Big Green Head to Capital Region For Pair of League Games

1/12/2017 10:10:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

By: Dartmouth

RV Dartmouth Big Green 5-7-3 2-4-2 ECAC	GAME 16 Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 \| 7:00 PM	GAME 17 Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017 \| 7:00 PM
RV Dartmouth Big Green 5-7-3 2-4-2 ECAC
Opponent	No. 11 Union \| 14-5-2, 8-1-1 ECAC	Rensselaer \| 3-19-1, 1-10-0 ECAC
Location	Schenectady, N.Y.	Troy, N.Y
Arena	Messa Rink	Houston Field House
All-Time Series	26-25-7	37-46-5
Streak	0-2-0	3-0-0
Last Meeting	2.12.16 \| L, 4-1 \| Hanover	2.13.16 \| W, 2-1 (OT) \| Hanover
Video	UnionAthletics.tv	RPItv.org
Radio	WTSL 94.5 FM/1400 AM (ESPN Radio)
On the Call	PBP: Adam Giardino
In-Game Twitter	@Dartmouth_MIH / @UnionHockey	@Dartmouth_MIH / @RPI_Hockey
Notes: PDF / Web	Union Preview / Notes	RPI Preview / Notes
Tickets	Union Ticket Office	RPI Ticket Office
Information Center / Dartmouth Stats / Dartmouth Schedule / Live Stats

GAME NOTES

THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team heads to the New York Capital Region this weekend for a pair of ECAC Hockey games against No. 11 Union and Rensselaer Friday and Saturday nights.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green are coming off a 1-1 weekend in which they split with conference foes Princeton and No. 15 Quinnipiac. Friday night saw a 5-0 blanking of the Tigers, while the Bobcats managed to hold off a late comeback bid by the home team the following night in earning a 4-2 victory.

WHERE WE STAND… NOW!
-       Heading into the weekend in Albany, Dartmouth is in search of crucial league points. Eight-of-22 ECAC Hockey games have been played thus far and Dartmouth has six points (2-4-2), good for eighth in the conference standings.
-       Yale and Brown have also played just eight games, while Cornell and Colgate have taken to the ice for just seven league games. Quinnipiac (13) and Princeton (12) have already skated in more than half of their scheduled conference contests this year.
-       This upcoming weekend sees Dartmouth play the top team in the standings one night (Union/17 points) and the last-place team (Rensselaer/2) the following.

SCOUTING UNION
-       The Dutchmen lead ECAC Hockey with 17 points and an 8-1-1 mark in league play.
-       The team is 11th in both national polls this week as it boasts a 14-5-2 overall record, despite losses to North Dakota and Boston University in its last two outings.
-       Senior Mike Vecchione (18-21-39) and junior Spencer Foo (14-22-36) are in the midst of the national scoring race as their point totals rank second and third, respectively, behind only UNH's Tyler Kelleher. Vecchione is tied for the national lead with three shorthanded goals and a pair of hat tricks.
-       Senior goaltender Alex Sakellaropoulos is 13-3-1 this season, the best mark of any ECAC Hockey netminder. His 2.22 goals against average and .916 save percentage are both fourth.
-       No other team has scored more goals this season than the Dutchmen's 82.

SCOUTING RPI
-       The Engineers are in the midst of a challenging season, sporting a 3-19-1 overall mark and a 1-10-0 league record to sit 12th in the conference standings.
-       The team is currently in the midst of a seven-game skid and has just one win in its last 15 games (Arizona State / 2-0 / Nov. 26).
-       Sophomore Evan Tironese is tied for ninth in the league in scoring with 20 points on four goals and 16 assists. However, Tironese has not scored in RPI's last five games dating back to Dec. 3 and a quarter of his season total came in a five-point game (1-4-5) in a 6-3 win against RIT on Oct. 22.
-       Goaltending duties have been split between sophomores Cam Hackett (2-8-0) and Chase Perry (1-11-0) with both posting GAAs near 4.00 and identical .892 save percentages.

AGAINST THESE TEAMS
On the road last season:
-       Dartmouth defeated RPI, 2-1, on Dec. 4, 2015 thanks to a third-period game winner from Brett Patterson. The victory was the first for Devin Buffalo, who made just his second career start in the game. It was the first conference loss of the year for the Engineers who came into the contest with a 4-0-2 mark and atop of the standings.
-       Union earned a 3-0 shutout the following evening, thanks to a pair of first-period goals and a Vecchione empty-netter with 39 seconds left in regulation for the insurance marker.

STOPPING BIG SCORERS
By 9 p.m. Friday night, Dartmouth will have seen six of the top 11 scorers nationally, including the top four as they stand now. Here is how those six individuals have done against the Green in 2016-17:
1st – Tyler Kelleher (UNH): 0-1-1
2nd – Mike Vecchione (Union): Play Friday
3rd – Spencer Foo (Union): Play Friday
4th – Brady Ferguson (Robert Morris): 2-1-3 (2 games)
T6th – Joe Gambardella (UML): 1-4-5
T10th – Daniel Leavens (Robert Morris): 1-3-4 (2 games)

THE RAIN MAKER
-       Cam Strong became the fourth freshman in as many years to score the first goal of the game against Princeton and set off the barrage of tennis balls onto the ice. The last three years have seen Alex Jasiek, Carl Hesler and Grant Opperman all net the marker in their first opportunity.
-       Strong's goal not only earned a spot on the DartmouthSports.com Plays of the Week, but was also named the No. 1 play of the week by the NCAA on Tuesday afternoon.
-       For his goal against Princeton and then again the next night in the third period against No. 15 QU, Strong was tabbed as the DartmouthSports.com Male Athlete of the Week.

It's a new year, but the same great #NCAAHockey Plays of the Week!https://t.co/JWnTjShJyQ pic.twitter.com/QB3KTBMvWu
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) January 10, 2017

ROOKIE SCORING
-       Dartmouth has scored 39 goals in 15 games this season. Of that total, 18 have come from the freshman class with Strong (7) and Warpecha (6) ranking first and second on the team.
-       The 46.2% of goals from the rookies is far and away the most by any one class this season.
-       Only Clarkson (20) has more goals from their freshman class amongst ECAC Hockey teams this season and the Golden Knights have played six more games than the Big Green.
-       Dartmouth's 1.20 goals per game and 12 goals at home from their freshmen are the most in the league, while the two game winners are tied for the conference lead.

WARPECHA'S MONTH-PLUS
- Since scoring his first career goal on Nov. 27 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, no other rookie in ECAC Hockey has scored more goals than Daniel Warpecha's six.
- In fact, in that time, Warpecha is tied with four other rookies from across the country for most goals by a freshman. Of those five players, only Warpecha is eligible for the NHL Entry Draft this June.

BUFF BACK THERE
-       Junior Devin Buffalo has started all 15 games this season in goal for the Big Green, the most by a Dartmouth netminder to begin a campaign since Mike Devine '08 started the first 17 games of 2006-07.
-       Buffalo notched his second shutout of 2016-17 and of his career with a 32-save performance against Princeton.
-       In both instances, the game following his shutouts, Buffalo has suffered a loss to the Bobcats.
-       The Wetaskiwin, Alberta, native ranks sixth in the league in save percentage (.911) and seventh in goals against average (2.68).

FIRST GAME ON DEFENSE
Freshman Will Graber moved back to defense for the first time since youth hockey in the Green's contest with Princeton. Graber stepped up and delivered a two-goal performance, tripling his career total as he scored just once as a forward in his first 12 games in a Dartmouth uniform.

SPECIAL ON SPECIAL TEAMS
- After a dismal 0-for-43 showing on the power play in the first eight games of the season, the Big Green have appeared to remedy the issue on special teams.
- Dartmouth is 7-for-30 on the power play since that second game in Pittsburgh on Nov. 27, a success rate of 23.3 percent, fifth-best in the ECAC in that stretch.

SCORE AND SIT
Corey Kalk notched his fifth goal of the season with a power-play score in the opening period of the Princeton game. In a cruel twist, Kalk was rewarded for his scoring effort with a trip to the penalty box as the second barrage of tennis balls earned the home team a bench minor for delay of game which was served by the man who sparked the onslaught.

POINTS FROM DEFENSE
A slow start in terms of offensive production from the blueline this season has since picked up in the last month.
-       Since the start of December, the Big Green rank sixth in ECAC Hockey with 17 points from defensemen and tied for second with five goals.
-       Those five goals have come from the converted Graber (2), Han (2) and the first career score from sophomore Cameron Roth.
-       Friday's opponent Union leads the league with eight goals and 21 points from its blueline since the start of 2016's final month.

ROAD TRIP TO HOME STAND
-       Dartmouth finished its five-game homestand 2-2-1 with a shootout victory over Army West Point in the official tie.
-       Troy Crema led the team in scoring in the homestand with seven points (2-5-7), with Charley Michalowsi (0-4-4), Daniel Warpecha (4-0-4), Graber (2-2-4), Josh Hartley (0-4-4) and Kevan Kilistoff (0-4-4) all tied for second.
-       Hartley, Roth, Warpecha and Karan Toor each were a plus-5 in the five games.

ECAC HOCKEY FROM HERE ON OUT
The Princeton/Quinnipiac weekend marked the start of the final stretch of the 2016-17 season where the Big Green will play nothing but ECAC Hockey opponents the rest of the way.

BUSY WEEK COMING UP
Dartmouth will play five games in the next nine days, playing host to Harvard, Yale and Brown next week following this trip to Union and RPI.

FOLLOW ALONG
-       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.
-       Video of Friday's game will be streamed on UnionAthletics.tv, while the excellent student-run RPItv.org will carry Saturday's game at Houston Field House live on their website.
-       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 a short turnaround before returning to the ice to host No. 2 Harvard on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Thompson. The Big Green will remain home to play Yale and Brown on Friday and Saturday of next weekend.