Dartmouth Closes Out 2014 in Sunday Home Matinee vs. Sacred Heart

Game 11 // Dartmouth (5-4-1) vs. Sacred Heart (5-8-2)

Date: Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014 // Time: 4:05 PM // Location: Hanover, N.H. // Arena: Thompson Arena
All-Time Series: 4-1-0 // Streak: 1-0-0 // Last Meeting: Dec. 11, 2011 // W, 4-1 (Hanover)

Sacred Heart 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 // Sacred Heart Preview/Notes // Ticket Information

SUNDAY'S GAME
The Dartmouth men's hockey team returns home for the final game of 2014 as it hosts Sacred Heart in a non-conference matchup at Thompson Arena on Sunday, Dec. 14.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green return to Hanover following a weekend split on the road at No. 15 Quinnipiac and Ivy League rival Princeton. Dartmouth dropped its contest in Hamden with the Bobcats, 2-1, in overtime on Friday night before bouncing back with a 4-2 win on Saturday night against the Tigers. Senior Tyler Sikura scored three times on the weekend, including two at Princeton for just the second multi-goal game of his career.

Tyler Sikura's Goal at No. 15 Quinnipiac // L, 2-1 (OT)	Highlights at Princeton // W, 4-2

FINAL: QU 2, Dartmouth 1 (OT) pic.twitter.com/EQnb55S312 — Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) December 6, 2014	FINAL: Dartmouth 4, Princeton 2. pic.twitter.com/ZjydWHqLXs — Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) December 7, 2014

SCOUTING SACRED HEART
The Pioneers come to Hanover with a 5-8-2 overall record after two losses at Robert Morris on Dec. 5-6. Sacred Heart managed to score four goals in each of the two games with the Colonials, but fell, 5-4, in overtime on Friday and surrendered eight the following evening. Quinnipiac transfer Zach Luczyk leads the team with 14 points on five goals and nine assists, while Ben Lake and Justin Danforth each have 10 points through 15 games. Seniors Andrew Bodnarchik (3-3-2 / 3.01 / .907) and Alex Vazzano (2-5-0 / 3.23 / .904) have split time in net this season with the former posting slightly better numbers and getting a slight edge in time between the pipes. The team's signature win this season came against UConn after the Huskies had beaten Boston College and tied Boston University in the previous two outings only to fall, 2-1, to the Pioneers on Nov. 14.

AGAINST THE PIONEERS
Dartmouth is 4-1 all-time against Sacred Heart with all five previous meetings taking place in Hanover. The last time these two met was on Dec. 11, 2011 when the Big Green bested the visiting Pioneers, 4-1, thanks to goals from then-freshmen Tyler Sikura, Jesse Beamish and Eric Neiley. The winner of each of the five contests in the all-time series has scored four goals.

249 AND COUNTING
Head coach Bob Gaudet '81 is just one win shy of 250 at his alma mater after the last Saturday's 4-2 triumph at Princeton. Already second at Dartmouth in all-time wins, Gaudet looks to join legendary coach Eddie Jeremiah '30 — owner of 308 career wins — as the only two coaches with 250 victories in Hanover. Overall, Gaudet has 342 career wins between Dartmouth and Brown.

COMING UP KRUGER!
James Kruger continues his strong junior season in the Dartmouth crease after starting in both games at Quinnipiac and Princeton. His 1.87 goals against average is third in ECAC Hockey and 13th nationally through Dec. 8, while his .932 save percentage in that time is the 12th-best figure in the country and third among qualifying goalies in the league. Entering this season, the Minnetonka, Minnesota, native had just one win to his career stats, a number he has already bested by four through the first third of 2014-15.

TOP-LINE SUCCESS
Sikura managed three of his team's five goals last weekend on the road, but had some solid contributions from his linemates to solidify the top of the line chart. Senior Eric Robinson picked up a helper on the baseball-style goal at Quinnipiac on Friday and the second Sikura tally on Saturday. Junior Brad Schierhorn helped set up both goals in New Jersey for his team-leading fifth multi-point affair of the year. Currently, the trio sits atop the team's scoring leaderboard with Sikura (12) pacing all players and Robinson (10) and Schierhorn (10) right behind.

FIRST OF MANY?
Freshman Corey Kalk netted the first goal of his collegiate career at the 5:45 mark of the opening period at Princeton on Saturday. Kalk became the first member of the Class of 2018 to find the back of the net, doing so on a rebound after nice puck movement from Jack Barre and fellow freshman Timothy Shoup.

HE LOVES THAT PLACE
Eric Neiley helped Dartmouth snap an 0-2-1 slide at Hobey Baker Rink with a goal as part of the 4-2 victory. It wasn't for a lack of effort that the elder Neiley brother had not enjoyed a win in front of family and friends in the rink less than an hour from his hometown of Warminster, Pennsylvania. Neiley had two goals in a game there his freshman year, another as a sophomore and an assist last season before his fourth career tally in the old building finally came in a Big Green win.

THE EXTRA PERIOD
Through 10 games this season, Dartmouth has needed overtime in three. In each instance, the OT game has come on the road. The Big Green are 1-1-1 in those contests with a tie at Harvard (3-3), a win at No. 8 Union (4-3) and the most recent loss at No. 15 Quinnipiac (2-1).

HE'S A FACTOR!
Sikura has 12 points this season on Dartmouth's 25 total goals, factoring into 48% of the team's goals this season. That percentage represents the fifth-best mark by any player in Division I through last weekend's games (Dec. 8). In each of the last two seasons, the Green have played two OT games in the first 10 scheduled contests.

BATTER UP!
NCAA.com named Sikura's baseball-swing style goal at Quinnipiac on Dec. 5 the No. 1 Play of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. For Sikura it was the second time in his career he made the weekly list after his OT goal against Brown last season was tabbed as No. 4. As a team Dartmouth has now had two plays earn the top spot after Brad Schierhorn's last-minute tying goal at No. 8 Union was also named No. 1 on Nov. 11.

Coach's Corner

CENTURY CLUB
Eric Robinson became the third member of this season's Big Green to join the 100-games played club. Robinson appeared in the 100th contest of his career on Friday night at Quinnipiac, picking up the primary assists on the Sikura tally. The fifth-year senior and Foxboro, Massachusetts, native joins Sikura who reached 100 games against BU and Eric Neiley who did so against Yale on Nov. 14.

SUNDAYS MEAN…HOCKEY?
This is the second of three scheduled Sunday games this season for the Big Green. In the first, Dartmouth edged No. 1 Boston University, 2-0, giving Dartmouth and Minnesota State the only Sunday shutouts this season. The only remaining Sunday matinee left on the 2014-15 docket is a Jan. 11 meeting with nationally ranked Vermont at Thompson.

AGAINST ATLANTIC HOCKEY
Since the start of the 2010-11 season, Dartmouth is 5-0-1 against teams from Atlantic Hockey. The last non-win against a team from the conference was a 4-4 tie with Mercyhurst on Dec. 20, 2010 in the first game of the Ledyard Classic. The last losses were part of an 0-2 campaign in 2009-10 when the Green were defeated by Sacred Heart (Dec. 13) and Holy Cross (Jan. 3) with the latter once again coming in the annual holiday tournament.

THROUGH THE QUAD AND INTO THE GYMNASIUM!
Three players currently have point streaks of at least three games going as Dartmouth enters Sunday's contest with Sacred Heart. Sikura (4-5-9) is joined by Robinson (1-3-4) as the individuals with streaks of four while fellow senior Rick Pinkston currently has a three-game stretch with one assist (0-3-3).

WELL NOW… THIS IS AWKWARD
Following Sunday's game with the Pioneers, Dartmouth will take on the Denver Pioneers on Jan. 2. The last time the Big Green played consecutive games against two different teams with the same nickname was Nov. 2-3, 2002, when they defeated the Wayne State Warriors (5-3) and lost on the road to the Merrimack Warriors (4-3). The Wayne State hockey program was dropped following the 2007-08 season.

FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow all the action on Sunday 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?
Dartmouth will take its mid-season break following the contest with the Pioneers. The Big Green return to action on Jan. 2 and 3 as part of the 26th Annual Ledyard Classic at Thompson Arena, playing host to national powers Denver and Boston College on consecutive nights. The team will take on UNH in Durham on Jan. 9 in a game broadcast live to a national audience on the NBC Sports Network. The final non-conference game of the season will come two days later against nationally ranked Vermont on Sunday, Jan. 11 in a 4 p.m. matinee in Hanover.

GAME 12 // vs. DENVER // Jan. 2, 2015	GAME 13 // vs. BC// Jan. 3, 2015	26th LEDYARD CLASSIC

NOTE: Brown is the fourth team and will play Boston College on Jan. 2 at 4 p.m. and Denver the following afternoon at the same time.

GAME NOTES

GAME PROGRAM

Schedules