Back from the Break: Dartmouth Hosts Colgate, No. 2 Cornell & CHaD Toy Drive

Friday, December 6

Hanover, N.H.

7 PM

Dartmouth College

Colgate

Tickets

Quin Foreman men's hockey action versus Princeton

Quin Foreman and the top line have been playing well early on.

Photo by: John and Matt Risley

Back from the Break: Dartmouth Hosts Colgate, No. 2 Cornell & CHaD Toy Drive

12/5/2019 9:48:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

After 2-week hiatus, Big Green look to keep momentum going at home.

By: Pat Salvas

GAME 7
Dartmouth | 3-2-1, 3-1-1 ECAC Hockey
vs. Colgate | 5-7-4, 3-2-1 ECAC Hockey
Date: Friday, December 6 – 7 p.m.
Location: Thompson Arena | Hanover, N.H.
Watch: ESPN+ | International Stream
Listen: DartmouthSports.com | Rob Kennedy (PxP)
Follow Along: Live Stats

GAME 8
Dartmouth | 3-2-1, 3-1-1 ECAC Hockey
vs. No. 2 Cornell | 9-0-0, 6-0-0
Date: Saturday, December 7 – 7 p.m.
Location: Thompson Arena | Hanover, N.H.
Watch: ESPN+ | International Stream
Listen: DartmouthSports.com | Rob Kennedy (PxP)
Follow Along: Live Stats

“We had a bit longer break than we’re used to, but it gave us a time to get healthy and work on things in practice. This is a competitive league and we’re a competitive team, so we’re looking forward to getting out there this weekend against two really good teams and hopefully continue to play at the level we were at before Thanksgiving.”

Koenig Family Head Coach Bob Gaudet ’81

GAME NOTES

THIS WEEKEND
• After two weekends away from action, the Dartmouth men’s hockey team is back at home, hosting Colgate and No. 2 Cornell Friday and Saturday night at Thompson Arena.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Big Green last played on Nov. 15-16 at Yale and Brown, earning the rare road weekend sweep with a pair of ECAC Hockey and Ivy League victories.
• The trip began with a 4-3 win at Yale thanks to a late third-period goal from Will Graber for his second game winner in as many games.
• The following night saw Drew O’Connor score twice and assist on another as Dartmouth came away from its annual trip to Providence and Brown’s Meehan Auditorium with a 4-1 win.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK!
• Thanks to his six-point (3-3-6) weekend, O’Connor was recipient of a trio of weekly honors.
• He was named the DartmouthSports.com Male Athlete of the Week.
• The sophomore was also named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week for the first time in his career after earning top weekly rookie honors a league-high three times in 2018-19.
• Since O’Connor led the nation in goals and points, he was tabbed as the NCAA’s First Star of the Week, an honor presented to the top player in Division I over the week’s span. It was the first time a Big Green player had earned the distinction since it’s inception several years ago.
• The last time any Dartmouth player had been named one of the top-three stars of the week was Nick Bligh earning third-star recognition in the first week of January 2016.

CHaD TOY DRIVE and SKATE WITH THE BIG GREEN
• The team hosts its annual toy drive for the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD).
• Donations of new, unwrapped toys will be accepted on the concourse during both games this weekend.
• Additionally, the team will host Skate with the Big Green Sunday at noon inside Thompson in which donations will also be accepted.

THE NEW TIMBER LINE
• Since Graber, O’Connor and Quin Foreman were put together midway through last season, the trio has formed a potent threat at the top of the Big Green’s line chart.
• The trio powered the team on the 2-0 road weekend, combining for 14 points (6-8-14).
• O’Connor (3-3-6), Graber (2-2-4) and Foreman (1-3-4) all had multi-point efforts against Yale, while Foreman and O’Connor also had multiple points against the Bears.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
• Colgate comes to Hanover with a 5-7-2 overall record after a 1-1 weekend in Northern Ireland at the Friendship Four, defeating Princeton, 3-1, and losing to Northeastern, 4-3, in the title game.
• The Raiders and Big Green are tied for fourth in the ECAC Hockey standings with seven points with Dartmouth playing one fewer game than its Hamilton counterparts.
• Cornell comes to Hanover as one of the top teams in the nation, ranking second in this week’s USCHO.com poll.
• The Big Red are good. They lead the nation with just 12 goals allowed this season for a per-game average of just 1.33. Amongst ECAC Hockey teams, Cornell leads in PPG (12), PP% (30.8), goal margin (+26) and winning percentage (1.000).

MULTI-POINT GAMES
• Prior to the road trip, Dartmouth players had five players with multiple points in the first four games of the season with none against either Harvard or Quinnipiac.
• Between the trio of the top line there were five multi-point efforts against Yale and Brown in the two-game trip.

ROAD WINS
• Dartmouth swept Yale and Brown.
• The last time the Green won consecutive road games was January last season at Princeton (1.12) and Colgate (1.18).
• Prior to last weekend, the last time the Green and White swept a road weekend was Jan. 19-20, 2018 with a pair of 3-2 wins at St. Lawrence and No. 2 Clarkson, snapping a 15-game unbeaten streak for the Golden Knights in the process.

LATE WINNER
• Graber’s second game-winning goal in as many contests came at Ingalls Rink with just 1:25 left to give Dartmouth the 4-3 win at Yale.
• The last time a Big Green player scored a winner that late in regulation was O’Connor’s goal with 32.9 seconds left at Clarkson last year that gave the visitors a 1-0 triumph.

FOUR GOALS IS GOOD
• Dartmouth scored four or more goals in 7-of-34 games last season, accounting for just north of 20 percent (20.6%).
• Already in just six games, the Green and White have hit four goals three times.

HOME AGAIN
• Coming into the weekend, Dartmouth has played just two home games this season, tied with Princeton for the fewest in the nation to this point.
• One of those two home games was a 3-1 win against… Princeton; the first ‘W’ of the season for Dartmouth.

ROAD AIN’T BAD THOUGH…
• The team is sixth in the nation in goals per game on the road, averaging 3.75.
• Dartmouth has scored at least three times in all four games this year.
• Despite being sixth in a field of 60 teams, the Green are third in ECAC Hockey as Harvard (5.33) is second nationally, while Saturday’s opponent Cornell (4.75) is third.

AGAINST THE TOP-3
• Dartmouth is no stranger to playing teams in the national rankings on a regular basis, but they have played teams ranked in the top-3 several times in the recent past, more than any other Big Green athletics program.
• The Last five games against teams ranked in that week’s top-3 of the national poll all came in the 2017-18 season.
• The most recent of those games was against Cornell on Jan. 27, 2018 when the Big Red came to Hanover ranked… you guessed it: No. 2 just as they are this weekend.
o No. 2 Cornell | 1.27.18 | L, 3-1 | Hanover
o No. 2 Clarkson | 1.20.18 | W, 3-2 | Potsdam
o No. 2 Denver | 12.16.17 | W, 5-4 | Denver
o No. 2 Denver | 12.15.17 | L, 1-0 | Denver
o No. 3 Harvard | 10.29.17 | L, 5-0 | Cambridge

FACTS AND FIGURES
• Dartmouth ranks third in goals per game amongst ECAC Hockey teams with 3.33 per outing.
• The team is ninth in the league in defense, allowing 3.17 per game. However, excluding the first two games of the season in which they gave up 12 goals at Harvard (7) and UNH (5), Dartmouth is third in that time with a 1.75 goals against average.

100 AND COUNTING!
• Against Brown, senior Daniel Warpecha suited up for his 100th career game.
• In reaching the mark, the Illinois native became the 106th player in program history to hit the milestone mark.
• He joins classmate Will Graber who achieved his 100th career against Princeton.

I’M SO LONELY… I’M MISTER LONELY
• No team in the nation has played fewer games than Dartmouth’s six.
• The next closest team is travel partner Harvard, who played its eighth game of the year Tuesday against Boston University.
• Friday’s game against Colgate will be the 17th of the season for the Raiders… nearly three times as many as Dartmouth, while Cornell has played nine already coming into the weekend.

ESPN+
• All of Dartmouth home games will be carried this season on ESPN+ with Tyler Murray usually providing play-by-play throughout the home schedule in 2019-20.
• In addition to games played in Hanover, ECAC Hockey road games at each school besides Rensselaer will also be carried on the network, making ESPN+ your home for 21-of-22 conference games and 26 regular season games total.
• Postseason games will also be carried on ESPN+ in 2019-20 and will not need subscribers to pay any additional fees to watch the league’s postseason.

ON THE AIR
• Once again, Rob Kennedy will be the Voice of the Big Green on the radio.
• Kennedy begins his third season with the team and will broadcast all 29 regular season games via an audio link through DartmouthSports.com.

WHAT’S AHEAD?
• There is a very quick turnaround for the Big Green as they host Bentley on Thursday night at Thompson. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
• They then turn around and take on Northeastern in Boston two days later, traveling to play at Matthews Arena for the first time since Dec. 11, 1999.