Re: Dartmouth and Havard Fans
For Dartmouth what key players have they lost? Do you think they will be better or worse next season.
Dartmouth is a very young team. We've lost three skaters that got significant minutes last year (forwards Rob Pritchard and Connor Shields, defenseman John Gibson), a back-up goalie (Dan Goulding), and a forward who's played in four games (Brandon Harrington) to graduation. Pritchard and Shields combined for 32 points and 18 goals, or about 13% and 20% of team points and goals, respectively. So, although the losses are noticeable, you can see that the bulk of scoring was done by the underclassmen (about 74% of points were scored by freshmen and sophomores on last year's squad). As long as they continue developing and continue scoring, the team will improve.
We have several promising incoming freshmen, notably forwards Mark Goggin (drafted 197th by Boston in 2008) and Dustin Walsh (drafted 169th by Montreal this year). While they are not as flashy as Harvard's Louis LeBlanc, I think they'll contribute to the team for all four years of their NCAA eligibility.
I can't prognosticate as to whether this team being better or worse then last year's. Last year's team did well after rough first two games, but completely ran out of steam at the end and concluded the season with a disastrous sweep by RPI in play-offs. I hope that a large portion of responsibility for such an end can be written-off to the youth and inexperience of that team. But, really, it's impossible to predict how the team will do before the season starts. As a Dartmouth fan, I've had more than my fair share of pain, so I've become pretty inured to it, without losing hope that the next year will bring triumph.
I hope this helped, montreal, and GO DARTMOUTH!!!
