Thompson Set to Host Dartmouth vs. Yale & Brown This Weekend

Dartmouth Big Green 7-8-3 4-5-2 ECAC	GAME 19 Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 \| 7:00 PM	GAME 20 Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 \| 7:00 PM
Dartmouth Big Green 7-8-3 4-5-2 ECAC
Opponent	Yale 7-7-3, 3-5-2 ECAC	Brown 3-13-1, 2-8-0 ECAC
Location	Hanover, N.H.
Arena	Thompson Arena
All-Time Series	92-110-15	81-65-8
Streak	2-0-0	5-0-0
Last Meeting	3.12.16 (G2) \| W, 2-1 \| New Haven	2.6.16 \| W, 6-3 \| Providence
Video	ILDN	ILDN
Radio	WTSL 94.5 FM/1400 AM (ESPN Radio)
On the Call	PBP: Adam Giardino COLOR: Michael Kaiser '18
In-Game Twitter	@Dartmouth_MIH / @	@Dartmouth_MIH / @
Notes: PDF / Web	Yale Preview / Notes	Brown Preview / Notes
Tickets	Dartmouth Ticket Office
Information Center / Dartmouth Stats / Dartmouth Schedule / Live Stats

GAME NOTES

THIS WEKEEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team plays host to Yale and Brown this weekend at Thompson Arena. The games mark the final two Ivy League home tilts of the 2016-17 season.

LAST TIME OUT
The Big Green are coming off perhaps their biggest win of the season, an 8-4 triumph Tuesday night at home against sixth-ranked Harvard. Dartmouth erupted for eight goals for the first time in two seasons and beat a team ranked in the top-10 for the fourth time in the last 12 months.

FINAL: Dartmouth 8, No. 6 Harvard 4

WOW. pic.twitter.com/zQlJN1RWUe
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) January 18, 2017

SCOUTING YALE
-       The Bulldogs come into the weekend with a 7-7-3 overall record and are 3-5-2 in ECAC Hockey, one spot and two points back of the Big Green for seventh place in the standings.
-       Senior John Hayden leads the team in goals (13), points (20), game winners (3) and penalty minutes (29). Sophomore Joe Snively is tied with Hayden for the lead in points as he has 20 on eight goals and 12 assists, while Junior Ryan Hitchcock's 16 helpers are the most on the team and give him 19 total points.
-       It's most likely that the Big Green will see senior Patrick Spano in the Yale goal on Friday as he has played in 14 of the 17 games this season, making 13 starts. In nearly 800 minutes of action, Spano has a 2.65 goals against average and a .907 save percentage. His record is 6-4-3.

SCOUTING BROWN
-       The Bears start off the Harvard/Dartmouth weekend losers of their last four and without a win since a Dec. 10 home game against RPI. The only non-loss since that victory over the Engineers was a wild 8-8 game against Arizona State in the first game of the Desert Hockey Classic in which the Bears advanced to the title game thanks to an exhibition 3-on-3 OT win.
-       In all, Brown is 3-13-1 overall and 2-8-0 in league play, tied with Rensselaer for last in the conference standings.
-       Penguins draft pick Sam Lafferty has a team-high 24 points and 18 assists, while Charlie Corcoran leads the way with 12 goals and a plus-6 rating.
-       Freshman Gavin Nietro has seen the lion's share of time in goal this season with nearly 700 minutes to his credit. However, his 4.30 goals against average and .875 save percentage are eclipsed by senior Tim Ernst and his 3.40 GAA and .875 S%. Not to mention, Nietro is 2-10-0, while Ernst has only factored into four games with a 1-2-1 record.

LAST TIME AGAINST THESE TEAMS
-       Yale is looking for a level of revenge after the Big Green went to New Haven last March for the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals and swept the second-seeded and seventh-ranked Bulldogs in two games to move on to Lake Placid. Yale had swept the regular season series and heavily outshot the Green in the two games, but was done in by the outstanding play of senior Charles Grant '16 in goal for the visitors.
-       Brown has been swept by Dartmouth in each of the last two seasons with the Big Green scoring at least six goals in all four meetings. The Bears are seeking their first win in Hanover since Feb. 22, 2008 when current Brown coach Brendan Whittet was a Dartmouth assistant.

RECAP: Dartmouth stuns No. 7 Yale on the back of Grant's incredible 46-save performance.https://t.co/VhrniLmG1K pic.twitter.com/4m4X2YL95W
— Dartmouth Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) March 13, 2016

EIGHT IS ENOUGH
-       There have been 69 ECAC Hockey conference games played thus far this season and Dartmouth's 8 goals last night were the most by any team.
-       The last time Dartmouth scored 8 goals in a game was on Dec. 14, 2014 in an 8-3 home win against Sacred Heart.
-       The last time Harvard allowed eight goals was Nov. 26, 2010 in a home loss to Dartmouth, 8-2.
-       With Kevan Kilistoff's second-period score, the Green now have a power-play goal in eight straight games.

FOUR FIRSTS
-       Three players scored their first career goals in the Harvard win: Shane Sellar, Ryan Blankemeier and Charley Michalowski. Sellar and Blankemeier each scored in the four-goal second period for Dartmouth, while Michalowski's came into the empty net for the eighth and final Big Green goal.
-       After having his initial goal changed to Troy Crema at Rensselaer, sophomore defenseman Connor Yau finally found the back of the cage on a point shot 3:08 into the third period against the Crimson for his first of the season.

ANOTHER FIRST
Freshman goalie Adrian Clark came into Tuesday's game midway through the second period and finished the night with 14 saves and without allowing a goal. For his efforts and thanks to the five straight Dartmouth goals to end the game, Clark was credited with the first win of his collegiate career.

OPPS… HE DID IT AGAIN
Grant Opperman built on the strength of his two-goal game at RPI with his third in two outings, scoring the eventual game winner with just 51.5 seconds to play in the second period against Harvard. For the Minnesota native and senior alternate captain, the score was his fourth of the year.

CREMA CONTINUES
-       Troy Crema followed up his third career two-goal game on Saturday night with the fourth on Tuesday. Crema score the first and seventh goals, notching his ninth of the season late in the first period and depositing his 10th into the empty net in the final minute of regulation.
-       Crema leads all ECAC Hockey players with five goals in January and is tied for the lead in scoring with seven points.

THREE-POINT NIGHTS
-       For the second time this season, the Big Green saw a pair of players record three points in the same game. After Crema (2-1-3) and Corey Kalk (1-2-3) accomplished the feat in the second game at Robert Morris, Will Graber (0-3-3) and Sellar (1-2-3) matched it against the Crimson.
-       Graber's three assists in a game are the most this year by any Big Green player, as two assists have been accomplished 12 times, including three on Tuesday.

CARL? WHERE'D YOU GO?
After playing in the first 85 games of his Big Green career without being scratched, junior captain Carl Hesler missed the Harvard game with an upper-body injury. He is expected to be back next weekend.

FRESHMAN SCORING
-       Dartmouth's freshman class is currently second amongst ECAC team in scoring, posting 52 points and trailing only the rookies of Clarkson and their 64.
-       However, Clarkson has played five more games, so Dartmouth's 2.89 points per games from rookies is higher than that of Clarkson's 2.78. Harvard (2.18) is the only other ECAC Hockey team to average more than two points per game from its first-year players this season.
-       Dartmouth is fourth nationally in rookie points per game behind No. 1 Penn State (4.16), AIC (3.58) and a BU (3.57) team whose rookie class features five NHL Draft picks.
-       The Hanover freshmen are also the best in the league in terms of winning draws at a high rate, posting a .547 success rate on faceoffs. Princeton rookies have won the most (271), but rank eighth in percentage (.483). Cornell rookies have only taken 11 draws this season and have won just one.

HOME VS. ROAD
To date, Dartmouth has played an equal number of home and road games (9/9) and the contrast between contests played at Thompson and other rinks is noticeable and stark.

	Home	Road
W	5	2
L	2	6
T	2	1
Goals For	32/3.56	20 / 2.22
Goals Against	21/2.33	33 / 3.67
PP	6-37 / 16.2%	5-50 / 10.0%
PK	24-31 / 77.4 %	35-50 / 70.0%
SOG	280 / 31.11	299 / 33.22
SOG Against	258 / 28.67	271 / 30.11

GETTING BETTER AS THE GAME GOES ALONG
Dartmouth has scored 20 goals in the third period this season, including six in the last two games. Of the 52 goals scored this season, 13 have come in the first and 19 in the second. However, opponents have scored 23 of the 54 markers allowed in the third period, the most of any frame.

	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Total
Dartmouth	13	19	20	0	52
Opponents	16	15	23	0	54

OTHER INJURIES
In addition to the Hesler injury sustained against RPI, the Big Green have been missing several key players this year with injuries. River Rymsha is done for the year after undergoing a procedure on his shoulder, while senior Kyle Nickerson's broken hand is healing and should see him return soon. Likewise for junior defenseman Tim Shoup, who suffered a leg injury at Sr. Lawrence in early December.

BACK-2-BACK
With wins against RPI and Harvard, Dartmouth put together wins in consecutive games for the first time all season.

FOLLOW ALONG
-       This weekend's games will be carried live on the Ivy League Digital Network for subscribers to the league's video streaming services.
-       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?
Following the current three-game homestand that began with Harvard, Dartmouth will head out for a three-game road trip that will conclude with the Crimson as it plays at Colgate and Cornell next weekend and a one-game trip down I-89 and I-93 the following Friday in Cambridge.

Schedules