Dartmouth Opens Weekend at Vermont on Friday Night

Dartmouth Men's Hockey 5-7-1 3-5-0 ECAC Hockey	Game 14 Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 7:05 PM
Dartmouth Men's Hockey 5-7-1 3-5-0 ECAC Hockey
Opponent	Vermont Catamounts 8-12-2
Location	Burlington, Vt.
Arena	Gutterson Fieldhouse
All-Time Series	26-48-6
Streak	0-1-1
Last Meeting	Jan. 11, 2015 // L, 4-1 (Hanover)
Video	CatamounTV
Radio	99Rock WFRD
Play-by-Play	Chris Garrett
In-Game Twitter	@Dartmouth_MIH @UVMmhockey
Notes: Dartmouth	UVM Notes / Preview
Tickets	Vermont Ticket Office
Information Center / Digital Press Box / Dartmouth Stats / Dartmouth Schedule / Live Stats

TALE OF THE TAPE
	DARTMOUTH	VERMONT
Emoji	🌲	🐱
Record	3-7-1	8-12-2
Goals For	30	48
Goals Against	46	57
Assists	50	75
Points	80	123
Streak	2-0-0	3-0-0
Home	3-2-0	5-6-2
Road	2-5-1	3-5-0
Neutral	0-0-0	0-1-0
Goals Leader	Bligh (6)	J. Privitera (10)
Assists Leader	Crema (6)	Puskarich (12)
Points Leader	Crema (5)	Puskarich (17)
PIMs Leader	Rymsha (22)	Shaw (25)
GWG	Five (1)	Senkbeil (2)
Wins	Kruger/Grant (2)	Santaguida/Munson (4)
Goals Against Average	Buffalo (2.66)	Munson (1.66)
Save%	Buffalo (.913)	Munson (.935)

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team is back in action Friday night at Vermont before returning home to take on Holy Cross Sunday at Thompson Arena. The two contests are the final non-conference games of the season for the Big Green.

THE LEDYARD CLASSIC
Dartmouth won its first home holiday tournament since 2008 this past weekend with a pair of victories against Robert Morris, 5-1, and No. 20 Merrimack, 3-0. Union was also 2-0-0 on the weekend, but the tournament crown went the way of the home team thanks to a +7 goal differential (tiebreaker) to the Dutchmen's +2.

Congratulations to @Dartmouth_MIH - Ledyard Classic Champions! pic.twitter.com/fwSAd1uWba
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) January 4, 2016

SCOUTING VERMONT
The Catamounts have righted the ship as it were in recent weeks as they currently ride a three-game win streak following a 3-2 OT win at home against New Hampshire on Jan. 2. That win came on the heels of UVM taking the crown at their own Catamount Cup with wins against Lake Superior State, 1-0, and Colgate, 4-1. Mario Puskarich leads the team in scoring (17) and assists (12) with Jarrid Privitera leading the way with 10 goals. Between the pipes, head coach Kevin Sneddon has split time amongst junior Mike Santiguida and Packy Munson with both earning four wins.

MARTIN ST. LOUIS NIGHT
Prior to Friday night's game in Burlington, Vermont will honor college hockey legend and former NHL MVP and multi-time all-star Martin St. Louis in an on-ice ceremony before the start of the game against the Big Green.

MSL FACTS:
• Registered 267 points on 91 goals and 176 assists in 139 games.
• Led the Catamounts to their first-ever NCAA Frozen Four berth in 1996 and another NCAA Tournament appearance in 1997.
• Three-time All-American and Hobey Baker Finalist.

As a reminder, @UVMmhockey's jersey retirement ceremony for @mstlouis_26 happens Friday night before our game. pic.twitter.com/Ck3nEId22x
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) January 7, 2016

HOME COOKING
The four-goal win in the first-ever meeting with the Colonials was also the Big Green's first home game in 56 days following a seven-game road trip from early November through mid-December. The three-week break followed the UNH game on Dec. 11 and preceded the Ledyard Classic.

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
Senior netminder Charles Grant earned his first ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week honor of the season and the third of his career after a stellar weekend between the pipes at the Ledyard Classic. The Nova Scotia native posted the best goals against average (0.50) and save percentage (.975) in the conference over the weekend as he stopped 39-of-40 shots on goal and posted a 22-save shutout against the 20th-ranked Warriors on Sunday to earn top-goaltender honors at the home tournament.

Charles Grant tabbed as #ECACHockey Goaltender of the Week. https://t.co/glATkacSs4 pic.twitter.com/gd7uVbG1hY
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) January 5, 2016

SHINING STAR
Nick Bligh was not only named the Ledyard Classic MVP, but also was tabbed as the NCAA'S Third Star of the Week for his five-point performance against Robert Morris (1-2-3) and Merrimack (1-1-2). Bligh's scoring output against the Colonials was a new career high, while his five points over the course of the weekend were tied for the national lead. The Milton, Massachusetts, native leads the team in both goals (6) and points (11), setting new career highs in each, only 13 games into his senior campaign.

Nick Bligh Named @NCAAIceHockey's 3rd Star of the Week. https://t.co/RqZcv6k6fo pic.twitter.com/QuquSsJR7x
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) January 5, 2016

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
In addition to Bligh and Grant, team captain and fellow senior Brad Schierhorn was named to the Ledyard Classic All-Tournament Team for his play in the two-game weekend. Schierhorn scored his first goal of 2015-16 at 8:17 of the third period against Robert Morris after the Big Green's penalty kill held the Colonials at bay with a one-goal lead. Schierhorn's last goal came on March 7 in a 2-0 win against Princeton in Game 2 of the ECAC Hockey First Round.

STRONG DEFENSE
The Big Green allowed just the one goal this weekend, a third-period tally to Robert Morris on Saturday night. The Colonials are the second-highest scoring team this season with 228 points. Dartmouth was one of four teams this past weekend to go 2-0-0 and allow just one goal (North Dakota, Sacred Heart, St. Cloud).

SPECIAL TEAMS
- The home team's PK unit also helped keep the opposition off the board as it was a perfect 5-for-5 on the disadvantage. That includes a 2-for-2 figure against RMU, who came into the weekend (as well as left the weekend) with the top power play in the nation (34.1%).
- Robert Morris had the top PP unit in the nation coming into the game and had a streak of 12 straight games with a PPG. They were held to an 0-for-2 night on the man-advantage, failing to score on the PP for the first time since Oct. 31 at Michigan and just the fourth time this season.
o Their PP% dropped to 34.7%, still four percentage points better than second-place St. Cloud State (30.6%).
- Dartmouth's power play was 2-for-7 during the Ledyard and jumped up three percentage points to 12.8 and 11 spots in the national rankings to No. 48.

NEVER LOST TO THEM
Dartmouth now holds a 1-0-0 edge all-time against RMU with the two teams set to play a pair next season in the Pittsburgh area.

SPREAD IT OUT
The Green got eight goals from seven different players against RMU and Merrimack. Bligh was the only player to score more than once, netting a goal in each contest.

MULTI-POINT OUTINGS
Bligh has multi-point outings in his last three games and four this season. No other Dartmouth player has more than one.

DON'T SAY THE 'S-WORD'
In blanking the Warriors with 22 saves on Sunday night, Charles Grant turned in his third collegiate shutout. His most recent shutout was the 36-save, 1-0 win at Cornell in February, 2014 that was Dartmouth's only time holding Cornell scoreless in Lynah Rink in the all-time series.

WINNING AT THE DOT
Dartmouth's 61.3 success rate in the faceoff circle is the best of any team in 2016 so far as the Green and White were 65-for-106 on draws at the Ledyard. The second-best team in that time was Union (60.6%) who was also 2-0-0 at the Ledyard Classic.

LIMIT CHANCES
The Big Green finished the weekend with 66 shots on goal, 26 more than their opponents combined. That 20 SOG against figure is the sixth-best number this month, while the +26 shot differential is also sixth.

EMPTY NETTERS
When Jack Barre scored his fifth of the season at the 17:49 mark of the third period against Robert Morris, he became the first Dartmouth player this season to hit the empty net. As it stands now, 10 of the 60 Division I teams have not scored an ENG in 2015-16 with Cornell the only team not to have scored or have one scored against them. Sunday's opponent in Holy Cross is one of the 10 without an empty netter to their credit.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
The Big Green are back at Thompson Arena on Sunday afternoon to play Holy Cross at 4 p.m.

Schedules