Dartmouth Begins Road Trip at No. 7 Quinnipiac & Princeton

RV Dartmouth Big Green 2-0-1 1-0-1	GAME 4 Friday, Nov. 11, 2016 \| 7:00 PM	GAME 5 Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016 \| 7:00 PM
RV Dartmouth Big Green 2-0-1 1-0-1
Opponent	No. 7 Quinnipiac 5-3-1, 1-1-0 ECAC	Princeton 0-3-0, 0-2-0
Location	Hamden, Conn.	Princeton, N.J.
Arena	High Point Solutions Arena	Hobey Baker Rink
All-Time Series	8-18-1	102-85-16
Streak	0-3-0	7-0-0
Last Meeting	3.18.16 \| L, 3-1 \| Lake Placid (Semis)	1.30.16 \| W, 2-0 \| Hanover
Video	QuinnipiacBobcats.com	Ivy League Digital Network
Radio	WTSL 94.5 FM/1400 AM (ESPN Radio)	WTSL 94.5 FM/1400 AM (ESPN Radio)
On the Call	PBP: Ben Horner	PBP: Ben Horner
In-Game Twitter	@Dartmouth_MIH / @QU_MIH	@Dartmouth_MIH / @puhockey
Notes: PDF / Web	Quinnipiac Preview / Notes	Princeton Preview / Notes
Tickets	QU Ticket Office	Princeton Ticket Office
Coach's Corner / Information Center / Dartmouth Stats / Dartmouth Schedule / Live Stats

GAME NOTES

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team heads out on the road for a pair of conference games at No. 7 Quinnipiac and Princeton Friday and Saturday nights.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green are coming off a three-point weekend in which they tied Cornell, 1-1, and shutout Colgate, 2-0, at home in the first weekend of ECAC Hockey play.

SCOUTING QUINNIPIAC
- The Bobcats welcome Dartmouth to Hamden for the 28th all-time meeting between the two teams. Quinnipiac is coming off a 2-0 loss at St. Lawrence last Saturday that capped a 1-1 conference-opening weekend in the North Country.
- Last year's regular season and postseason champions are led offensively by Tim Clifton's five goals and eight points. Clifton has a pair of game-winning goals this season as Quinnipiac is 5-3-1 overall and 1-1-0 in ECAC Hockey games.
- Goaltending duties have been split between junior Chris Truehl (3-2-1 / .921 / 2.31) and freshman Andrew Shortridge (2-1-0 / .903 / 2.34) with the former playing nearly twice the time of the latter.

AGAINST THE BOBCATS
- The Bobcats swept the season series with Dartmouth last year with a 6-2 home win and an improbable 7-5 victory in Hanover that featured a six-goal third period to overcome a 5-2 Dartmouth lead in the final frame.
- The two teams met again in the ECAC Hockey Semifinals in Lake Placid. A much more low-scoring affair than the two regular season tilts, the Bobcats came away with a 3-1 win en route to capturing their first league playoff title.

SCOUTING PRINCETON
- The Tigers are one of just four remaining DI teams without a win yet as they are 0-3-0 overall. That figure includes an 0-2-0 record against ECAC Hockey teams after being shutout, 4-0, at St. Lawrence and falling, 4-2, the next evening at Clarkson.
- A trio of Princeton players have three points to lead the team in scoring coming into the weekend. Alex Riche (2-1-3), Ryan Kuffner (1-2-3) and Max Veronneau (0-3-3) all sit atop the team's scoring leaderboard with Riche the only player with multiple goals.
- As expected, senior Colton Phinney has been the Tigers' go-to netminder, playing every minute in the paint. So far, his numbers are below his usual strong figures as he currently boasts a 4.04 goals against average and a save percentage of .865.

AGAINST THE TIGERS
- Dartmouth has not lost or tied Princeton since Nov. 13, 2013 when the Tigers earned a 5-4 OT home win against the Green. It was the second OT win against Dartmouth on the young season after opening the year with a 3-2 victory in Newark at the Liberty Shootout.
- Since then, the Big Green have been dominant against Princeton, winning the last seven games with a pair of shutouts as well as a two-game sweep of the Tigers in the 2015 first round.

BACKED BY BUFFALO
- Junior Devin Buffalo has been solid in his first three starts of the season, posting a 2-0-1 record that included his first career shutout Saturday against the Raiders (21 saves).
- After making 23 saves against Cornell and 21 the following night, Buffalo has now allowed just three goals all season and boasts the nation's best goals against average at 0.97, the lone sub-1.00 mark in Division I.
- Buffalo's .957 save percentage is also the best figure in the country to this point (both starters and non-starters).

CREMA'S SECOND WINNER
- Senior Troy Crema scored with 2:16 left in regulation to give Dartmouth a 1-0 lead against Colgate. That goal would stand up as the game winner, his second in three contests this year.
- Only two players have scored more game-winning goals this season than Crema's pair. Andrew Shurtz of Penn State and Mitchell Foster of Maine both have three winners to this point, but have played six and seven more games than Dartmouth's senior. Crema's 0.67 winners per game is far and away the best figure, aided by his smaller sample size of contests.
- The last Dartmouth player to notch two game-winnings goals in the third period or overtime in a season was Eric Neiley '15 during his senior year. Neiley scored six total game winners that year with three coming in the third (home vs. Cornell, AIC and Princeton) and one in OT (at Clarkson).

THE BRONCO'S TWO LATE POINTS
- Carl Hesler assisted on Crema's winner against both Michign and Colgate, but was credited with the primary helper on the most recent one as he pushed the puck off the boards and up the wall to his senior linemate.
- Hesler's first goal of the season came as he hit the empty net from just inside his own blueline.
- The goal was his second point in less than a minute and a half and made him the first Big Green player with multiple points this season.

NO SLOUCH EITHER
Crema might be getting all the attention for the late winners, but junior Corey Kalk has played a major role in the team's unblemished record. Kalk not only set up Crema for the winner against the Wolverines, but he netted his first of the season at the perfect time against Cornell. Kalk responded to Cornell opening the scoring by finishing a rush just 2:13 later, scoring the game-tying goal.

DROP THE PUCK
There are benefits to being the home team in terms of being able to put your stick down second on the draw. Dartmouth is the nation's best team on draws to this point, winning 110-of-191 faceoffs for a success rate of 57.6 percent. Union is second at 57.2 percent. The true test comes this weekend as the Big Green play their first game away from Thompson without last change and faceoff advantages.

NONE FROM THE D
Dartmouth is the only team in the country without a point from its defense. All 14 of the team's points in three games came from forwards.

TEAM DEFENSE
The Big Green don't seem too concerned with lack of scoring from the defense as it has allowed the fewest goals (3) and shots against (69), while it's 1.00 goals against per game is also the top figure nationally. The shots against figure is understandably skewed given the number of games the team has played in relation to the rest of the country, but the 23.0 shots against per game mark is fifth in the nation and second in ECAC Hockey (Harvard / 21.75).

SPECIAL TEAMS BREAKDOWN
- Dartmouth is 54th in penalty minutes per game at 10.67. Saturday's opponent Princeton is tied for 57th at 10.0 per game. Quinnipiac is the 14th most penalized team in the country, averaging 17.56 minutes in penalties per outing.
- A 9-for-9 weekend on the penalty kill helped move the Big Green to 23rd in the nation with an 85.7 rate.
- The Green and White are 0-for-19 on the power play and are the only team in the country without a tally on the man-advantage.

A TIE? WHAT THE HECK IS A TIE
- The Big Green were one of just two NCAA teams in 2015-16 to not post a tie in a conference game (Minnesota). It didn't take long for Dartmouth to move beyond that anomaly this year as it played to a 1-1 draw against the Big Red in the conference opener.
- The tie was the 100th in the head coaching career of Bob Gaudet '81 between his time at Brown (31) over nine seasons and the last 20 years at his alma mater (69).
- The Green's last draw was a 1-1 game at Michigan last Nov. 28, 2015. That game marked the first career start for Buffalo who finished with 37 saves, still a career-best total.

SUSPENSION
Friday's game will be played without the services of senior and alternate captain Grant Opperman who was handed a one-game suspension from the ECAC Hockey office on Monday after a reviewed hit against Colgate. This is Opperman's first time disciplined by the conference.

375
With one more win, Bob Gaudet can become the 29th coach in the history of NCAA men's hockey with 375 career victories. The Dartmouth bench boss can tie Mike Sertich (Minnesota-Duluth and Michigan Tech) for 28th all-time and would be one back of Friday's opposing coach Rand Pecknold who has 376 career wins coming into the weekend at the Division I level (1998-present).

FOLLOW ALONG!
- Friday's game will be streamed for free on QuinnipiacBobcats.com. Saturday's contest at Princeton 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. Ben Horner will handle play-by-play duties on this weekend's road trip.
- Fans are encouraged to follow the team's official Twitter account for in-game updates and insights: @Dartmouth_MIH.

WHAT'S AHEAD?
Dartmouth will have little time to sit back after the weekend as it takes on former ECAC Hockey travel partner and regional rival Vermont Tuesday night at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

Schedules