Big Green Head North to UVM Friday; Host BU Saturday Night at Thompson

Friday, January 10

Burlington, Vt.

7 PM

Dartmouth College

Vermont

Tanner Palocsik men's hockey action versus Cornell

Tanner Palocsik leads all ECAC rookie defensemen with 10 points.

Photo by: Doug Austin

Big Green Head North to UVM Friday; Host BU Saturday Night at Thompson

1/9/2020 11:59:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Dartmouth takes on a pair of Hockey East schools this weekend.

By: Pat Salvas

GAME 15
Dartmouth | 7-5-2
Vermont | 3-13-2
Date: Friday, 1.10.20 — 7 p.m.
Location: Gutterson Fieldhouse | Burlington, Vt.
Watch: CBS All-Access
Listen: DartmouthSports.com | Rob Kennedy (PxP)
Follow Along: Live Stats

GAME 16
Dartmouth | 7-5-2
Boston University | 7-6-5
Date: Saturday, 1.11.20 — 8 p.m.
Location: Thompson Arena | Hanover, N.H.
Watch: ESPN+ | Stretch (international)
Listen: DartmouthSports.com | Rob Kennedy (PxP)
Follow Along: Live Stats

Game Notes

THIS WEEKEND
• The Dartmouth men’s hockey team will split the weekend between a pair of rinks against a pair of Hockey East teams.
• The Big Green head north to Burlington and Gutterson Fieldhouse to take on Vermont on Friday, returning home afterward to host Boston University Saturday night at Thompson Arena with a special 8 p.m. start time.

LAST TIME OUT
• Dartmouth split last weekend’s road trip at Princeton and Quinnipiac.
• The Green and White defeated the Tigers, 4-3, in overtime to kick off the weekend before falling in Hamden the following evening to the suddenly surging Bobcats, 5-1.

OC IN OT FOR COACH G
• Chatham, New Jersey, native Drew O’Connor scored the game-winning goal 61 seconds into overtime at Hobey Baker Rink.
• In doing so, O’Connor and the Big Green snapped a 10-game winless stretch in games that reached the extra period, previously going 0-4-6 dating back to last season.
• Dartmouth’s last overtime win was a 7-6 home contest against Harvard on Oct. 27, 2018 in the season opener.
• The goal came in Koenig Family Head Coach Bob Gaudet’s 1,000th career game behind the bench between nine seasons at Brown and now 23 at his alma mater. He became the seventh coach in NCAA history to reach the figure in a single conference and the first to do so in ECAC Hockey.
• The Big Green had gone 12-14-34 in overtime games in the 2010’s, but are now 1-0-0 in the 2020’s.

THESE TEAMS THIS WEEK…
• Dartmouth heads up I-89 to Burlington to take on the Catamounts, a team that has been reeling this season with a 3-13-2 overall mark.
• Vermont was dealt another tough defeat at the hands of fellow Ivy Leaguer Yale Tuesday night at home, falling to the Bulldogs, 3-2, in overtime after allowing the tying goal in the final minute of regulation.
• The Catamounts’ bright spot on the season was a pair of 2-0 shutouts against Union and Lake Superior State in the Catamount Cup to open the second half of the season. The only other win this season was also a 2-0 shutout at St. Lawrence on Oct. 19, meaning that the team is winless in 2019-20 when an opponent scores a goal (0-13-2).
• Boston University comes to Hanover after playing to a 3-2 overtime win Wednesday night against another Ivy League foe in Brown at Agganis. The win pushed the team’s record to 7-6-5 in 2019-20.
• The Terriers erased an early 2-0 lead by the Bears with Wilmer Skoog netting his first career goal (and point) with the OT winner at the 2:39 mark. The game was his collegiate debut after playing the start of the season in the NAHL and joining the team after the break.
• BU has 12 players on its roster drafted by NHL teams including the ninth overall pick in last year’s draft, Trevor Zegras (Anaheim), who just came back from Team USA and World Juniors where he was coached by Dartmouth Associate Head Coach David Lassonde.
• Vermont Leaders:
o Points | Jacques Bouquot (11)
o Goals | Ace Cowans (6)
o Assists | Jacques Bouquot (9)
o Goaltending | Stefanos Lekkas: 3-12-2, 2.83, .909
• BU Leaders:
o Points | David Farrance (24)
o Goals | David Farrance (11)
o Assists | Patrick Harper (14)
o Goaltending | Sam Tucker: 7-4-5, 2.58, .914

AGAINST THESE TEAMS
• Dartmouth is currently on a five-game losing and six-game winless streak to Vermont with the last victory coming on Dec. 5, 2012 at home (4-1) in a game that aired on the NBC Sports Network during the NHL lockout.
• The last trip to Burlington was on Nov. 15, 2016 and resulted in a 5-2 win for the home team, while the Catamounts have wins of 2-1 (OT) and 5-3 to their credit in each of the last two years in Hanover.
• The Big Green played the final game before winter break last season at BU, falling 4-1. Team captain Kevan Kilistoff ’19 scored the lone goal of the game for the visiting Big Green.
• The last time BU made the trip to Hanover was Nov. 30, 2014 when the Terriers were the No. 1 team in the nation and had eventual Hobey Baker winner Jack Eichel on the roster leading the nation in scoring (8-13-21) at the time of the game.
• Even with all that going for them, the Terriers fell victim to a scrappy Dartmouth team, losing 2-0 thanks to a pair of goals from then-junior Brad Schierhorn ’16. Eichel finished the game without a point for just the second time to that point in his career and one of only six times in his 40-game rookie season.
• That night also started #EichelUpdate on Twitter, a phenomenon that swept college hockey that season!

THE NEW TOP LINE
• With senior forward Will Graber sidelined with an injury, rookie Mark Gallant has stepped into the role on the team’s top line.
• He has slotted into the left wing, forcing O’Connor from his usual spot to the role of center, a place he has seemingly flourished as he has amassed seven points (4-3-7) in four games, a figure that ranks third in the nation in that time frame.
• On the right side is junior Quin Foreman, who has also stepped up his game in Graber’s absence, notching five points (3-2-5) in the four games back from break. Two of those goals came against UConn and helped Foreman earn Ledyard Classic MVP honors.

FIRST-GOAL GUY
• And since making the move to the top line, Gallant has been a great physical addition and set up man to complement O’Connor and Foreman.
• But it was 29 seconds into the third period at Princeton that Gallant finally broke through with one of his own, scoring a power-play goal on the doorstep for the first of his career.
• Foreman and O’Connor were credited with the helpers as they passed around the low slot looking to give the visitors a 3-2 lead that came to fruition with Gallant’s tally.

FIRST-GOAL GUYS!
• Gallant got on the scoresheet for the first time in his career to open the third, but only after Dartmouth had gotten first goals of the season from senior Cam Strong and Collin Rutherford, respectively.
• Strong — perhaps the most snake-bitten player on breakaways in Division I hockey — deposited a puck in the back of the net on a break in the opening minutes of the first period.
• Rutherford also took a breakaway in and found the twine with his first of the season at the 13:54 mark of the middle frame.
• Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time that Strong and Rutherford have scored their first goals of the season in the same game, both doing so on Dec. 16, 2017 at No. 2 Denver in a wild comeback win (5-4) for the Big Green. Strong scored early in the second to make it 3-1, while Rutherford’s first career goal came at 18:23 of the third to give Dartmouth its first lead of the night.

JERSEY BOYS
• The game winner at Princeton was very much a Garden State affair.
• Not only did O’Connor score the winner, but the primary assist on the goal went to junior defenseman Brendan Less, a native of Kinnelon, New Jersey.
• Another interesting note is that this is the second straight season in which O’Connor has scored his eighth goal of the season at Hobey Baker Rink, also doing so with the second Dartmouth tally in a 5-0 win on Jan. 12, 2019.
• The assist was Less’ first in front of family and friends in his home state in three games played there.

HIS PASSING IS PALOC-SICK! (SORRY, TANNER…)
• Freshman defenseman Tanner Palocsik is third on the team in scoring with 10 points, despite not scoring a goal yet this season.
• The rookie blueliner has amassed 10 assists so far this season, a number that leads the Green and White roster, edging out O’Connor by one.
• At this point, Palocsik leads all ECAC Hockey rookie defensemen in not only assists, but also in total points.
• The 10 helpers are also tied for the most amongst all rookies in the league, regardless of position, while he is tied for the national lead in assists per game by first-year rearguards with 0.71.
• In reaching the mark, he becomes the first Dartmouth freshman defenseman to reach double-digits for assists in his rookie season since Evan Stephens had 17 in 2007-08.
• Palocsik had an assist on the Rutherford goal at Princeton and Tyler Campbell’s third-period goal at Quinnipiac the following night.

LIKES PLAYING THE B’CATS!
• Speaking of rookie Tyler Campbell, the Manitoba native has two career goals with both coming against Quinnipiac.
• Campbell scored the tying goal against the Bobcats in Dartmouth’s 2-2 draw in the home opener back on Nov. 8, netting his first career goal with 10:17 left in the game.
• His second goal may have been prettier, but came with the Bobcats firmly in control and leading 4-0. He took a centering feed from Rutherford, deked in the slot and scored on a high backhand to ruin the shutout bid.
• Campbell’s first career assist came at Princeton the night before, taking a huge hit at center ice to make the pass that sprung Rutherford in on his breakaway.

STABLE IN NET
• Senior Adrian Clark might not be having the same flashy season he did last year, but his stability in net has helped the Green and White to a solid first half.
• His seven wins currently rank fourth in ECAC Hockey, while he is one of five goalies in the league to appear in more than 90 percent of his team’s total minutes played (92.8%).
• Despite playing in fewer games than most of the league’s starting netminders this year, Clark has turned aside 367 shots, the fifth-best mark. The next closest after Clark is Cornell’s Matthew Galajda with 293.
• In his 13 games, Clark has a .904 save percentage and a 2.95 goals-against average.

THREE OR FEWER
• The key for the Big Green to enjoy success is limiting opponents to three or fewer goals.
• Dartmouth is 7-0-2 this season when the opposition has scored less than four goals, while 0-5-0 when they find the back of the net at least four times.
• Since the start of last season, the Big Green are 1-16-0 when allowing four or more goals (the 7-6 OT win vs. Harvard being the lone exception).
• In that time, Dartmouth is also 19-5-6 when holding teams under three goals.

HEALTH & WELLNESS NIGHT
• Visit with local health & wellness organizations on the concourse during the course of Saturday’s game:
o Crom MMA & Fitness, Upper Valley Aquatic Center, Integrity Yoga, Hanover Family Chiropractic, Maven Salon, FLIP (Fitness and Lifestyle Improvement Program) and Zimmerman Fitness Center.
• Saturday’s presenting game sponsor is River Valley Club.

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.

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?
• Dartmouth remains at home next weekend, playing host to No. 7 Clarkson on Friday and recent postseason rival St. Lawrence on Saturday.
• Saturday’s game against the Saints will also feature the Big Green welcoming back former NHL players Lee Stempniak ’05, Tanner Glass ’07 and Ben Lovejoy ’06 for a special in-game presentation honoring them and the recent conclusions of their pro careers. A post-game autograph session will also take place on the concourse with the three players signing free commemorative posters.
• The first 500 fans through the doors will also get a free t-shirt for the event provided by the Richards Group.