AIC and No. 1 BU Come to Hanover For Weekend Matinees

Game 7 // Dartmouth (2-3-1) vs. AIC (2-8-2)				Game 8 // Dartmouth (2-3-1) vs. No. 1 Boston University (8-2-1)

Date: Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 // Time: 4:05 PM Location: Hanover, N.H. // Arena: Thompson Arena All-Time Series: 0-0-1 // Streak: 0-0-1 Last Meeting: Jan. 27, 2008 // T, 3-3/OT (Hanover)				Date: Sunday, Nov. 30, 2014 // Time: 4:05 PM Location: Hanover, N.H. // Arena: Thompson Arena All-Time Series: 29-45-2 // Streak: 2-0-0 Last Meeting: Jan. 8, 2014 // W, 4-2 (Boston)
AIC Media				BU Media
TV: None // Radio: WFRD 99.3 FM (99Rock) // PBP: Chris Garrett Online: Ivy League Digital Network Live Stats: DartmouthSports.com Twitter: @Dartmouth_MIH Digital Press Box // Gameday Central Dartmouth Notes // AIC Preview/Notes Ticket Information				TV: None // Radio: WFRD 99.3 FM (99Rock) // PBP: Chris Garrett Online: Ivy League Digital Network Live Stats: DartmouthSports.com Twitter: @Dartmouth_MIH Digital Press Box // Gameday Central Dartmouth Notes // BU Preview/Notes Ticket Information

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team is back in action with a pair of non-conference home games this weekend. American International and Boston University come to Hanover for 4 p.m. puck drops on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

LAST TIME OUT
Harvard came to Thompson for a Tuesday night contest against the Big Green on Nov. 18 and earned a 2-0 victory against the home team. Patrick McNally scored in the first period and Jimmy Vesey hit the empty net in the final minute to give the Crimson their first shutout in Hanover since 1953.

Highlights // Nov. 18 vs. Harvard (L, 2-0)

TOY DRIVE
This weekend marks the men's hockey team's annual toy drive to benefit the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD). Fans are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to either or both games during the weekend that will be delivered by members of the team directly to the kids at CHaD in early December.

Don't forget your new, unwrapped toy this weekend for the annual CHaD Toy Drive. http://t.co/mmn2cvAD5k pic.twitter.com/YKfnu39icQ
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) November 24, 2014

TIME OFF
Saturday's game against the Yellow Jackets will be the first in 11 days for the Big Green due to exams. The 11-day stretch may seem lengthy, but consider last season, Dartmouth had a 14-day span between outings in the exam period and returned with consecutive wins against Harvard at home and Yale on the road in New Haven.

SCOUTING AIC
The Yellow Jackets bring a 2-8-2 overall record with them to Hanover following an 0-1-1 home weekend against Robert Morris on Nov. 14-15. The two teams played to a 5-5 tie in the first matchup before the Colonials exploded for a 6-0 win the following evening. In the tie, Alexander MacMillan scored twice and assisted on another, while Andrew DeBrincat had a trio of helpers. MacMillan (7-3-10), Austin Orszulak (7-3-10) and David Norris (2-8-10) share the team lead in points with 10 points each. Freshman Alex Murray has been the only one of AIC's two netminders to pick up a win this season as he boasts a 2-4-2 record to go along with a 3.55 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.

AGAINST THE YELLOW JACKETS
This game marks just the second all-time against AIC in program history, an impressive figure given the proximity to one another and the fact that AIC has been in Division I for more than 15 years. The only other meeting between the Yellow Jackets and Big Green came back on Jan. 27, 2008. One of the wildest games in Thompson Arena history ended with AIC's Greg Genovese giving his team a one-goal lead at 18:02 of the third only to have Dartmouth's Jon Grecu score the tying goal with one second left in regulation and the extra attacker on the ice. The contest ended in a 3-3 tie as neither team was able to muster a similar scoring touch in overtime.

SCOUTING BU
The Terriers were tabbed as the best team in the nation this weekend with the release of both the USCHO and USA Hockey polls placing BU in the No. 1 spot in each. Just over 24 hours after the announcement of the rankings, the Terriers dropped a 3-2 overtime contest to Harvard at home thanks to Kyle Criscuolo's second of the night. It was just the second loss of the season and snapped a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1). Arguably the best player in college hockey resides on BU's roster this season as freshman Jack Eichel has burst onto the scene with 19 points on seven goals and 12 assists in his first 11 career games. Projected as a top-two pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft next June, Eichel has teamed up with Danny O'Regan (7-9-16) to form one of the most dynamic duos in the NCAA this season. Between the pipes, it's been a healthy dose of junior Matt O'Connor as he has put together a season that includes a .937 save percentage and a 1.76 goals against average. The Terriers play host to Colgate on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. before making the trip to Hanover for Sunday's matinee.

AGAINST THE TERRIERS
These two teams will complete the two-year home-and-home series with the contest in the Upper Valley on Sunday. Dartmouth made the trip to BU's Agganis Arena on Jan. 8, 2014, coming away with a 4-2 win thanks to goals from Charlie Mosey, Brad Schierhorn, Nick Lovejoy and Eric Neiley. That meeting was the first in six years between the Big Green and Terriers with Dartmouth winning the previous matchup, 3-2, back on Jan. 15, 2008. Once conference rivals before the creation of the Hockey East Association three decades ago, the Green and White and Terriers have only played nine times since 1990.

AGAINST No. 1
The Big Green will take on a team ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time since Mar. 2, 2013 when Quinnipiac bested the home team in Hanover, 4-1. The Bobcats would remain the top team in the nation until falling to Yale in the national title game in Pittsburgh. Earlier in the season, Dartmouth dropped a 6-3 decision in Chestnut Hill against No. 1 and defending National Champion Boston College.

HOLY SHOT ATTEMPTS
In the last two outings, Dartmouth has been a more aggressive team in the offensive end of the ice. Against Brown (92) and Harvard (90), the Big Green combined for 182 shot attempts. That translated into a 6-0 win against the Bears, but also a 2-0 defeat to the Crimson. Whereas 48 attempts found their way on goal against Brown, Harvard blocked nearly a third of the attempts in the Tuesday night affair as Dartmouth managed just 29 SOGs.

SHUTOUT AND SHUTOUT
For the first time since Feb. 19 and 24, 1940, the Dartmouth men's hockey team won a home game by shutting out an opponent only to lose by shutout in the next game played at home. The Big Green defeated Brown, 6-0, only to fall 2-0 to Harvard in the following outing. The last time this happened at home came prior to the US's involvement in WWII as Dartmouth defeated Boston College, 7-0, before being blanked by McGill, 3-0, five days later. The last time it happened at all was on Feb. 27-28, 2004 at Brown (3-0) and at Harvard (0-4).

NON-CONFERENCE SLEDDING AHEAD
Following the two non-conference games against the Yellow Jackets and Terriers, Dartmouth will head back on the road for one more weekend of ECAC Hockey in 2014. The Big Green will take on Quinnipiac and Princeton on Dec. 5-6 before returning to the Granite State for five straight non-conference games. That stretch begins against Sacred Heart at home on Dec. 14. Denver and Boston College come to Hanover for the Ledyard Classic on Jan. 2-3, while Vermont makes the trip down I-89 on Jan. 11. The lone road non-conference game of the season is on Jan. 9 at New Hampshire in a game broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network.

HOMESTAND
This weekend's games mark the fourth and fifth straight contests inside the friendly confines of Thompson Arena. The five-game stretch is the longest homestand since five in a row at the end of the 2012-13 with two regular season games and three straight against Harvard in the first-round playoff series. It is the longest such run of regular season home games since six consecutive games opened the 2011-12 season between Oct. 28 and Nov. 12.

83rd AND 90th
Senior Eric Neiley became the 83rd player in program history to reach 100 career games in a Dartmouth sweater when he stepped on the ice against Yale on Nov. 14. The following night, he became the 90th player in the program's 109-year history — and just the sixth under Bob Gaudet (since 1997-98) — to record a four-assist night, doing so against the Bears in the 6-0 win.

A FIRST FOR JIMMY
James Kruger earned the first shutout of his collegiate career against Brown on Nov. 15. The 6-foot-3 netminder from Minnetonka, Minnesota, stopped all 23 shots he faced in the game, notching Dartmouth's first shutout of the year and the first since Charles Grant blanked Cornell, 1-0, last February. In five starts this season, Kruger has put together a 2.34 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.

BIRTHDAY BOY
A night after being a scratch, sophomore Grant Opperman returned to the lineup against the Bears with some motivation. Celebrating his 21st birthday on Nov. 15, Opperman set career highs in goals (2), assists (2) and points (4) in the game, factoring into the final four goals of the night.

WELCOME BACK
Junior defenseman Ryan Bullock made his first appearance in the Big Green lineup this season in the win over Brown, making an immediate impact on the scoresheet. Bullock scored on the power play at the 12:57 mark of the first period for his first point of the season. The game was the 50th of his career wearing a Dartmouth sweater and came after Bullock missed the final 11 contests of last season with an injury. The Minnesota native's last game played prior to Saturday was Feb. 7 at Harvard.

FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow all the action this weekend with live stats on DartmouthSports.com. Live high definition video streams of all Big Green home games this season will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network. For live in-game updates, fans are encouraged to follow the team's official twitter account: @Dartmouth_MIH.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Following this weekend, Dartmouth is back in action against ECAC Hockey competition at Quinnipiac (Dec. 5) and Princeton (Dec. 6). The next home game after AIC and BU is Sunday, Dec. 14 against Sacred Heart.

Dec. 5 at Quinnipiac Hamden, Conn.	Dec. 6 at Princeton Princeton, N.J.	Dec. 14 vs. Sacred Heart Hanover, N.H.

GAME NOTES

GAME PROGRAM

Schedules