Dartmouth Looks to Continue Strong Play vs. Cornell and Colgate

Game 24 // RV Dartmouth (11-8-4, 8-6-2) vs. Cornell (10-10-3, 8-7-1)				Game 25 // RV Dartmouth (11-8-4, 8-6-2) vs. Colgate (15-10-3, 7-6-3)

Date: Friday, Feb. 13, 2015 // Time: 7:05 PM Location: Hanover, N.H. // Arena: Thompson Arena All-Time Series: 45-79-5 // Streak: 2-0-1 Last Meeting: Jan. 24, 2015 // W, 5-2 (Ithaca)				Date: Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 // Time: 7:05 PM Location: Hanover, N.H. // Arena: Thompson Arena All-Time Series: 45-44-6 // Streak: 0-0-1 Last Meeting: Jan. 23, 2015 // T, 2-2//OT (Hamilton)
Cornell Media				Colgate 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 // Cornell 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 // Colgate Preview Ticket Information

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team will look to continue its winning ways as it plays host to Cornell and Colgate this weekend at Thompson Arena. The weekend also marks the program's celebration of the four Final Four teams from the late 1940s as well as 1979 and 1980.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green pushed their win streak to five games and their unbeaten stretch to six with a pair of victories at Brown and Yale last weekend. After trailing 3-1 following 20 minutes, Dartmouth scored twice in the second period and three times in the third for the 6-3 come-from-behind win in Providence against the Bears. The trend continued the next night in New Haven as the top defensive team in the nation surrendered a season-high six goals to the Big Green's offense. Dartmouth's 6-4 win against the 15th-ranked Bulldogs was the second win at Ingalls Rink in as many seasons after a six-year drought in the Elm City.

Highlights at Brown // Feb. 6 (W, 6-3)	Highlights at Yale // Feb. 7 (W, 6-4)

WHERE WE SIT IN THE STANDINGS
With the current stretch of victories, the Green have put themselves in position to compete for a first-round bye. With 18 points, Dartmouth is tied for third place in ECAC Hockey standings along with Yale, Harvard and Clarkson with just three weekends left in league play. Quinnipiac (27 points) and St. Lawrence (24) are currently the top two teams.

SCOUTING CORNELL
The Big Red come to Hanover for the first and only time in the regular season with a 10-10-3 overall record and an 8-7-1 ECAC Hockey record and 17 points to sit tied in seventh with travel partner Colgate. Cornell suffered a heart-breaking 1-0 overtime loss at home last Friday against Quinnipiac, but bounced back with a 4-2 win the following night against Princeton. Senior Cole Bardreau leads the team in both assists (12) and total scoring (15), while Christian Hilbrich's eight goals are the most amongst the players on the Big Red's roster. Cornell still boasts one of the best team defenses in the nation this season by allowing just 1.78 goals per game, while the penalty kill is the best in ECAC Hockey at 90.0 percent.

SCOUTING COLGATE
The Raiders met a similar fate as their counterparts from Ithaca last weekend, defeating Princeton (2-0), but falling to the Bobcats (4-2), leaving them 15-10-3 overall and 7-6-3 in league play. Kyle Baun has emerged as the top offensive threat this season as the junior leads the team in the three major statistical categories: goals (11), assists (12) and points (23), while Tyson Spink isn't too far behind (10-11—21). It's been a steady diet of Charlie Finn in goal this season as the sophomore netminder has a 15-9-3 record to go along with a 2.10 goals against average and a .921 save percentage.

AGAINST THESE TEAMS THIS SEASON
Led by a four-point effort from Eric Neiley, the Big Green scored five goals against Cornell in the Jan. 24 meeting in Ithaca; a 5-2 Dartmouth win. The five goals allowed were the most this season by the Big Red. Neiley's penalty shot goal in the opening minutes set the table for the win in a game he would score two and assist on a pair of others. Against Colgate the night before, a third-period goal from junior Brad Schierhorn helped Dartmouth to a 2-2 tie and the start of the current unbeaten streak with a key ECAC Hockey point.

ONE SHORT OF A BAKER'S DOZEN
Dartmouth netted 12 goals over the course of last weekend from nine different players, the most tallies scored by any team in ECAC Hockey in that stretch. Neiley, Brandon McNally and Nick Bligh each had a goal in both games against the Bears and Bulldogs, while Schierhorn and Grant Opperman led the team with four points on a goal and three assists each.

BACK IN THE LINEUP, BACK ON THE SCORESHEET
After sitting out 15 straight games dating back to mid-November, Bligh made his return to the Dartmouth lineup this weekend and did so in a big way. The junior from Milton, Massachusetts, scored goals in each game of the road trip, while picking up a two-point effort at Yale with an assist on the last goal of the contest. Like Bligh, Jesse Beamish had missed games, watching from the stands in four straight prior to Saturday's game at Yale. And like Bligh, Beamish found the back of the net in his return, scoring the sixth goal to end a Bulldogs' rally at the 9:16 mark of the third period.

MR. 100'S
When Beamish took to the ice on Saturday night, he became the sixth member of this year's senior class to play in 100 career games. He now joins the ranks of Eric Neiley (119), Tyler Sikura (115), Eric Robinson (114), Rick Pinkston (107) and Charlie Mosey (100) as the players on this year's roster to reach the century mark in games played.

WOW! THAT WAS FAST!
Eric Robinson scored just 36 seconds into the game at Brown, giving Dartmouth its first goal in the opening minute of any period this season.

WOW! THAT WAS FASTER!!
Not to be outdone, Brad Schierhorn then netted the eventual game-winning goal just 23 seconds into the third period against the Bears, relegating Robinson's goal to second place.

OK! THIS IS CRAZY BUT WE'RE LIKE REALLY FAST!
Dartmouth scored four goals in the first two minutes of periods in the games at Brown and Yale, the most by any team in the nation last weekend. In addition to the Robinson and Schierhorn goals, freshman Corey Kalk redirected an Andy Simpson shot at 1:44 of the second period at Brown, giving the Green one goal in the opening two minutes of each frame in the win against the Bears. Grant Opperman kept the streak alive with his fourth of the season at 1:26 of the first at Yale the following night. In all, Dartmouth racked up 10 points in the opening minutes of stanzas last weekend, four more than another team. Prior to the weekend, the Big Green had just two goals and two assists in that designated time period.

AGAINST THE BEST 'D'
During the current five-game win streak, Dartmouth has played the top two defensive teams in the country. Cornell was averaging just 1.63 goals against per game at the time of the contest with the Big Green, while Yale was the top team in the country at 1.45. In both instances, Dartmouth chased the starting netminder from the crease and scored the most goals against either team all season.

DEFENSIVE PAIR GETS OFFENSIVE
The backend tandem of freshman Tim Shoup and senior Andy Simpson were a big part of Friday's comeback in Providence. Each finished the game with a pair of assists, a new career high for Shoup who had just three assists coming into the game, while Simpson matched his single-game high that he had also previously set against Brown at the Liberty Shootout on Oct. 26, 2013 in Newark.

GOING BACK AND FORTH WITH GOALIES
Once again, head coach Bob Gaudet used his two junior netminders this weekend. James Kruger got the nod against the Bears and after a shaky first period, backstopped his team to the 6-3 win while making 33 saves. The following night saw Charles Grant pick up the 6-4 win in New Haven, while his 35 saves were the most by a Dartmouth goaltender this season.

MOVING ON UP
The 12 goals scored were not only the most by any team in the nation last weekend, but also helped the Green move up the rankings in team scoring. Dartmouth went from 35th in the nation to 25th over the course of the two games as it now averages 2.96 goals per contest.

EVERYBODY'S DOING IT!
With the weekend sweep, the Big Green's unbeaten streak reached six (5-0-1) and the win streak five. Both of those figures currently rank as the fourth-best mark in their respective category.

ROAD SWEEP
The consecutive wins on the I-95 corridor this weekend marked the first weekend road sweep for Dartmouth since it took a pair from St. Lawrence and Clarkson in the North Country on Feb. 14-15, 2014.

THE KEY IS TO SCORE FOUR
Dartmouth is 6-0-0 this season when scoring four or more goals. After this past weekend, the Green and White have netted six or more goals four times, including twice against Brown (6-0 and 6-3) as well as against Sacred Heart (8-3) and Yale (6-4).

ANOTHER PLAY OF THE WEEK?! FINE…
The NCAA named Brandon McNally's first-period goal at Yale the No. 5 Play of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. For Dartmouth, it was the fifth time this season that one of its players was featured in the weekly highlight. Brad Schierhorn, Tyler Sikura and Jack Barre all have earned the No. 1 spot this season, while Carl Hesler's game-winning goal against Union was named No. 4 in last week's installment.

FINAL FOUR CELEBRATION
In addition to the current group of Dartmouth players in Hanover this weekend, there will be a gathering of some of the program's most well known players coming together at Thompson Arena as well. Players from the 1948, 1949, 1979 and 1980 Final Four teams will be back in town this week celebrating their accomplishments. An on-ice ceremony will take place Saturday between periods of the game against Colgate, while a private banquet on Sunday serves as a more subdued reunion for the returning players.

FOLLOW ALONG
Both games this weekend can be seen live and in HD on the Ivy League Digital Network. Fans not in front of their computers can also follow the action with Chris Garrett's call each night on 99Rock (99.3 WFRD) with Michael Kaiser providing color analysis. For in-game updates and information, please follow the team's official Twitter account: @Dartmouth_MIH.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH…
SBnation.com released an article entitled, 'Twitter's 59 Must-Follow for College Hockey Fans' Tuesday morning with @Dartmouth_MIH earning the No. 1 spot. The article lays out the following as its first point in the criteria: “These are in no particular order except for Dartmouth…”

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Dartmouth is back on the road for the final time in the regular season next weekend with the trip to the North Country to take on Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The final games of the 2014-15 regular season will take place on Feb. 27-28 at Thompson Arena as the Green play host to Princeton and Quinnipiac with the latter serving as Senior Day.

Game 26 // at Clarkson // Feb. 20	Game 27 // at St. Lawrence // Feb. 21

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