New York Road Trip Continues with Games at RPI and Union This Weekend

Friday, January 31

Troy, N.Y.

7 PM

Dartmouth College

Rensselaer

Cam Strong

Photo by: Rhea Nall

New York Road Trip Continues with Games at RPI and Union This Weekend

1/30/2020 10:30:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Four key ECAC Hockey points on the line in Capital District.

By: Pat Salvas

GAME 21
Dartmouth | 10-6-4, 7-4-2 ECAC
Rensselaer | 10-12-2, 7-7-1 ECAC
Date: Friday, 1.31.20 — 7 p.m.
Location: Houston Field House | Troy, N.Y.
Watch: RPItv
Listen: DartmouthSports.com | Rob Kennedy (PxP)
Follow Along: Live Stats

GAME 22
Dartmouth | 10-6-4, 7-4-2 ECAC
Union | 6-17-3, 4-9-1 ECAC
Date: Saturday, 2.1.20 — 7 p.m.
Location: Messa Rink | Schenectady, N.Y.
Watch: ESPN+ | International Stream
Listen: DartmouthSports.com | Rob Kennedy (PxP)
Follow Along: Live Stats

Game Notes

THIS WEEKEND
• The Dartmouth men’s hockey team is back out on the road this weekend, taking on Rensselaer and Union.
• The Big Green are currently fourth in the ECAC Hockey standings with 15 points, just one point back of third-place Harvard, but also just one point ahead of Colgate, Quinnipiac and RPI who all occupy the fifth (through seventh) spot.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Big Green started off the weekend with a tough one-goal loss on the road at No. 1 Cornell, 3-2. The visitors had a pair of leads in the game, but were unable to hold off the top-ranked Big Red on their home ice.
• The following night saw Dartmouth hold three one-goal leads, only to play to a 3-3 tie at Colgate in Hamilton.
• The results dropped the Green out of the national rankings just a week after climbing to No. 20 for the first time in four seasons.

A DIFFERENT TEAM
• Dartmouth is one of the best home teams in ECAC Hockey, posting a 7-1-2 record in 10 games at Thompson Arena this season.
• On the flip side, the road has been a struggle for the Green and White as they are 3-5-2 in 10 road contests in 2019-20 after this past weekend.
• This weekend in the Albany area marks the third and fourth road games, respectively, in a four-game ECAC road swing.

THESE TEAMS THIS WEEK…
• For Rensselaer, Friday marks the lone league game of the weekend as it hosts Vermont Saturday night after already having played Harvard at home in November (because the Beanpot…).
• The Engineers are 10-12-2 overall, but 7-7-1 in league play, lumping them in that trio of teams right behind Dartmouth in the standings and vying for home ice or a bye.
• With 15 league games already under their belt, RPI is in the midst of one of the more odd scheduling quirks as it just played a non-conference game against Union for The Mayor’s Cup and now Vermont this Saturday with a trip to Western Michigan of the NCHC on tap for next weekend… Following that will be six straight ECAC games to close out the season, including a road contest in Hanover on Feb. 29.
• Union is struggling this season with a 6-17-3 overall record, but with a more respectable 4-9-1 mark in conference games to sit in ninth.
• The Dutchmen were known for scoring goals in bunches during their rise to national prominence, but have struggled putting pucks in the net this season, ranking last in the nation with just 1.65 goals per game.
• Officially, they are coming off a 1-1 tie with RPI (a 2-0 SO loss) last Saturday. Since the start of the second half of the season, though, the team is just 1-5-3 with a 5-4 OT win at St. Lawrence. Of those three ties, two came against ranked opponents: Cornell (3-3) and Providence (1-1).
• RPI Leaders:
o Points | Will Reilly (16)
o Goals | Will Reilly and Patrick Polino (7)
o Assists | Three Players (9)
o Goaltending | Owen Savory: 6-7-2, 2.43, .914
• Union Leaders:
o Points | Anthony Rinaldi (17)
o Goals | Anthony Ronaldi and Sean Harrison (4)
o Assists | Anthony Ronaldi (13)
o Goaltending | Darion Hanson: 6-17-3, 2.66, .910

AWARD SZN
• For the sixth time this season, a member of the Dartmouth men’s team was the recipient of a weekly award from the league office as Tanner Palocsik was named the Rookie of the Week.
• The Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, native earned the weekly distinction for a two-point night at No. 1 Cornell that included his first career goal. After assisting on Cam Strong's first-period tally, Palocsik found the back of the net with a blast from the high slot in the second period to put the visitors up a goal with his first tally in a Dartmouth sweater.
• The goal may have been his first, but the final scoring line for the top-pair d-man was his sixth multi-point effort of the season, second only to leading-scorer Drew O'Connor's eight.
• Palocsik has proven himself to be one of the top rookies in ECAC Hockey this year as he ranks third in points and second in assists. His 15 points and 14 helpers are the most by any first-year defenseman in the conference to this point, while he also leads ECAC rookie blueliners in assists/game (.70), points/game (.75), power-play assists (6), power-play points (6) and shots on goal (49).

HE’S SO STRONG
• In both games of the Central New York road trip, senior and alternate captain Cam Strong got the scoring started.
• All four of his goals this season have come in the first period and against both Cornell and Colgate it was no different. He netted the opening marker against the red nearly eight minutes in before taking 10 minutes and change to get the scoring started against the Raiders.
• In recording an assist in the second game of the weekend, Strong also picked up his first multi-point game in more than two years, last doing so at Denver on Dec. 16, 2017 (1-1-2).

#OCforHobery
• Dartmouth’s nomination for the fan voting portion of the Hobey Baker Award is sophomore forward Drew O’Connor.
• O’Connor is currently tied for second in the league with 12 goals after scoring at Colgate. Only Curtis Hall of Yale has found the back of the net more than O’Connor amongst league players.
• The sophomore forward has already eclipsed his nine assists from a season ago.
• While he finished last year with 17 goals, O’Connor had 13 in 29 regular season games, a figure he is just one back of in nine fewer contests this year.

UMMMM… QUINNING!
• Another player who is nearly ready to match his regular season scoring output from last year is Quin Foreman.
• In 29 regular season games in 2018-19, the then-sophomore posted 19 points (10-9-19). He would go on to add nine points (3-6-9) in five postseason games to lead the team in scoring (13-15-28).
• In just 20 regular season contests this year, Foreman has 17 points (7-10-17) after his second-period power-play goal against the Raiders.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A HAT TRICK!
• Will Graber likes playing at RPI.
• In each of his last two games at Houston Field House, the Colorado native has recorded a hat trick.
• Both of his career hat tricks have come inside Houston Field House in Troy as have his top-two offensive outputs with four points (3-1-4) last year and five (3-2-5) as a sophomore in 2017-18.
• Prior to Graber, the last Dartmouth player with multiple hat tricks against the same team in his career was Lee Stempniak with two against Colgate in the 2002-03 season in which both came at home as he had one on Nov. 15 and then again on March 15 in a 3-1 Game 2 victory of a quarterfinals series, forcing Game 3.
• Since 1970, four Big Green players have hat tricks against the same team in either one season or in consecutive years:
o Dennis Murphy: 1/20/79 at Maine and 1/19/80 vs. Maine
o Scott Fraser: 2/6/93 vs. St. Lawrence and 2/25/94 vs. St. Lawrence
o Lee Stempniak: 11/15/02 vs. Colgate and 3/15/02 vs. Colgate (G2)
o Will Graber: 2/9/18 at RPI and 3/2/19 at RPI
• Graber is the only one to do it on the road in both instances.

ROOKIE HELPERS
• Palocsik is on the verge of joining a select group of Dartmouth rookies in the last decade with just one more assist.
• He makes the trip to the Capital District with 14 this season, tied for second most in a single season by a rookie (Will Graber in 2016-17 and Tyler Sikura in 2011-12).
• He can tie Matt Lindblad ’14 for the most helpers by a rookie in the last 10 years with one more after the former forward dished out 15 in 2010-11.
• The Dartmouth record is 26 set by Bill Kelleher in his rookie season of 1992-93 with Hugh Jessiman’s 24 in 2002-03 as the next best.
• The single-season mark by a first-year defenseman is Grant Lewis’ 22 in 2003-04.
• As it stands now, Palocsik’s 14 is the fifth-best rookie d-man mark in 45 years.

SEASON SWEEPS
• Dartmouth is currently on an eight-game losing streak to Union as the Dutchmen have swept the season series from the Big Green in each of the last four years.
• The Green and White’s last win in the series was Jan. 31, 2015 when it capped its own season sweep of the defending national champion Dutchmen.
• Those two wins in 2014-15 remain the only victories against Union since the start of 2013 (2-14-1).
• On the flip side, Dartmouth is 8-0-1 in its last nine against the Engineers with the tie coming in Hanover just last season.

WHERE WE SIT… NOW
• Dartmouth is currently in fourth place all alone thanks to the one point earned in the tie at Colgate.
• The Big Green (16) are just one point back of third-place Harvard (17), but have a game in hand.
• Unfortunately, the one-point lead over Colgate and Quinnipiac also comes with those two having a game in hand on Dartmouth. RPI also has 15 points, but has played a league-high 15 ECAC contests thus far, three more than the Raiders or Bobcats.
• In the Ivy League, Dartmouth is tied with Harvard for second as each have 10 points, trailing Cornell by only one. The Big Green still have one game left against the Crimson as well as Brown (1-4-0) and Yale (1-4-0) in two weeks to cap the Ivy slate.
• Cornell has Princeton (0-4-1) as well as the Bulldogs and Bears remaining.

ESPN+
• All of Dartmouth home games will be carried this season on ESPN+ with Tyler Murray 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.

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOLS
• A reminder that Friday’s game will not be on ESPN+ as Rensselaer broadcasts its games for free on RPItv.org.

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

WHAT’S AHEAD?
• The Big Green will play just one game next weekend, hosting Harvard on Friday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m.