Postseason Seeding Still in Doubt as Dartmouth Hosts Union, RPI in Final Weekend

Friday, February 28

Hanover, N.H.

7 PM

Dartmouth College

Union

Tickets

The Senior Class of 2020

Photo by: Mark Washburn

Postseason Seeding Still in Doubt as Dartmouth Hosts Union, RPI in Final Weekend

2/27/2020 9:59:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Big Green to honor Class of 2020 Saturday night following RPI game.

By: Pat Salvas

GAME 28
Dartmouth | 12-11-4, 9-9-2 ECAC
Union | 7-21-4, 5-13-2 ECAC
Date: Friday, 2.28.20 — 7 p.m.
Location: Thompson Arena | Hanover, N.H.
Watch: ESPN+ | International Feed
Listen: DartmouthSports.com | Rob Kennedy (PxP)
Follow Along: Live Stats

Game Presented by: TOWNLINE

GAME 29
Dartmouth | 12-11-4, 9-9-2 ECAC
RPI | 15-15-2, 11-8-1 ECAC
Date: Saturday, 2.29.20 — 7 p.m.
Location: Thompson Arena | Hanover, N.H.
Watch: ESPN+ | International Feed
Listen: DartmouthSports.com | Rob Kennedy (PxP)
Follow Along: Live Stats

Game Presented by: MILTON CAT

Game Notes

THIS WEEKEND
• The Dartmouth men’s hockey team hosts Union and Rensselaer at Thompson Arena in the final weekend of games in the 2019-20 regular season.

LAST TIME OUT
• Dartmouth split a weekend trip to the North Country, defeating St. Lawrence, 5-2, before falling at No. 5 Clarkson, 4-0.
• The trip began with a come-from-behind win at the newly refurbished Appleton Arena. After the Saints took a 2-1 lead in the middle of the second period, the Big Green answered back with two quick strikes to take the lead and then another two in the third to earn the win.
• Saturday was a different story as the Golden Knights shut down the Dartmouth scoring and recorded a 4-0 shutout in their final home game of the regular season.

THE CLASS OF 2020
• Dartmouth will honor the nine-member senior class following the conclusion of Saturday’s contest with the Engineers.
• Ben DiMaio, Daniel Warpecha, Shane Sellar, Cam Strong, Clay Han, Ryan Blankemeier, Will Graber, Dean Shatzer and Adrian Clark are the nine players who make up the Class of 2020 for the Big Green and will be in their final regular season home game.

LOCKED IN
• This weekend will be the final regular season home games of their careers, but it will not be the final team they play at home as Dartmouth is assured of hosting a home playoff series in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Championship the following weekend.
• Dartmouth can finish as high as fifth and as low as eighth in the ECAC Hockey standings, four spots that all guarantee playing at home in the postseason’s opening round.
• The opponent is still to be determined but will be announced Saturday night following the conclusion of all league games.
• Game times will be 7 p.m. for Friday and Saturday, while, if necessary, a Game 3 on Sunday would be at 5 p.m.

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENTS…
• Union is 5-13-2 in league games and 7-21-4 overall. Its 12 ECAC points have the Dutchmen locked into a road series in the first round as either the ninth or 10th seed.
• Anthony Rinaldi leads the team with seven goals and 23 points.
• Although, it didn’t seem like it the night the Big Green were in Schenectady, the Dutchmen have struggled to score goals this season as their 1.81 goals per game ranks 11th in ECAC and 56th of 60 teams in Division I. Union is surrendering 3.03 goals per game as well.
• RPI and Dartmouth are in a battle for playoff positioning, coming into the weekend separated by three points.
• The Engineers are 11-8-1 in league games and 15-15-2 overall. They can lock up at least fifth place with a single point, while two wins can give Rensselaer a bye into the quarterfinals. That would mean they would have to earn a weekend sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth, no small feat considering how well both of those teams play at home.
• RPI is winning by committee as 12 players have double-digit point totals this season with Chase Zieky (7-15-22) leading the way.
• Todd Burgess has nine goals in his last eight games. He became the first RPI player to score four goals in a game in 20 years on Saturday with a quartet of tallies against Princeton, earning him ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honors.
• The Engineers’ biggest reason for success has been sophomore netminder Owen Savory and his remarkable second-half run. Since returning from winter break, Savory has been the best goalie in the league with a 1.27 goals against and a remarkable .959 save percentage with four shutouts and an 8-2-1 record. He was recently named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week for a 4-0 shutout of Quinnipiac and a 7-1 win versus Princeton.
• Union Leaders:
o Points | Anthony Rinaldi (23)
o Goals | Anthony Rinaldi (7)
o Assists | Anthony Rinaldi (16)
o Goaltending | Frank Marotte: 22-6-2, 1.66, .941
• RPI Leaders:
o Points | Chase Zieky (22)
o Goals | Todd Burgess (13)
o Assists | Chase Zieky (15)
o Goaltending | Owen Savory: 11-9-2, 2.20, .926

AGAINST THESE TEAMS
• This season, Dartmouth went to the Albany area and was dealt a pair of losses to these two teams.
• The Big Green’s losing streak against Union pushed to nine with a 4-3 loss on Feb. 1. The Dutchmen took a 4-1 lead into the third period after Sean Harrison scored with 0.1 second remaining in the middle frame, a goal that proved to be the winner after Quin Foreman scored twice in the third period to make the final score a one-goal game.
• The previous night was not as exciting as Foreman’s goal in the final second of the first period proved to be the only highlight in the contest as the Engineers snapped an eight-game winless stretch (0-7-1) against Dartmouth with a 7-1 victory.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
• With two games left in the season, there are still some teams with a lot left to play for in terms of seeding, home ice and bye weeks.
• This is how all 12 can finish the regular season:
o Cornell: 1-2 (clinched bye, clinches #1 with 3 points)
o Clarkson: 1-2 (clinched bye, clinches #1 with 4 points)
o Quinnipiac: 3-5 (clinches bye with 1 point)
o Harvard: 3-5 (clinches bye with 3 points)
o Rensselaer: 3-7 (clinched home ice, clinches bye with 4 points)
o Dartmouth: 5-8 (clinched home ice)
o Yale: 5-9 (clinches home ice with 1 point)
o Colgate: 6-9 (clinches home ice with 2 points)
o Brown: 7-10
o Union: 9-10
o Princeton: 11-12
o St. Lawrence: 11-12

LEADER OF THE PACK
• Drew O’Connor is tied for the league lead with Harvard’s Jack Drury as both have 17 goals.
• O’Connor has scored 12 of those 17 goals in ECAC Hockey games, the most conference goals of any league player this season. Drury and three other players are all just one goal back.
• The last Dartmouth player to lead the league in goals in conference games was Ross Brownridge ’80 with 27 goals in 22 games in his season year of 1979-80, the last time the Big Green reached an ECAC title game and the Frozen Four.
• No Dartmouth player has ever led ECAC Hockey in total goals in a season since the league’s inception in 1961-62.

MULTI-POINT GAMES
• As part of the 5-2 win in Canton, five players recorded multi-point efforts to push the team’s season total to 46.
o Drew O’Connor – 2-0-2 | His team-leading ninth multi-point game
o Matt Baker – 0-2-2 | 6th
o Tanner Palocsik – 1-1-2 | 7th
o Will Graber – 1-1-2 | 7th
o Jeff Losurdo – 0-2-2 | 3rd

WINNER AGAIN
• Palocsik scored the final goal of the second period against the Saints, a marker that stood up as the winner.
• For the rookie, it was his second game-winning goal in as many Fridays as he also had the winner against Brown the week before.
• Currently, all four classes have accounted for three game winners with Palocsik accounting for two from the freshmen.

HELPING AGAIN
• With an assist at St. Lawrence, Palocsik now has 16 this season, tied for the 14th best mark by a rookie in program history.
• In terms of rookie defensemen, he ranks fifth:
o Grant Lewis – 22 in ’03-04
o John Donnelly – 19 in ’79-80
o Dave Williams – 19 in ’86-87
o Evan Stephens – 17 in’ 07-08

LEAGUE RANKINGS – ECAC HOCKEY GAMES
• Points
o Drew O’Connor | 7th | 21
o Will Graber | 11th | 18
o Quin Foreman | 11th | 18
o Matt Baker | 24th | 15
• Goals
o Drew O’Connor | 1st | 12
o Will Graber | 6th | 10
o Quin Foreman | 21st | 6
o Daniel Warpecha | 32nd | 5
o Cam Strong | 32nd | 5
• Assists
o Matt Baker | 8th | 13
o Quin Foreman | 10th | 12
o Drew O’Connor | 25th | 9
o Will Graber | 36th | 8

LEAGUE RANKINGS – IVY LEAGUE
• Points
o Drew O’Connor | 1st | 14
o Quin Foreman | 3rd | 12
o Will Graber | 6th | 10
o Matt Baker | 16th | 7
• Goals
o Drew O’Connor | 1st | 7
o Will Graber | 2nd | 6
o Daniel Warpecha | 7th | 4
o Cam Strong | 13 | 3
• Assists
o Quin Foreman | 1st | 10
o Drew O’Connor | 6th | 7
o Joey Matthews | 13th | 5
o Matt Baker | 13th | 5
o Sam Hesler | 13th | 5

DEFENSIVE GOALS
• Junior and team captain Brendan Demler scored his first goal of 2019-20 to open the scoring at SLU. It was his third career marker, all of which have come on the road.
• With Demler and Palocsik scoring vs. the Saints, it marked the first time since Feb. 10, 2017 vs. RPI that multiple goals came from the Dartmouth defense as Josh Hartley notched a pair.
• The last time two different d-men scored in the same game for Dartmouth was Dec. 31, 2016 against UMass Lowell in the Ledyard Classic Championship Game. Clay Han scored his second of the year and Cameron Roth scored his first.

LESS THAN 20
• The Green and White are 3-0 this season when holding opponents to fewer than 20 shots in a game.
• Two of those wins have come in the last two weeks as Dartmouth held Brown to 13 on Feb. 14 and then SLU to just 18 last week.
o The Big Green had more shots in the first period (20-2) than the Saints had in the entire game.
• The other instance was also against St. Lawrence at home on Jan. 18 when SLU had just 15.

WINNING MONTHS
• Dartmouth needs a sweep this weekend to avoid its only losing month of the season as it is just 2-4 in February.
• All other months have seen the Big Green post a mark about .500.
o November: 3-2-1
o December: 3-2-1
o January: 4-3-2

FOUR OR MORE
• Three-fourths of Dartmouth’s wins this season have come when scoring four or more goals (8-2-0).
• Three goals is comfortable with a 3-3-1 mark, while less than three goals scored has resulted in a 1-6-2 record.
• That can also be applied to the defensive end of the ice as the Green are 1-10-0 when allowing four goals with the only win coming in a 5-4 home victory against BU.
• When holding opponents to three or fewer goals, the offensive usually has been enough to earn the win as Dartmouth is 11-1-4 in those games.

EARLY STARTS HELP
• The Big Green are 9-2-3 when scoring the first goal of the game and just 3-9-1 when the opposition finds the back of the net first.
• When leading after the first period, the Green and White are 5-1-2.

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 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 be at home next weekend, that much we know. The opponent will be announced when all league games finish Saturday night.
• Ticket information for first-round games is available through the Dartmouth Ticket Office.

Weekend Promotions

FRIDAY 2/28/20 - 7 PM
Presented by: TOWNLINE

***LIMITED TIME OFFER: RENEW OR PURCHASE NEW SEASON TICKETS FOR A SPECIAL EARLY BIRD PRICE***

SATURDAY 2/29/20 - 7 PM
SENIOR NIGHT | FAN APPRECIATION NIGHT
Presented by: MILTON CAT

FREE Raffle to Win:

$250 Amazon Gift Card from Milton Cat
Round Trip Flight for 2 from Cape Air
Pair of Dartmouth Season Tickets for: Football, Men's/Women's Hockey and Men's/Women's Basketball
Signed Dartmouth Baseball Jersey
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Signed Dartmouth Football
Signed Mini Hockey Stick & Poster by Lee Stempniak, Tanner Glass & Ben Lovejoy
$25 Lui Lui Gift Cards
Dominos Free Pizza Coupons
Boloco Gift Card
Pint Glasses from Portland Glass
AND MUCH MORE

***LIMITED TIME OFFER: RENEW OR PURCHASE NEW SEASON TICKETS FOR A SPECIAL EARLY BIRD PRICE***

Postseason Scenarios from PlayoffStatus.com

	Record				Regular Season Finish
Team	W	L	T	Pts	1*	2*	3*	4*	5**	6**	7**	8**	9	10	11	12
Cornell	16	2	2	34	76%	24%	^	^	^	^	^	^	^	^	^	^
Clarkson	16	4	0	32	24%	76%	^	^	^	^	^	^	^	^	^	^
Quinnipiac	12	6	2	26	X	X	76%	23%	1%	^	^	^	^	^	^	^
Harvard	10	5	5	25	X	X	23%	57%	20%	^	^	^	^	^	^	^
Rensselaer	11	8	1	23	X	X	1%	20%	49%	24%	6%	^	^	^	^	^
Dartmouth	9	9	2	20	X	X	X	X	28%	38%	22%	11%	^	^	^	^
Yale	9	9	2	20	X	X	X	X	2%	26%	43%	28%	1%	^	^	^
Colgate	8	9	3	19	X	X	X	X	X	12%	29%	58%	1%	^	^	^
Brown	7	11	2	16	X	X	X	X	X	X	<1%	2%	95%	2%	^	^
Union	5	13	2	12	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2%	98%	^	^
Princeton	2	14	4	8	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	>99%	<1%
St. Lawrence	2	17	1	5	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	<1%	>99%

^ means the team will finish better than this playoff spot
X means the team cannot win this playoff spot
50% - probability the team will win this playoff spot
* denotes first round bye in the post season conference tournament
** denotes first round home field advantage in the post season conference tournament

Puppies. pic.twitter.com/yYxT5Yu2hT
— Dartmouth Men's Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) February 26, 2020

Thanks to our partnership with Volvo Volkswagen of Lebanon, we have raised over $2,000 for the Student Rescue Project, charitable organization dedicated to providing hands-on experience in dog rescue for students.

Today... we got to play with some of those puppies. pic.twitter.com/incH9Uqdnr
— Dartmouth Men's Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) February 26, 2020