Re: 2013-2014 Union Dutchmen - Can U Three Peat?
Dartmouth Scouting Report:
Short Week. We play Dartmouth on Wednesday ... big game .... got to get to work.
Dartmouth's Last Four Games:
- beat Harvard (2-1) and Yale (4-1) on the road
- played two of the top 10 teams in the country (Yale & Q)
- 2-2
- played very well against Q, lost 1-3
- average goals against 2.00
- Brown escaped with an overtime goal (at home) 3-2
- out-shot Harvard 35 - 21
- scored 3 in the first period at Yale and held on
- scored 2 in the first period against Brown and almost held on
- big - 16 players 6'0" and over, 1 6'4", 4 6'3" 9 6'2"
- big - 10 players over 200 lbs.
- Grant in goal for these four games (6'2" - 180) - looks to be playing well.
Anything unexpected? What has happened?
In the first two weeks of November, Dartmouth squared off against the three most high powered offenses in the ECAC, Union, RPI and St. Lawrence. All three of which are now in the top 10 in the country. These three teams scored 7, 7, and 8 goals respectively. This onslaught was an aberration. The Dartmouth goalie situation has stabilized. They have started to play the way they were expected to play all along. As the Local Valley Press (NH) noted
"Dartmouth will undoubtedly right the ship at some point". Looks like they have.
Dartmouth is now playing the way they were forecast to play preseason.
2013-14 Dartmouth Men's Hockey Season Preview
http://www.dartmouthsports.com//View...CLID=209284861
and
http://www.uscho.com/2013/10/08/dart...-a-close-team/
and
http://hockeyjournal.com/news/colleg...uths_next_step
This is the same Dartmouth team that was ranked 8th in the Country last January break and injuries and all those great freshmen are now sophomores and payed together this summer in Europe. As noted accurately by others on this thread, there are not going to be any easy points anywhere this year in the ECAC. If you want to win in the ECAC this year its going to require 60 minutes of sustained fierce hand to hand combat, ferocious attacking, horrendous bloodletting and a 110% continuously focused effort.

In the end there will be very few points separating the top teams from the bottom teams. Unfortunately this intense and balanced league play may mean that we end up with fewer teams making the NCAA playoffs as we continuously knock each other off all year.
Whats is in it for us? - Sole position of first place ECAC going into the break and pretty much until early January when league play resumes.
Whats in it for Dartmouth? - last year in Dartmouth's last weekend of play they only needed 2 points to make the final 4 in the ECAC. They did not make it and we did. When they reached us in the second round of the ECAC championship, in our barn, we dispatched them in two games and ended their season and sent them home. They went from 8th in the country in January to home in March. Now it looks like they are going the other way !!!
Key for us?
Leadership - Captain Mat Bodie




and the upperclassman leadership who are refusing to allow defeat to be an option.