December 29, 2006
Ledyard National Bank Classic
Thompson Arena • Hanover, N.H.

Holiday Tournament Preview

THE FIELD

Friday, December 29
Boston University vs. St. Lawrence, 4 p.m.
North Dakota at Dartmouth, 7 p.m.

Saturday, December 30
Consolation Game, 4 p.m.
Championship Game, 7 p.m.

On TV: All four games will be shown live on Comcast's CN8 channel on will be streamed online at CN8.com.

TWO YEARS AGO

Dartmouth hosts this tournament in even-numbered calendar years, and won the 2004 title with a 6-3 victory over Vermont. The host Big Green needed a nine-round shootout to advance in the semifinal round, after they tied Bowling Green 1-1. Vermont won its semifinal 3-1 over Providence. This will be the 19th edition holiday tournament hosted by Dartmouth, which was called the Auld Lang Syne Tournament in its earlier years.

INTERESTING RECENT HISTORICAL FACT

These teams stumbled into the break. In measuring their last three games leading up to the tournament, the quartet combined for just one win (by Boston University), seven losses, and four ties.

ANOTHER INTERESTING HISTORICAL FACT

Friday's semifinal between BU and St. Lawrence is the teams' first meeting since a four-overtime game won by the Saints in the regional finals of the 2000 NCAA Tournament.

WHO TO WATCH

Dartmouth junior forward David Jones might be the best player in the nation that nobody knows about. He leads the Big Green in scoring and is a strong candidate to earn All-ECACHL honors for the second straight year.

Watch North Dakota's line of Ryan Duncan, T.J. Oshie, and Brad Miller – if they stay together. Coach Dave Hakstol isn't afraid of changing the line combinations, but this trio was together in the Sioux's last outing and had four points to pick up some of the slack for the absence of Jonathan Toews, who is with Canada's team at the World Junior Championship.

BU and St. Lawrence are two of the lower-scoring teams in the nation, but they've both had a winning record for most of the season due to solid goaltending. The Terriers' John Curry is among the best in the nation and a combination of three SLU goaltenders has done the job in Canton. Freshmen Kain Tisi and Alex Petisian have been particularly impressive.

HOW WE SEE IT

As mentioned earlier, none of these teams carries positive momentum into this weekend's tournament, but all four have a chance to build that momentum for the second half by playing well and winning this title. BU edges the Saints and sets up a matchup with Dartmouth. The Big Green will win the title on home ice and set up a second-half run to mirror what they did last season, losing just one ECACHL regular-season game after the start of the new year.

— Joe Gladziszewski