Union and RPI on Tap for Dartmouth Women This Weekend

GAME 16
Dartmouth (3-12-0, 1-8-0) vs. Union (3-19-0, 0-10-0)
Date: Friday, January 13, 2017
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Thompson Arena
All-Time Series: Dartmouth leads, 25-1-0
Live Stats
ILDN

GAME 17
Dartmouth vs. RPI (7-14-1, 4-6-0)*
Date: Saturday, January 14, 2017
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Thompson Arena
All-Time Series: Dartmouth leads, 15-6-2
Live Stats
ILDN
ESPN3
94.5 ESPN Radio

THIS WEEKEND
Having played its final non-conference game on Tuesday, the Dartmouth women's hockey team has just 13 ECAC Hockey games before the end of the regular season. This weekend, the Big Green will play a pair of games at Thompson Arena, taking on Union at 6 p.m. on Friday and Rensselaer at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be on the Ivy League Digital Network (ILDN), while Saturday's game against the Engineers can also be viewed on ESPN3.

LAST TIME OUT
On Tuesday, Dartmouth scored twice in the first period and held on to the lead throughout the remainder of the game to defeat New Hampshire, 2-1, at Thompson. The Big Green – which picked up their first win of the second half of the season – improved to 3-12-0, while the Wildcats dipped to 9-13-1.

Five different Dartmouth players ended the night with a point apiece. Mackenzie St. Onge scored her first goal since 2014, while Cecilia Lopez scored her first collegiate goal. Kennedy Ottenbreit, Kate Landers and Tess Bracken earned assists.

For just the third time this season, the Green got on the board first. At 12:15 in the first period, St. Onge picked the puck up off Ottenbreit's stick, skated from the right to the left of the net and backhanded it behind Kyra Smith in net. At 18:58, Bracken circled behind the net and passed to Lopez, who was waiting by the right pipe, and the rookie backhanded the puck in. Throughout the opening period, the Big Green sported a 10-8 shot advantage.

It did not take long for the Wildcats to get one back. At 2:18 in the second, Meghara McManus skated the length of the ice and, while falling, fired into the upper right corner. With four minutes to play, Alyssa Baker took a chance and Kyra Smith saved her shot, but Eleni Tebano appeared out of nowhere and backhanded the rebound, sending the shot just wide of the net. After an eventful second period, the Wildcats stole the lead in shots, 17-15.

The closest either team got to scoring in the third came with just over five minutes to play when Marie-Jo Pelletier took a shot from the point and hit the right post. The puck sat inches from the goal line for a few seconds before Honor could get a glove on it. Dartmouth almost made it a two-goal game when Christina Rombaut got the puck and went to fire at the empty net, but was blocked three times by UNH defenders.

SCOUTING THE DUTCHWOMEN
Union is currently sitting behind Dartmouth in the conference standings with an overall record of 3-19 and an 0-10 mark in ECAC Hockey play. The Dutchwomen have gone 1-15 since a 2-0 win over Rochester Institute of Technology on Oct. 14. On the stats side of things, Haley Shugart leads with five goals, Caitlyn McLaren has five assists and both are tied for team-lead with eight points. Kate Spooner is doing quite well in the cage, playing 16 games and sporting a .910 save percentage.

LAST TIME AGAINST UNION
On Feb. 12, 2016, the Big Green completed their sweep of the Dutchwomen with a 3-1 win at Messa Rink. Allen led Dartmouth by assisting on all three goals. Ottenbreit was right behind with two points from a pair of goals scored a minute and a half apart, and Caroline Shaunessy netted her first career marker early in the first.

The second shot of the game resulted in a goal for Dartmouth. Allen fired at netminder Melissa Black, but the shot was blocked and rebounded to Shaunessy, who swept the puck into the right corner to give the Green a 1-0 lead just 57 seconds into the opening stanza.

Union's Jacyn Reeves had her shot tip off Chemago's glove to tie the score at 13:19. This proved to be the only goal Chemago would allow all night. Ottenbreit scored two goals within a minute and a half in the second period. Seconds after video review of a could-be Union goal went in Dartmouth's favor, she gave the Green their one-goal edge back at 2:13, only to increase the visitor's lead with another at 3:58. Allen assisted on both, while Baker picked up the primary on the second tally.

Although no goals were scored in the third, the Green had a number of opportunities. Dartmouth had a 15-3 shot advantage, forcing Black to move quickly to save all of them. The rookie goalie got her 1,000th save of the season halfway through the period.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
Prior to its game against Harvard on Friday, RPI was riding a two-game winning streak after defeating Brown (4-3) and Yale (2-1), entering the weekend with a 7-14-1 overall record and 4-6-0 mark in conference action. Sabrina Repaci leads the team with seven goals and 13 points and is tied with Jaimie Grisby for first with six helpers. In net, Lovisa Selander has played all but two of the team's 22 contests, wracking up 532 saves and has a .911 save percentage.

LAST TIME AGAINST RPI
After blanking the Engineers during the first half of the season, RPI came back with a vengeance in February, defeating Dartmouth, 2-1.

Less than six minutes into the opening stanza, there was a give-and-go between Ottenbreit and Hailey Noronha, but RPI broke up the play when Noronha entered the offensive zone. Ottenbreit was able to get to the loose puck to take a shot, and Baker crashed the net to pick up the rebound. After extended video review, the officials ruled that the goal was good and Dartmouth took a 1-0 lead.

The Green controlled much of the early parts of the second period, but the Engineers turned things around midway through, taking six consecutive shots at Dartmouth's net. Three were stopped by Chemago, two were blocked, and one hit the left pipe. With 13 seconds left, Brandi Banks shot through Chemago's legs to tie the score heading into the third.

With the teams 4-on-4, RPI's Taylor Schwalbe intercepted a pass intended for a Dartmouth player and shot into the left corner of the net to give the Engineers an important one-goal lead with five and a half minutes to play. The Green pulled their goalie in an attempt to even the score and got multiple shots off, but time ran out before they could do so.

AND IN NET…
Christie Honor had a great game against UNH, making 31 saves and allowing just one goal to earn her first collegiate win. So far this season, she has appeared in four games, has played 234 minutes, has allowed 11 goals and made 110 saves for a .909 save percentage and 2.82 goals against average. In 12 games, Robyn Chemago has played 662 minutes, has allowed 32 goals while making 363 saves, and has a .919 save percentage and 2.90 goals against average. Dartmouth's other goaltender, Shannon Ropp, has not appeared in a regular-season game, but had a strong performance in the exhibition contest against McGill.

ILDN/ESPN 94.5
Every home game (and Ivy League road contests) can be watched on the Ivy League Digital Network (ILDN) with a subscription. For the second year in a row, Rob Kennedy will be back on the call for home contests. Select games will be broadcast on ESPN 94.5 FM, as well as online at 945espn.com.

FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats for this weekend's games can be found on DartmouthSports.com, while those who purchase a subscription to the ILDN can watch streams of the contests. Saturday's game against the Engineers can also be viewed on ESPN3. For live updates, follow the team's official Twitter: @Dartmouth_WIH.

WHAT'S NEXT?
After closing their busy week at home, the Big Green will have an identical schedule next week, except all three games will be on the road. On Tuesday, Jan. 17, Dartmouth will head two hours south to take on Harvard, before facing Yale and Brown over the weekend. At the end of the next weekend, the Green will have played six games in the span of 11 days.

Schedules