Normally, this weekend would be seen as a much-needed reprieve from a grueling Eastern College Athletic Conference schedule. With only one league game this weekend, the lower activity could mean rest for tired bodies and ailing limbs. Not so for the men's hockey team.
A hazing scandal caused Vermont to remove itself from league play earlier in the season, forcing its traveling partner — Dartmouth — into two-game weekends against two rested opponents. To give the Big Green (7-11-4 overall, 6-6-3 ECAC) a more level playing surface, all of its ECAC weekends switched from Friday-Saturday doubleheaders to Friday-Sunday.
The Tigers (8-12-3, 6-7-3) face Dartmouth on Sunday, a change that affects them on two levels. For the young Princeton team, every game is seen as a chance to improve — one more rung up the ladder towards peak play by playoff time. Not playing Vermont deprives the Tigers of that small but important bit of game experience.
Dartmouth will also come into the game battle-tested from a Friday contest against Yale and fresh from a day off. Princeton will be rested, but will have to work to make sure they are in a game mind set.
"We need to come into the game ready on Sunday," head coach Don Cahoon said.
Close encounter
The Tigers will attempt to continue the strong play that began last weekend, when they leaped five spots in the ECAC standings to fifth with a pair of road wins. In order to do so, they have to go through a fairly comparable Big Green team that is only one spot ahead of them in the league.
The last time the two teams met, they battled to a 5-5 tie, an unusual mark for both teams.
"They had many chances to open up the game," Cahoon said. "We scored some uncharacteristic goals. It wasn't a really well-played game."
Both teams have netted one fewer goal than they have given up in the league on the season, but there is a large discrepancy in the teams' numbers — Princeton has both scored and allowed 15 more goals than the Big Green.
The key to Dartmouth's game is defense, and this is obvious beyond the numbers.
"[The Big Green is] playing really good team defense," Cahoon said. "The team recruited some kids with more physical strength. They have made a commitment to playing defense. It's a mind set; defense is pure work."
Phenom
Anchoring this tight defense is a rookie goalkeeper that has broken onto the scene in impressive fashion. Freshman Nick Boucher boasts the fourth-best league goals-against-average, 2.23, and has saved 92.6% of the shots he has faced.
With such a focus on defense, it is to be expected that the team's offensive numbers are lacking. The Big Green does not have one player among the top 30 league scorers, but this does not mean that they completely lack firepower.
"[Forward Mike] Maturo is capable and [forward Jamie] Herrington is very talented," Cahoon said. "The team has good shooting, and sometime this is going to turn into goals."
Maturo's four conference goals tie him for the team lead, while Herrington closely follows forward Frank Nardella in assist totals. Dartmouth has had trouble scoring, but in the last game against the Tigers, they proved that they can light the lamp when needed.
The Tigers will need to prevent a repeat scoring outburst, crack the strong defense and work hard on special teams in this very important game. With a win, Princeton has the chance to pull even or perhaps leapfrog the Big Green in the standings, bringing them that much closer to securing home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
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