November
3, 2006
Dartmouth
Determined to Start and Finish Better
By
Joe Gladziszewski
Tanner Glass remembers his first game for
Dartmouth. It was against Holy Cross and in his words, during
the pre-game warmup he "beat the puck until it was
square."
ECAC
Hockey League Notebook
Tanner
Glass and Dartmouth started the season with wins over
Harvard and Vermont. St. Lawrence and Clarkson visit
this weekend.
That game was three years ago, Nov. 1, 2003,
and Glass assisted on the game-winning goal in the second
period of a 2-1 victory. Some guy named Stempniak scored
it. Glass had 11 points in his freshman campaign and 15
points as a sophomore. Last year he scored 28 and already
has five points through the first two games this year.
Now Glass is a senior and is the captain of
the Big Green. His game has blossomed over the last three
years, but just as important has been the growth of his
poise and confidence. In many ways, it has mirrored the
development of Dartmouth's team. It had been among the four
of five best teams in the ECAC Hockey League, but it took
until last season for Dartmouth to earn a trophy, by sharing
the regular-season title with Colgate.
This team is ready to do more, and Glass is
a perfect captain for it. A strong group of upperclassmen
lead the way for the Big Green.
"A lot of our most depended-on players
are older guys. We've been through it before. On defense
you've got Hartwick, Lovejoy and Lewis, and up front you've
got guys like myself and Nick Johnson and David Jones,"
Glass said. "As an older team we're more familiar with
our opponents."
While last year marked Dartmouth's first ECAC
Hockey League title of any sort, the beginning and end of
the season were regrettable. Dartmouth lost its first four
games last year, and finished its season, save for a consolation
game against Colgate, by getting smoked 10-1 against Harvard
in the ECACHL semifinals.
The obvious goal for the team is to avoid
a repeat of those events. The first part has been taken
care of. Dartmouth defeated Harvard and Vermont on home
ice and welcomes St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend.
We won't know until March how the second part
unfolds, but we do know that Dartmouth hasn't forgotten
the sting of that defeat. It has motivated them through
the summer and fall. The loss also factored into Dartmouth
narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament last year. They know
that a better regular season can help get them into the
NCAAs this time around, and want to avoid being in a one-game
elimination that might entirely end the Big Green's season.
"Starting this season goes back to how
last year ended, with a 10-1 loss to Harvard. Guys didn't
forget that, and going back the last few years we didn't
get (into position for) a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Once
you're in the ECACHL Tournament, anything can happen, especially
in a one-game situation. Now we're treating every game like
it's a big game," Glass said, "treating every
night like it's the ECACHL final."
And that's exactly where they hope to end
up.
SEEN AND HEARD IN THE ECACHL
Going To Albany. Again.:
The bus ride from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.
To the Pepsi Arena in downtown Albany takes approximately
two and a half hours. The Bobcats know that quite well by
this point as they have made their second trip to New York's
Capital District in less than a week.
Quinnipiac went to Albany last Friday night
for weekend games in the Governor's Cup. Now they've got
ECACHL contests at Union on Friday and Rensselaer on Saturday.
That's not a bad thing. The eventual goal for all ECACHL
teams is to get to Albany in March for the league's championship
weekend. Quinnipiac appreciated the opportunity to get a
feel for the downtown rink.
"It was good for us to get a taste of
it, and see that arena if we're fortunate enough to get
back there at the end of the season," Quinnipiac head
coach Rand Pecknold said. "If that happens, we'll be
more comfortable after having gone through the Governor's
Cup."
Defensive concerns linger for the Bobcats.
The win over Union was an 8-5 victory with an empty-net
goal, but the game was tied 5-5 with fewer than 10 minutes
to play.
"We've played OK so far but we need to
continue to become a better defensive team," Pecknold
said and cited the Union result from Sunday. "We had
a lot of defensive breakdowns that Union capitalized on.
You won't win a lot of games by giving up five goals a night."
Great Weekend Getaway
St.
Lawrence at Dartmouth (Fri.)
Clarkson at Dartmouth (Sat.)
The Big Green is off to a big start, but they'll get
a big test when the North Country teams come to town.
Dartmouth is 5-1-1 against St. Lawrence in the last
seven meetings between those teams, but Clarkson provides
a formidable test. Two of the most skilled teams in
the league should put on quite a show Saturday night.
While You're There: Stop in and
grab a beer and a bite to eat at 5 Olde Nugget Alley,
commonly referred to by the locals as "5 Olde."
There, you'll see newspaper headlines celebrating
the recent success of the local high school football
team, the Hanover Marauders. Or even better, make
the 90-minute trip from Hanover to Laconia on Saturday
morning and catch the Marauders' playoff game against
the Laconia Sachems at 1 p.m. You'll have plenty of
time to return to Thompson Arena in time for Saturday's
tilt.
Stick
Salute
If you love
Christmas as much as I do, then you'll be jealous.
An FM radio station in Syracuse switched to
their all-Christmas music format on Wednesday,
the first day of November. It's great to hear the
traditional classics again, and a reminder ... Friday
means there's only 51 shopping days left. Visit the
INCH
Shop!
Bench
Minor
If you've
missed the news, you obviously haven't
been paying much attention. RPI's loveable mascot
Puckman has been relegated to a supporting
role, as he won't be the primary logo for
the hockey team anymore. He'll appear on uniform shoulder
patches and the mascot will still entertain at Houston
Field House, but it's a bit of a bummer for the little
guy. I would like to think that Puckman is taking
the news well, and will help the team by moving from
the power play to the checking line. Whatever it takes
to win.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM
OF THE BAG
• RPI won the inaugural Governor's Cup
tournament at Pepsi Arena in Albany last weekend. Both semifinal
games were tied after 65 minutes of hockey and will be recorded
as ties in the teams' overall records. Colgate and RPI advanced
to the championship game via shootout. RPI's Dan Peace scored
with 49 seconds left in the third period to give the Engineers
a 2-1 win over Colgate. Peace, a junior, was playing in
his first game of the season. It was just the third goal
of his career.
• Quinnipiac's Pecknold on the quality
of play at the tournament: "I thought it was a great
tournament and was really impressed with the other three
teams. Anyone could've won it, and I give credit to RPI
for doing the things that it took to win."
• Dartmouth isn't the only Ivy League
team off to a perfect 2-0-0 start on the season. Yale impressively
scored wins over Holy Cross and New Hampshire. Bulldog freshman
Greg Beller scored 3:02 into overtime at UNH's Whittemore
Center to give Yale a 4-3 win. The winning goal was assisted
by another freshman, Chris Cahill, who also scored the game-tying
goal with 3:15 left in the third period.
• Cornell is the third 2-0-0 Ivy. The
Big Red defeated visiting Robert Morris and RIT, and Like
Yale, freshmen are making an impact at Cornell. Rookie defenseman
Brendon Nash leads the team with four points, one goal and
three assists. Forward Blake Gallagher had a goal in the
opener against RMU and Tony Romano had two assists against
RIT.
• St. Lawrence snapped a three-game
losing streak with a 4-0 victory at Wayne State on Saturday.
The losses to Niagara, Providence, and Michigan State were
all one-goal defeats or by a two-goal margin with an empty-net
goal for the opponent.
• Clarkson enters league play with a
pair of tests at Harvard and Dartmouth. An exhibition loss
against the U.S. Under-18 team followed an earlier home
loss to Lake Superior State. The inconsistent efforts are
bothering Golden Knights coach George Roll. He said in the
team's weekly notes, "To get beat 5-1 and 6-2 in your
own building in two out of three games is certainly not
the type of effort we need. It is something that is certainly
a concern for us as a staff. We have to get the players
motivated to play each and every night. Until we learn that
we are going to continue to have those ups and downs."
• Union battled back from a pair of
two-goal deficits to tie the game each time against Quinnipiac
on Sunday. A slew of penalties helped cause the downfall
of the Dutchmen in the 8-5 defeat. Union's goaltending situation
is still unsettled as junior Justin Mrazek and freshman
Rich Sillery have shared the ice time in recent games. Sophomore
Augie DiMarzo carries a four-game point streak into this
weekend's games against Quinnipiac and Princeton.
• Brown's Brian Ihnacak is back on the
ice. He had a goal and an assist in an exhibition win over
Trois-Rivieres, and no points in a tie against Merrimack,
but he did see time on the power play. Goaltender Mark Sibbald
started both contests.
• Princeton made three lineup changes
from their opening-game tie against Bentley. With the new
faces in the lineup the following night, the Tigers lost
3-2. Senior Darroll Powe and freshman Mark Magnowski each
have three points to lead the team.
• Expect Harvard to come out hard against
Clarkson on Friday. The Crimson are 14-0-1 in their last
15 games following a loss, and haven't lost back-to-back
games in the regular season since the first week of January
2005.
• All of this early-season optimism
might translate into box office revenue. The ECACHL started
selling ticket packages for its championship weekend in
Albany. Tickets went on sale Wednesday at the Pepsi Center,
which will be called the Times Union Center by the time
the tournament takes place.
A variety of sources were utilized in
the compilation of this report
