injury after the opening weekend in Newark.

Granted a medical hardship waiver and fifth-year status, Robinson returns to Hanover, bringing with him one of the quickest and hardest shots in the league. Two years removed from eight goals in his first seven games, Robinson possesses the skills to be one of ECAC Hockey's premier scorers.

Complementing Robinson's prototypical power forward style is senior and two-year captain Tyler Sikura. Like Robinson, though, Sikura missed a major portion of the season, suffering a knee injury in December. A determined Sikura battled back after rehabbing the injury and was with the team for the stretch run, even scoring the Big Green's first overtime winner in more than two years with a blast from the blueline 51 seconds into the extra session at home against Brown on Feb. 22.

And while it will be nice to have a healthy Robinson and Sikura back in uniform this season, the key contributors from last year are also set to return.

Team MVP and two-time ECAC Hockey Player of the Week Eric Neiley will wear the 'A' of an alternate captain on his jersey as a senior after leading the team in goals (16) and points (29) last year. Neiley's career year couldn't have come at a better time as the aforementioned injuries seemed to take points out of the lineup on a regular basis.

A good deal of Neiley's success can be credited to the cohesive play of his line as a unit with Brandon McNally and Grant Opperman emerging to fill the void at the top of the line chart. Opperman was named Dartmouth's Rookie of the Year after posting eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points, while McNally compiled a 7-14-21 record playing a hard-nosed physical game that saw the then-junior earn a national-leading 1.06 penalties per game.

Juniors Brad Schierhorn, Nick Bligh and Tim O'Brien bring both toughness and skill to a second-wave of attacking forwards. Seniors Jesse Beamish and Charlie Mosey have spent much of their three years playing alongside one another as their size, skill and tenacious styles have complemented the other's game.

Juniors Jack Barre and Connor Dempsey and sophomore Kyle Nickerson were also key during the stretch run, playing fundamental roles on the penalty kill and as energy players on the third and fourth line a season ago. Troy Crema —another of Dartmouth's injured players from 2013-14 set to return — has a wealth of talent as displayed by his two-goal performance at Yale in December to help the Green defeat the national champion and pick up the first victory in New Haven since 2007 and snapping a seven-game skid in the Elm City in the process.

Perhaps the biggest aspect of piecing together a winning team will be the goaltending situation. For nearly two months it seemed to be a revolving door for the starter's job with injuries, illness and inconsistency plaguing the position. However, when Charles Grant took ownership of the starting netminder's role in January, he became one of the nation's best, posting outstanding numbers in February that rewarded him with Goaltender of the Month recognition from ECAC Hockey.

But were it not for a broken finger suffered in warmups by classmate James Kruger, the starter's job could have easily have gone the way of the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Minnetonka, Minnesota, native instead of Grant. Kruger was strong early in the year, before a puck in the back of his glove hand sidelined him for nearly a third of the year. He returned and pushed Grant with several strong outings, but watched as Grant's play secured the No. 1 spot for the final weeks and playoff run.

Added to the mix is newcomer Devon Buffalo from Wetaskiwin, Alberta, and the Drumheller Dragons of the AJHL. Buffalo is another big goalie who is expected to push the two netminders in front of him and gain valuable experience at the collegiate level.

Besides Buffalo, the Class of 2018 features five other new names fans should come to know this year. Carl Hesler, Corey Kalk and Kevin Neiley (younger brother to alternate captain, Eric) make up the forward group in the freshman class, while Timothy Shoup and River Rymsha have been added to the team's d-core. All six players are at least 5-foot-11 with three over six-feet, giving Dartmouth options for a much bigger lineup than in the recent past.

It isn't just new faces on the ice that highlight the 2014-15 Big Green. New associate head coach David Lassonde joined head coach Bob Gaudet's staff in June with the departure of long-time assistant Dave Peters who stepped away to coach in the prep school ranks. Lassonde will work with assistant coach John Rose who is beginning his fifth year with the program.

A lot has changed since Tim O'Brien and Brad Schierhorn connected on the winner that March night in New York's Capital District. But when really you examine it, not much has changed at all. Given what was accomplished by those players and the changing landscape of ECAC Hockey, the only real question that should be asked regarding Dartmouth this season is “why not now?”

The Big Green open the preseason with a pair of games at home this weekend. Alberta comes to hanover for a 7 p.m. exhibition Saturday night, while the 5 p.m. scrimmage on Sunday against Brown follows the women's game against UNH at 2 p.m.

Schedules