Dartmouth Opens Season at Home Against No. 11 Michigan

RV Dartmouth Big Green 0-0-0	GAME 1 Oct. 29, 2016 \| 7:35 PM
RV Dartmouth Big Green 0-0-0
Opponent	#11 Michigan 3-1-1* (Play at UVM Friday)
Location	Hanover, N.H.
Arena	Thompson Arena
All-Time Series	3-4-1
Streak	0-3-1
Last Meeting	11.28.15 \| T, 1-1 (OT) \| Ann Arbor
Video	Ivy League Digital Network
Radio	WTSL 94.5 FM/1400 AM (ESPN Radio)
On the Call	PBP: Adam Giardino Analyst: Michael Kaiser '18
In-Game Twitter	@Dartmouth_MIH / @umichhockey
Notes: PDF / Web	Michigan Preview / Notes
Tickets	Dartmouth Ticket Office
Coach's Corner / Information Center / Dartmouth Stats (2015-16) Dartmouth Schedule / Live Stats

GAME NOTES

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team opens the 2016-17 season Saturday night at Thompson Arena against No. 11 Michigan. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green are coming off a 2015-16 campaign in which they finished tied for seventh in the league standings, but managed to make it all the way to Lake Placid and the ECAC Hockey semifinals thanks to a three-game first-round win against Colgate at home and a sweep of seventh-ranked and second-seeded Yale in New Haven before bowing out to No. 1 Quinnipiac. Dartmouth's series win against the Bulldogs marked the only time in the postseason tournament that a lower seed defeated a higher-seeded team.

SEASON OPENERS
Since 1997-98, Dartmouth is 8-9-2 in season-opening games, including a 2-2-2 mark since 2010. The Big Green have opened against Harvard in each of the last two seasons with contests against either Princeton (2010 & 2013), Yale (2012) or Brown (2011) in the four previous years as part of the Ivy/Liberty Shootout. Dartmouth and Harvard also opened the season against one another in both 2008 and 2009. The last time the Green opened against a non-ECAC Hockey team was a 2007 win at Vermont, 4-2.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN
- The Wolverines make their first-ever trip to Hanover to take on Dartmouth.
- Michigan is 3-1-1 this season and ranked 11th in both the latest national polls from USCHO and USA Hockey.
- A pair of freshmen lead the team in points with Vancouver pick Will Lockwood and undrafted Jake Slaker each boasting a trio of goals and assists for six points. Junior defenseman Sam Piazza is third in points (5), but tied with the rookies for the goal-scoring lead with three.
- Goaltending duties have been shared between all three on the roster, but freshmen Jack LaFontaine and Hayden Lavigne have each played two games without suffering a defeat. LaFontaine is 1-0-1 with a .946 save percentage and a 1.92 goals against average, while Lavigne is 2-0-0 with a .954 save percentage and allowing just 1.50 goals per game to date.
- Michigan's lone loss came to Union, 4-3, in the season opener, but bounced back the following night with a 4-0 shutout. Last weekend, the Wolverines defeated Michigan Tech, 4-3, on Friday and played to a 3-3 draw with a 2-1 exhibition shootout win the following night to cap their Homecoming Weekend.
- Michigan had the top-two point producers in the nation last season in Kyle Connor (35-36-71) and JT Compher (16-47-63), but both opted to go pro following the year. Connor also led the nation in goals (35), while Compher was the nation's leading assist man (47).
- Michigan plays Vermont at Gutterson Fieldhouse for the first time ever on Friday night in its final tune-up before making the trip down I-89 to play Dartmouth.

AGAINST THE WOLVERINES
- These two teams met in Ann Arbor last season during Thanksgiving Weekend. Michigan took care of business in the first game with a 7-0 win thanks to an exceptional game on the man-advantage (4-for-6). The Big Green earned a 1-1 tie the following night thanks to a first-period goal from Carl Hesler and an incredible 37-save performance by Devin Buffalo in his first collegiate start.
- Prior to last season, the Green last met the Wolverines on Dec. 7-8, 1979 with a pair of games in Ann Arbor. Michigan won the first game, 10-2, before taking down the Big Green once again the following night, 6-5. Dartmouth would go on to get the last laugh as they reached the Frozen Four that season, backstopped by then-junior and current head coach Bob Gaudet '81. Gaudet made 35 saves in the second game of the weekend against the Wolverines, including 16 in the third period.
- Following last season's game at Yost, Michigan now leads the all-time series 4-3-1 with Saturday marking the ninth all-time game.

A REMATCH OF SORTS…AGAIN.
Dartmouth and Michigan met in the first ever NCAA national championship on March 20, 1948 in Colorado Springs. The Wolverines won their first of a national-record nine titles, 8-4, thanks to a four-goal third period. Both teams scored two goals apiece in each of the first two periods before Michigan pulled away in the final frame. The teams met again the following year back at the Broadmoor Arena in Colorado in the national semifinals, where the Big Green earned some level of revenge in a 4-2 win to earn a spot in the national title game for the second straight season (vs. Boston College/L, 4-3).

PRESEASON WARMUP
Dartmouth and Harvard played to a 3-3 draw Saturday night at Thompson Arena before the Crimson win in an exhibition shootout, 3-2. Dartmouth got on the board just a minute and 59 seconds into the game as freshman Daniel Warpecha broke in along a long feed from Cam Roth to make it a 1-0 game. Trailing 2-1 headed into the third, the Big Green scored twice on a five-minute power play from senior Grant Opperman and junior captain Carl Hesler. Harvard would eventually tie the game late, resulting in the draw. Troy Crema and Corey Kalk each scored in the shootout.

GOALTENDING DUTIES
The game was played with two 20-minute periods and a 25-minute third. Buffalo played the first 40 minutes, making 16 saves, while freshman Adrian Clark stopped six in 25 minutes. Freshman goalie Dean Shatzer did not dress for the game.

PRESEASON POLLS
Dartmouth was picked ninth by both the men's head coaches from around the league as well as the media contingent in ECAC Hockey who voted. The team was picked seventh by the head coaches and ninth by the media last year and made it all the way to the league semifinals for the first time in five years.

COACH G
Bob Gaudet is now in his 20th season behind the bench of his alma mater. A graduate of the Class of 1981, Gaudet has 279 career wins with the Big Green, second all-time only to the legendary Eddie Jeremiah '30. Gaudet comes into the season with 621 games as the Dartmouth head coach to his credit and 887 in his career between his time in Hanover and nine seasons at the helm of Brown (1988-1997).

A BIG CLASS OF ROOKIES
Dartmouth has 11 first-year players on its roster this season after graduating 10 from a year ago. The 11 freshmen on the team are the most by any program in the ECAC and are tied for fourth in the nation with Alaska and Saturday's opponent, Michigan. Only Miami (14), American International (13) and Boston College (13) have a larger Class of 2020 than do the Big Green.

CAPTAIN CARL
Carl Hesler was tabbed as the 118th captain in the program's 111-year history back in June. Hesler is one of only two players to appear in all 68 games in each of the last two seasons, joining last year's team captain Brad Schierhorn. Seniors Grant Opperman and Josh Hartley will serve as the team's alternate captains in their final year with the team.

MICHIGAN MAN
Junior defenseman River Rymsha (pictured) is the lone Dartmouth player on the roster, coming from Huntington Woods. Rymsha made one appearance in his home state last season, playing in the first game against the Wolverines.

AGAINST THE BIG TEN
Dartmouth and Michigan will meet for the third time in two years when they step on the Thompson ice. Besides the Wolverines, the Big Green has not played a team from the now-Big Ten Conference since Dec. 30, 1999 against Ohio State in the USAir Classic at Vermont. In all, Dartmouth has played Minnesota the most with 100 all-time games against the Gophers, but none since 1980, while taking on Michigan nine previous times, Ohio State twice and Michigan State once. The Green have never played Wisconsin or Division I newcomer Penn State.

WHO'S BACK?
Hesler (11-10-21) is the team's top returning scorer from a season ago after finishing second behind only Jack Barre (12-14-26). Troy Crema (5-14-19) was fourth on the team in scoring and tied for the lead in assists. Sophomore defenseman Connor Yau is the top plus/minus player from a year ago to return after posting a plus-12. Josh Hartley led Dartmouth and was 10th in ECAC Hockey in blocked shots with 59 a season ago, while his 1.69 per game ranked eighth.

TIES? NO THANKS
- The Big Green played to just one tie last season, the 1-1 draw at Michigan. Colorado College, Omaha and St. Cloud also all finished the season with just one tie, while Minnesota did not play to an even score once. The Gophers were backstopped by Eric Schierhorn, brother of Dartmouth captain Brad Schierhorn '16. Minnesota and the Big Green were the only two teams in the nation without a conference tie.
- Head coach Bob Gaudet has 99 career ties between Brown (31) and Dartmouth (68).

ANOTHER BIG ROADIE
- For the second year in a row, Dartmouth will play a seven-game road trip. This one begins on Nov. 11 and stretches through Dec. 3 and includes games at Princeton, Quinnipiac, Vermont, Robert Morris (2), Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
- Prior to last season's 2-4-1 trip, the last time the Big Green played seven straight games away from Hanover in one season was at the end of 2013-14 when it finished the regular season with Colgate and Cornell before a three-game first-round match-up at RPI and two games at Union in the quarterfinals. A nine-game stretch (3-2-4) came in the 2003-04 regular season from mid-November through the end of December that ended with a pair of games in Vermont's holiday tournament against UMass and Minnesota State.

LAST AGAIN?
With the 7:30 p.m. start time on Saturday, Dartmouth is the final Division I men's hockey team to start its 2016-17 season. Yale also plays its first game of the year that night, but squares off with Sacred Heart at 7 p.m. in New Haven, half hour before the Big Green take on the Wolverines. This marks the second time in three years that Dartmouth is the last team to start the year, doing so in 2014-15 with a Nov. 1 game at Harvard.

ON THE RADIO!
Grant Opperman spoke with legendary Bernie Corbett as part of the most recent episode of "This Week in ECAC Hockey." Full audio of Opperman's interview can be heard HERE.

FOLLOW ALONG!
- Saturday's game will be carried live and in HD on the Ivy League Digital Network.
- Dartmouth men's hockey games will now be carried on ESPN Radio WTSL 94.5FM/1400AM this season. Adam Giardino will handle play-by-play duties this weekend with Michael Kaiser '18 adding color commentary.
- Fans are encouraged to follow the team's official Twitter account for in-game updates and insights: @Dartmouth_MIH.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
The Big Green remain home next weekend for a pair of games to open ECAC Hockey play. Dartmouth plays host to Cornell on Friday night in a game simulcast on ESPN3 before a Saturday night tilt with Colgate. Both games are set for 7 p.m. start times.

Schedules