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Fifth-Seeded Big Green Hosts 12th-Seeded Harvard This Weekend
GAMES 30-31-32*
No. 5 Dartmouth (13-11-5, 9-9-4 ECAC) vs.
No. 12 Harvard (9-17-3, 6-14-2 ECAC)
▶ Friday, Mar. 8, 2013 ▶ 7:00 PM
▶ Saturday, Mar. 9, 2013 ▶ 7:00 PM
▶ Sunday, Mar. 10, 2013 ▶ 5:00 PM* ▶ Hanover, N.H.
▶ Thompson Arena (4,500)
▶ All-Time Series: Harvard, 124-59-11 (194 Meetings)
▶ Last Meeting: Feb. 10, 2013 (Cambridge) - T, 1-1 (OT)
▶ Streak: 3-0-3
* - if necessary
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THIS WEEKEND
The Dartmouth men's hockey team begins its second season
Friday evening as the ECAC Hockey First Round gets underway against Harvard at
Thompson Arena. The Big Green earned the fifth seed in the postseason
tournament and will take on the 12th-seeded Crimson in the league's opening
round.
VIDEO FEED
Fans interested in watching this weekend's games can do so through the league's
website. America ONE Sports will carry all four first round playoff match-ups
this weekend.
BY VIRTUE OF A
TIE-BREAKER
The Green earned the fifth spot after tying St. Lawrence with 22 points in
the standings and winning the tie-breaker with the Saints by virtue of having a
better record against the conference's top four teams.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Dartmouth needed a win on the final night of the season to
secure a first-round bye, but a 4-1 loss at the hands of No. 1 Quinnipiac ended
that scenario as the Big Green finished just outside the league's top four. A
2-2 tie with Princeton on the final Friday of the regular season helped set up
the Saturday situation with the Bobcats.
WHERE WE RANK
For the first time since early November, the Green and White
are on the outside of the USCHO Division I Poll's top-20. The 0-1-1 final
weekend of the 2012-13 season snapped the team's run of 15 straight polls being
ranked by USCHO. In both national polls this week (USCHO & USA Today/USA
Hockey Magazine), Dartmouth is receiving votes.
SCOUTING HARVARD
- The Crimson finished last in the ECAC Hockey standings
this season for the first time in program history. Knocking off top-ranked
Quinnipiac last weekend in overtime was immediately followed by a dramatic OT
loss to Princeton after the Tigers pulled the goalie for the extra attacker.
Had the Crimson held on for the tie Saturday night, they would have finished
tied with Colgate and taken the 11th seed by virtue of owning the tie-breaker
with the Raiders.
- Senior Alex Fallstrom ended the season as the team's top
scorer with 19 points (8g/11a), while freshman Jimmy Vessey and senior Marshall
Everson tied for the lead in goals with 11 each.
- Raphael Girard was the goaltender of record in all but
three games and posted a 7-16-3 record as a junior.
AGAINST THE CRIMSON
THIS SEASON
In the match-up in Hanover back on Jan. 12, Dartmouth needed
a late goal from sophomore Jesse Beamish to snap a 2-2 tie for the one-goal
victory. A month later, the two played to a third draw in the last four
meetings with a 1-1 tie in Cambridge.
ALL-TIME AGAINST THE
CRIMSON
With 194 previous meetings with Harvard, it ranks tied with
Princeton as the second-most common opponent for Dartmouth in 107 seasons of
hockey. Only Yale's 209 match-ups with the Big Green rank higher. In those
games, the Crimson hold a 124-59-11 advantage over its Ivy League foe from the
Upper Valley.
POSTSEASON AGAINST
HARVARD
This weekend marks just the second all-time series meeting
between the two teams more than 50 years of ECAC Hockey play. The 2011
quarterfinal series in Hanover was the first time the two met in postseason
play outside of the league's final weekend (semifinals and third-place game).
The first match-up against Harvard in the playoffs came back in 2001 and is one
of five postseason meetings since. The Crimson are 5-2 in seven all-time games
against the Green in postseason play, but Dartmouth has won the only series
between the two programs (2011/2-1)
2001
Third-Place Game
Lake Placid, N.Y.
No. 3 Harvard 3, No. 5 Dartmouth 2 (OT)
2003
Semifinals
Albany, N.Y.
No. 2 Harvard 5, No. 3 Dartmouth 3
2004
Semifinals
Albany, N.Y.
No. 6 Harvard 2, No. 4 Dartmouth 1
2006
Semifinals
Albany, N.Y.
No. 4 Harvard 10, No. 1 Dartmouth 1
2011
Quarterfinals
Hanover, N.H.
No. 10 Harvard at No. 3 Dartmouth
Game 1 - L, 3-2
Game 2 - W, 2-1 (OT)
Game 3 - W, 4-3
AS A 5-SEED
Dartmouth earned the No. 5 seed for just the third time in
2012-13. In 2000-01 and in 2004-05, the Big Green took down first-round
opponents (RPI and Yale) to meet up with Vermont the following round. In 2001,
Dartmouth advanced by the Catamounts with a 3-2 overtime win in the Preliminary
Game only to fall to St. Lawrence (2-0) and Harvard (3-2, OT) in Lake Placid. In 2005, after
knocking off the Bulldogs in the opening round, Dartmouth would fall to Vermont
in three games with each contest decided by just one goal.
AGAINST A 12-SEED
Harvard will be just the third 12-seed to square off with
the Green in postseason play. In 2005, the Big Green defeated No. 12 Yale in
three games. The most recent occasion was when then-third-seeded Dartmouth beat
No. 12 Colgate, 5-3, in the third-place game in Atlantic City in 2011.
HOME PLAYOFF SERIES
In nine postseason series played in Hanover, the Green and White boasts a
record of 8-1. The Green's only loss came in 2009 when No. 11 Rensselaer swept
No. 6 Dartmouth (3-2, OT / 3-1) in a first-round series.
NOT STRONG STARTERS
The Big Green are just 7-8 in series openers. Included in
that figure was Harvard's Game 1 victory in the 2011 quarterfinal, taking the
opener by a score of 3-2. Last year, the team split its series openers at St.
Lawrence (W, 6-3) and Cornell (L, 4-3 - 2OT).
BIG IN BIG GAMES FOR
BIG GREEN
Beamish's goal with 3:37 left in regulation against
Princeton tied the game at 2-2 and helped Dartmouth earn a crucial point in the
standings during the final weekend of play. He also helped his team earn the
two points with a deflection goal late in the third period against Harvard in
the first meeting of the year.
PLENTY OF SAVES
Freshman goaltender Charles Grant recorded the two highest
single-game save totals this season in consecutive outings last weekend. Grant
turned aside 40 against Princeton, before stopping 38 against Quinnipiac the
following night as each team peppered the rookie netminder with 42 shots on
goal.
CAPTAIN KEENAN
Senior captain Mike Keenan scored his second goal in as many games when his
shot from the point beat Princeton's Mike Condon near the end of the first
period. It was the second straight Dartmouth goal to come off Keenan's stick
after netting the winner in the third at St. Lawrence the week before. Both
Keenan tallies were assisted by freshman Brett Patterson and sophomore Charlie
Mosey.
FROM THE D
Rick Pinkston made it three straight games with a Dartmouth
defender scoring as his shot from the point off a faceoff in the final minute
of the second period cut Quinnipiac's lead to 2-1. It was Pinkston's fourth of
the season.
MOSEY'S NOSE FOR
POINTS
Held without a goal all season, Mosey chipped in with
assists on three straight goals in the last two weeks. He had a helper on each
of Keenan's goals, while also picking up a secondary assist on Beamish's
game-tying goal in the final minutes of the Princeton game.
HOME ICE
Dartmouth is 10-4-1 this season on home ice, while just
3-7-3 in true road games. Harvard has managed just three wins away from Cambridge
this winter, posting a mark of 3-9-1 in those 13 contests.
SCORING SLUMPS
Despite finishing the regular season as the team's top-two
point producers, sophomore Tyler Sikura and junior Matt Lindblad each went the
final four games of the year without registering a point. Lindblad has not
picked up a point since Jan. 26 against Clarkson, a stretch of six games played
and three missed due to injury.
THE 2012 POSTSEASON
The Big Green became the first team to knock off St.
Lawrence via a sweep in the team's time in Appleton Arena (more than five
decades). After those two wins in the North Country, Dartmouth returned to the
Empire State only to suffer a sweep at the hands of second-seeded Cornell in
Lynah Rink.
OVERTIMES
The Green finished the 2012-13 regular season without a win
in overtime, positing a mark of 0-1-5 in games that went past 60 minutes. The
last time Dartmouth was held without an overtime win for an entire season was
2009-10 when the team went 0-1-3 in OT contests.
CURRENT PLAYERS IN
THE POSTSEASON
The senior class is currently 6-6 during their careers in
the postseason. They began 1-2 at Quinnipiac (first round) in 2010 before a 3-2
run as sophomores that saw them advance to the semifinals and third-place game.
Last season they were 2-2 against the Saints and Big Red.
CURRENT PLAYERS
AGAINST HARVARD
In that 2011 series, then a freshman, Lindblad came up big
in the decisive third game with two goals in the final period to help Dartmouth
move on. Seniors Dustin Walsh and Alex Goodship and junior Eric Robinson all
had third-period assists as the Big Green netted three in the final 20 minutes
to break a 1-1 tie for the 4-3 victory. In the Game 2 overtime victory to stave
off elimination, Keenan had the only assist on Andrew Oswiak's '11 winner just
1:37 into the extra period.
OUT OF NOWHERE
At the end of the regular season, Dartmouth's penalty kill
ranks as the fourth-best in the nation at 89.6%. The conclusion of the 2011-12
season saw the Green rank 52nd in the nation playing down a man at 77.6%. That
48-spot improvement is the best in Division I this year from last winter.
FIRST ROUND
The Big Green are just 6-7 all-time in first round games,
including a 2-4 home mark in those 13 games. That is in stark contrast to the
team's 16-3 all-time home mark in quarterfinal contests.
THE DISTANCE
If this series goes three games, it will mark the third
Sunday game of the season for the team. Dartmouth knocked off No. 2 New
Hampshire, 4-1, on a Sunday night in Hanover as part of the 2012 Ledyard Classic.
The other match-up on a Sunday came after snow pushed back the road game
against the Crimson to a matinee, rather than the Saturday night primetime game
that was originally scheduled.
BLOCK PARTY
This match-up features ECAC Hockey's top two teams in terms
of shot blocking. Harvard led the league with 495 blocks this season, while
Dartmouth and Brown tied for second with 417 apiece. The Crimson averaged
nearly three more blocks per game than the next-best team.
DEFENSIVE
Opponents were able to hold Harvard to the lowest
goals-per-game total of any league team this season (2.31), while also limiting
the Crimson to just 26.97 shots a game, the second lowest figure. Dartmouth
ranks seventh in scoring (2.76) and shots (29.69).
GENTLEMANLY SCHOLARS
Harvard and Dartmouth are the second and third least
penalized teams in ECAC Hockey in 2012-13. The Crimson were whistled for 141
penalties, while referees called just 129 infractions on the Big Green. Brown
is the least penalized team (122).
TANDEM CUTS IT DOWN
The tandem of Grant and junior Cab Morris in the Dartmouth
goal held opponents to just 73 goals during the regular season. With two
veteran goalies last season, the Big Green allowed 91 goals in its 29 regular
season games, 18 more than this season with a goaltending unit with a combined
seven games of collegiate experience.
TOP-5 TEAM
In the last 13 seasons (2000-01), Dartmouth has finished in
the top five of the league's standings 10 times, the second-best figure by any
program in that stretch. During that run
of 13 years, the Big Green's average finish was fifth, also the second-best
mark.
WHAT'S AHEAD?
The quarterfinal round awaits the winners of this weekend's
series. No. 1 Quinnipiac, No. 2 Rensselaer, No. 3 Yale and No. 4 Union all
earned byes into the quarters for finishing in the top four. Teams will be
re-seeded following the first round so that the highest seeded team will play
the lowest-remaining seed. A Dartmouth
win would guarantee that they travel to Schenectady to take on Union.
GAME NOTES
