Dartmouth Welcomes RPI and Union to Thompson This Weekend

Game XX // RV Dartmouth (7-8-4, 4-6-2) vs. Rensselaer (9-17-1, 7-6-0)				Game XXI // RV Dartmouth (7-8-4, 4-6-2) vs. Union (12-10-2, 4-7-1)

Date: Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 // Time: 7:05 PM Location: Hanover, N.H. // Arena: Thompson Arena All-Time Series: 34-46-5 // Streak: 0-1-0 Last Meeting: Nov. 8, 2014 // L, 2-1 (Troy)				Date: Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015 // Time: 7:05 PM Location: Hanover, N.H. // Arena: Thompson Arena All-Time Series: 25-23-7 // Streak: 1-0-0 Last Meeting: Nov. 7, 2014 // W, 4-3/OT (Schenectady)
Rensselaer Media				Union Media
TV: None // Radio: WFRD 99.3 FM (99Rock) PBP: Chris Garrett // Color: Michael Kaiser Online: Ivy League Digital Network Live Stats: DartmouthSports.com Twitter: @Dartmouth_MIH Digital Press Box Dartmouth Notes // RPI Preview Ticket Information				TV: None // Radio: WFRD 99.3 FM (99Rock) PBP: Chris Garrett // Color: Michael Kaiser Online: Ivy League Digitial Network Live Stats: DartmouthSports.com Twitter: @Dartmouth_MIH Digital Press Box Dartmouth Notes // Union Preview Ticket Information

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team returns home after a three-point weekend in Central New York to play two other Empire State teams as Rensselaer and Union make the trip to Thompson for a pair of ECAC Hockey games.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green came back in the third period at No. 15 Colgate last Friday to earn a 2-2 tie, while picking up two league points thanks to a 5-2 victory at Cornell the following night in front of a sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink. Brad Schierhorn scored midway through the third period to pull the visiting team even and James Kruger turned aside 31 in 65 minutes of action, helping Dartmouth salvage a crucial league point in Hamilton. Saturday night saw the Big Green erupt for two goals in each of the first two periods for a 4-0 lead at the second intermission against a Big Red team that was second in the nation in team defense coming into the contest. Senior Eric Neiley scored twice and added two assists for his second four-point game of the season. Classmate Eric Robinson added an empty-netter in the final seconds to seal the win and push the Green and White's unbeaten streak to three games at Cornell in the last three visits (2-0-1).

Archived Colgate Game

at Cornell Highlighs // W, 5-2

A SUPER PERFORMANCE
Neiley's four-point game was the second of the season after also posting two goals and two assists in the team's 6-0 win against Brown in November. Neiley had a goal and an assist in both the first and second periods of play at Cornell, scoring the game winner early in the middle frame on a play that was reviewed and deemed to be a good goal.

FOXBOROUGH'S FINEST…
Robinson, a native of Foxborough, Massachusetts, found the back of the net in both contests of the roadtrip last weekend, marking his first time scoring in consecutive games since the first two outings of the season at Harvard and Union. His first of the weekend came on a quick snap shot off a faceoff play in the second period against the Raiders, before hitting the empty net with just two seconds left in regulation at Cornell for his sixth tally of the season.

SCOUTING RENSSELAER
The Engineers come to Hanover after suffering an 8-3 defeat to Union in the non-conference Mayor's Cup in Albany last weekend. They held a 3-2 advantage after 40 minutes, but allowed six third-period goals to suffer the heart-breaking defeat. Overall, RPI brings a 9-17-1 record to the Upper Valley, but the 7-6-0 ECAC Hockey record actually has the Engineers tied for fifth in the league standings. Senior Jacob Laliberté ranks first on the team with 15 points in 27 games, thanks to four goals and 11 assists. Freshman Drew Melanson's six goals are the most on the roster so far, while seven total players have scored at least four times this season. The team's 1.89 goals per game ranks ninth among the conference's 12 teams, while the 3.11 allowed each night is 10th.

SCOUTING UNION
The defending national champion already has four more losses this season than it did all of last year during its run to the crown. Through 24 games in 2014-15, Union is 12-10-2 overall, but its 4-7-1 mark in league play has the Dutchmen in 10th in the ECAC Hockey standings, one point back of the Big Green. It's hard to pinpoint where Union has struggled, but no one is looking at the pair of Daniel Ciamipini and Mike Vecchione who rank as the top-two point producers in the nation this season with 37 and 36, respectively. Ciamipini's 20 goals not only lead all Division I players, but account for nearly 24 percent of his team's total output this season.

AGAINST THESE TEAMS
In the first road weekend of the season back in November, Dartmouth split with these two opponents. On Nov. 1, the Big Green overcame a 3-0 second-period deficit to pick up the 4-3 OT win on a Tim O'Brien goal, giving the visitors their first overtime victory against Union in program history. The following night was a reversal of fortunes as RPI's Zach Schroeder scored the winner with just 19 seconds left in regulation to give the Engineers the 2-1 triumph.

THE GAP BETWEEN WAS AS BIG AS THE GRAND CANYON
Eric Neiley's penalty shot goal was the first by a Dartmouth player since Mike Murray found the back of the net on a free breakaway against Harvard on Mar. 21, 2003 in the ECAC Hockey Semifinals in Albany. With Neiley's marker, the Big Green's stretch between successful penalty shots was halted at 384 games, the fourth longest such run among conference programs. Not to be outdone, it was pointed out that Cornell has not had a successful penalty shot since Joe Nieuwendyk vs. Rensselaer on Feb. 27, 1987 (895 games).

Each ECAC Hockey Team's Most Recent Penalty Shot Goals:
(Beginning with the most recent)
Dartmouth –Eric Neiley // Jan. 24, 2015 // at Cornell
Union – Mike Vecchione // Oct. 25, 2014 // at St. Cloud State
Clarkson – Jordan Boucher // Mar. 14, 2014 // at Cornell
Brown – Matt Lorito // Feb. 14, 2014 // vs. Princeton
Colgate – Chris Wagner // Mar. 9, 2012 // vs. Quinnipiac
Rensselaer – Marty O'Grady // Feb. 3, 2011 // at Princeton
Yale – Broc Little // Oct. 20, 2010 // vs. Dartmouth
Quinnipiac – Mike Atkinson // Nov. 3, 2007 // at Cornell
St. Lawrence – Mike McKenzie // Dec. 29, 2006 // vs. BU (at Dartmouth)
Harvard – Dominic Moore // 1/12/02 // vs. Yale
Princeton – Jeff Halpern // Mar. 27, 1998 // vs. Clarkson (ECAC Championship)
Cornell – Joe Nieuwendyk // Feb. 27, 1987 // vs. Rensselaer

Eric Neiley's Penalty Shot

SPLITTING SNAPS
Goalies James Kruger and Charles Grant both gave their team a chance when called upon last weekend. Kruger was named the first star of Friday's game with Colgate, making 31 saves and helping the Green to a point. The following night, Grant made 22 saves in earning his second win in as many career starts at Cornell, benefiting from a tremendous offensive effort in front of him.

WE'RE ON TO RPI AND UNION
The Big Green will look to build on the successes of last weekend in a home weekend with the teams from the Capital District. Dartmouth had been on a seven-game winless (0-4-3) stretch leading up to the win at Cornell after the tie with Colgate. The victory in Ithaca was the first of 2015 as that span of games without a win began against Denver in the Ledyard Classic on Jan. 2.

AGAINST THE CHAMPS
Since the start of the 2012-13 season, Dartmouth is 2-1-1 against teams coming off a national championship the year before. The Big Green fell to Boston College, 6-3, in Chestnut Hill in 2012-13, while going 1-0-1 last season against Yale. Already this season, Dartmouth is 1-0-0 against Union, following the 4-3 overtime game in November.

THE GOAL LEFT ME FEELING EMPTY
Robinson's empty-net goal was the first for Dartmouth since Brett Patterson sealed a 4-1 win at Yale last December, a stretch of 43 games between the two.

DO YOUR JOB
The first unassisted goal all season for the Big Green was Neiley's penalty shot goal to open the scoring with the Big Red. Robinson's empty-netter with three seconds left was the first unassisted in-play goal of 2014-15.

VETERAN SCORING
Only two ECAC Hockey teams this season are averaging more than a goal a game from their senior classes: Dartmouth and Union. The Big Green's 1.53 goals per game from members of the Class of 2015 is far and away the best in the league with the Dutchmen's 1.25 (thanks in large part to Ciamipini's 20) ranking second. RPI ranks fifth at 0.56 per contest.

RUN IT RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE
Dartmouth has scored 31 of its 50 goals this season between the 5-minute and 15-minute mark of periods. However, the Green bucked that trend to a degree at Cornell with goals at 1:19 and 18:44 of the first and 19:57 of the third. The 1.63 goals per game between in those 10-minutes stretches represents nearly 62% of their total scoring output this season.

IT'S LIKE BEING GOOD OR BAD AT THE COIN TOSS
Dartmouth will take on the worst team in ECAC Hockey in terms of faceoff winning percentage on Friday in RPI (43.1%) and the best in the conference in Union (55.5%) the following night. Only the Dutchmen have a higher success rate in the faceoff circle than Dartmouth (53.8%) this season among the 12 league teams. RPI also has a league-high 900 lost draws, while Dartmouth is tied with Cornell for the fewest with 543.

BLOCKING SCHEMES
Where the Engineers lack in faceoff abilities, they more than make up for it in blocked shots, leading the league with 370 this year; 75 more than second-place Harvard and 103 more than third-place Dartmouth. However, in terms of blocks per game, which is a more accurate representation, Harvard (16.39) and Dartmouth (14.32) rank first and second, respectively, while RPI (13.70) is fifth.

FOURTH-QUARTER COMEBACKS
The Big Green's biggest comeback of the season remains erasing a 3-0 second-period deficit at Union to take the 4-3 win at Messa Rink. Prior to that Nov. 7 match-up in Schenectady, Dartmouth last won when trailing after 40 minutes at RPI last season in Game 3 of the ECAC Hockey First Round, overcoming a 4-2 Engineers lead to win 5-4 in regulation. Brad Schierhorn's third-period goal at Colgate last Saturday was the Green and White's first game-tying goal of the year as the previous three ties all resulted in the opposition forcing OT.

MEDIA DAYS
Fans are encouraged to follow all the action this weekend with live stats provided by DartmouthSports.com. Live, high-definition broadcasts of both contests can also be seen on the Ivy League Digital Network, while Chris Garrett's radio call can be heard live on 99Rock WFRD. For in-game updates and information, please follow the team's official Twitter account: @Dartmouth_MIH.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Dartmouth is back on the road against Ivy League and ECAC Hockey foes Brown and Yale next weekend. Subscribers to the Ivy League Digital Network can watch both games live online.

GAME XXII // at Brown // Jan. 6, 2015	GAME XXII // at Yale // Jan. 7, 2015

GAME NOTES

GAME PROGRAM

Schedules