I know that I said I was going to try to catch up on everything that has happened here since my last post but I think I've put this off long enough that it's a lost cause so I'm going to have to stick to the latest games.

Over the past couple of weeks we have been gearing up for the drive to the end of the season and into the playoffs. Right now our biggest goal is to bring our 'A' game every night because with the college season as short as it is and with as much on the line every night during the postseason a night off can mean the end of a season or for the three remaining seniors, the end of a career.

This weekend we hosted Cornell and Colgate during Dartmouth College's Winter Carnival and the hockey team's Alumni Weekend.

Friday night brought out one of the best crowds Thompson arena has seen in a while for what ended up being a memorable Ivy contest. We hadn't seen Cornell since early in the season when we dropped a game at Lynah so we were definitely looking to return the favor at home. Cornell always has one of the most talented teams in the ECAC and our game plan focused on limiting their stretch drive and power play opportunities. After falling behind early in the first we came back at the end of the second to make it 4-3 before the break. In the third, Cornell tied it up but an overtime tip by Joey G lit the lamp and after a quick deliberation by the officials it was ruled a goal.

Saturday we definitely didn't match our intensity from the night before and dropped a 1-0 decision to Colgate. That's not to say that Colgate didn't play well or that they didn't deserve the win but it was one of those games that you can't help but feel disheartened. Enough said.

Finally, as promised, thanks to the KDE contingent for the "Blog me Pritch" cheers from the student section. Definitely fans of the game...

One last regular season road trip this coming weekend to the Bone Saws and Saints of upstate New York.

Our team trip to Sweden and Denmark was a great trip, just as we had anticipated. For a recap of everything that went on, Heather Croze kept an up-to-date blog that can be reached at:

http://dartmouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=48935&SPID=4728&DB_OEM_ID=11600&ATCLID=3630465

At a glance, the trip was a great opportunity for us to see some amazing cities, play some good hockey, and hang out together as a team for ten straight days which was definitely the best part. It was also cool that a number of parents were able to make the trip as well, including my Dad, who became the unofficial team photographer. Accompanying us on the trip was a Dartmouth alumni team made up of some great guys who kept us entertained during the layovers with stories from their time at school. Needless to say they're not going to end up in one of these posts...

Denmark

To start the trip off we caught the red eye from Boston to Amsterdam, then cruised over to Copenhagen. Once on the ground, we boarded a bus and headed straight to the rink for what we thought would be a grind of a practice that turned out to be alright. At the ICG rink we found that dozens of youth, junior, and semi-professional players had stuck around in anticipation of watching us practice in a display that would be repeated everywhere we skated. In total, we played one game in the four days we spent in Denmark, a 9-2 win over the ICG team that included former Dartmouth captain Bill Kelleher '96. Off the ice, we took in two guided tours of the city and footed it through Copenhagen's pedestrian malls, parliament buildings, palaces, museums, and historic Tivoli Garden. The morning of the fifth day we caught a train to Stockholm.

Sweden

After a relatively easy schedule in Denmark we upped the pace in Stockholm, practicing the first two days and playing three games in the following three nights. Our practice ice was an outdoor rink located a short walk from out hotel and despite the fact that the youth players found it hilarious that we were using "the young ones' rink" we had a great time. Once again I was amazed at how many people showed up to watch us again, as there was a solid line of bodies around the end boards every time we skated.

While in Sweden we played Sodertajle (4-3 OT), Djugardens (3-3), and AIK (6-1).

Holland

Although not a scheduled stop on the Big Green's trip we ended up spending a night in Amsterdam after our plane was stranded in Boston. As interesting a city as Amsterdam is to be stuck in, with a holiday trip home on the line everyone was ready to get home. Also, the theme-park style hotel the airline stuck us in was a bit much to deal with this late in the trip.

Thanks and No Thanks

Special thanks to the ticket agent in Amsterdam who rerouted the entire team's flights through to our final destinations saving us all hours of travel.

No thanks to another airline (that according to NCAA.com regulations will remain nameless) for leaving Connor Shields, Robbie Smith, and Kyle Schussler stranded in a six hour line in Seattle only to find out that they didn't have a flight the last leg home. No thanks also for sending my hockey bag on a two week vacation while I was left to play our holiday tournament in borrowed gear.

Thanks to Margot and Rod, my aunt and uncle, for driving six hours through a blizzard to pick me up from the Bellingham airport at 2am.

No thanks to the bus driver in Seattle that plowed our bus into a snow bank and then made everyone get out and push.

And finally, a special thanks to all of the generous supporters that made this trip possible, from the alums to the moms and dads. We can't even begin to say how grateful we are for having been given this opportunity and I hope it can become a tradition for other Dartmouth teams in the future.

I'll catch up on the last two weeks in the next day or so here, sorry again for the delay.

Flew to the Ground...

The paper's in the drop box and I'm staring down three hours of front desk work at the Alumni Gym so it's time to get the blog up to speed here.

November 14th and 15th brought St. Lawrence and Clarkson to Thompson Arena for our first two game home stand of the season. Both teams are consistently ranked among the best in the nation and whether home or away and as back to back opponents, they are always tough.

I lured him in...

On Friday night, St. Lawrence brought the skilled, strong skating brand of hockey we have come to expect from the Saints. Stejskal put the first point on the board with the only goal of the first period, hammering home a rebound from his crease side office. In the second period, Stevens scored to give us a two goal lead but the Saints took a pair of goals late in the second to even the score.

Jody O held solid for us through the third and we thought we had the game under control when Shields scored late in the third but the Saints tied it up for the second time with just over a minute to do.

When I posted after our loss to UVM I promised that the lessons we learned that game wouldn't be forgotten and Estoclet proved that to be true, as he buried the game winner off a 2-1 rush. The biggest difference between this game and our Vermont loss was that going into the overtime period we were set on playing for the win as opposed to holding on for the tie.

With a piece of bread...

Saturday night brought the Clarkson Knights into Thompson Arena in front of one of our biggest crowds of the season. It is easy to take for granted the support of a community and school body but Saturday night we played to a packed house including a full student section and it was no coincidence that we put together one of our best games of the season.

Clarkson got on the board first halfway through the first period but after that it was all green and white. In what is becoming our trademark style of play, the underclassmen carried the offensive effort with goals from Fleming, Stejskal, Reber, Estoclet, and first-time scorer but longtime rockpile Connor Goggin. Jody O was solid as usual and the game closed out at 5-1.

Play of the game for St. Lawrence had to go to Adam Estoclet for not falling down during his goal celly for a change, and the Clarkson highlight had to be the team effort of the Dartmouth medical staff for getting six zippers in my chin between the first and second periods while equipment manager Brian 'Corky' Corcoran battled to keep my whites white.

For anyone actually following our win song I'm unfortunately going to have to cut it short for the sake of the NCAA page moderators. Suffice to say the boys have learned the tune and will be looking to put it to good use.

After our second straight weekend sweep it's about time for me to get back to posting. I am sorry for the lack of recent activity although I was pleasantly surprised to learn that people actually noticed. At any rate, my history seminar paper is almost finished and I finally have some time to breathe so I'll do my best to make up for lost time, although it will have to be in two parts.

Last weekend's road trip to Union and RPI brought the Big Green our first wins of the season, evening our overall record at 2-2. It had been a while since the team took two games on a road weekend and since the freshman class hadn't heard our sweep song and most of the sophomores had forgotten the words it was about time to get after it.

A little bird...

Union College is always a difficult team to play on the road because the rink is small, their stands are almost right on top of the rink, and Nate Leaman's teams are consistently among the hardest working in the league. A lot of the credit for this win had to be given to our younger players as Jody O held solid in the pipes while Scott 'Babyjibs' Fleming led our offensive efforts with a pair of ginos.

Honorable mention for the Big Green play of the game had to go to Joe 'Hey-Der' Stejskal for his breakaway slap shot goal straight out of the box, but I think Andrew Owsiak took top honors with a diving two-on-one finish before piling himself into the end boards. To cap the win I wasn't too proud to close out the third with my first empty-netter of the year.

Flew around...

I felt that the RPI game was the first time this season that we have really dictated the play for a whole game. RPI is a hard-hitting team this year with a few big Dmen and a couple of power forwards that always take the body first and the puck second but we stuck to the basics and were able to move the puck all night.

They key for us this game was definitely our power play. After we traded goals in the first period, Stejskal netted two back door rebounds in the second frame before RPI stole some momentum back scoring with 6 seconds left in the period. In the third, Evan Stevens buried another PP marker and Fleming closed the game out with an unexplainable top cheese empty-netter to finish off a four goal weekend that landed the 'Grey-Area' center the ECAC player of the week honor.

I'll hopefully be able to finish catching up on our more recent action tomorrow night after my paper draft is safely in the drop box. Sorry again for the delay, after this week the posts should be coming more regularly.

A little bird...

I never got around to posting after our UVM game Sunday, mainly because I had to spend the rest of the night hammering out a paper for a class on Monday. To be honest, I don't know if I would have posted if I hadn't had work to do because it was just one of those games that you don't want to relive until the following practice when you can at least use it as motivation. The box score really tells the story - we fell behind by two early, battled for 60 minutes to even it up and then let a winnable game slip away in overtime. Still, the lessons we learned from that game won't be forgotten and we are still eager to prove that we are much better than the 11th place finish predicted by the coaches and media in the ECAC.

We're in our hotel in Albany right now looking forwards to a game Friday at Union and then Saturday at RPI. It's been a long day of class, practice, and travel, so most of the guys have already shut it down for the night. My roommate Connor Shields and I have decided to finish off a movie before turning it in.

There isn't a lot else to report right now, except that I've been surprised with the amount of feedback I've received on the blog so far. The least helpful, but most notable response was from former Big Green teammate, linemate, and roommate Jon Grecu '08 who wrote "your blog sucks so far but that's ok." Nice.

Good luck to Dartmouth Women's Hockey in their home games against Union and RPI this weekend and congratulations on the shutout win Wednesday against Boston College.

See you in Schenectady

We opened our season last night with a frustrating loss to Harvard. Entering the third period the game was tied at one but three strikes in the final 20 sealed the deal for the Crimson. Although the end result wasn't what we had hoped for, it definitely wasn't for a lack of effort.

During our pregame routine the eagerness of our younger players mixed with the determination of our upperclassmen created an exciting chemistry in the locker room. The visiting dressing rooms at Harvard are narrow and as we sat facing each other there was an almost tangible tension between us. Although it was left unspoken we began to realize that all of our summer lifts, runs, bag skates, early nights, and earlier mornings, were all done in preparation for this moment. It doesn't matter whether you're a freshman or a senior, there is always something promising about a season opener.

Harvard's team has a good mix of speed and strength this year. Although not overbearing, they play physically along the walls and they have a fast stretch breakout that keeps offensive D-men honest.

Like our game against Yale, this contest turned into a special team battle with 22 penalties in total.

As the game began, neither side seemed to be executing to their potential. We traded solid hits and decent scoring chances, but it was an errant change on our part gave the Crimson the lead at about the 12 minute mark of the first. Jody O made a good first stop for us but we were outmanned and Michaud was able to hammer home the rebound. Two minutes later we answered back on the PP when I tipped a point shot by Markowitz and Fleming buried the rebound.

The game stayed even through the second and into the third despite 5 on 3 chances for both sides. As the game progressed both team's killers seemed to be taking a toll as one-timers repeatedly found players' feet, hips, and ribs. Unfortunately we were edged out on special teams in the third as Harvard scored twice on the PP and closed the game out with a short-handed empty netter.

Pulling out of the parking lot in Cambridge we couldn't help but feel disappointed. It is always frustrating to lose a game in the third period, but losing a game on a power play goal is especially tough to take. Fortunately we have the opportunity to even up our weekend in our home opener Sunday against Vermont.

Go Big Green

We're on the bus home from our last exhibition game, so I figure it's probably about time to start posting.

Id like to try to include more than just game recaps and sound bites this season to keep it interesting but because we haven't started league play yet I'll have to stick to the facts.

We started the weekend Saturday night with a 2-1 win at home against the University of Quebec. They iced a big, strong squad, which is to be expected of Canadian schools. For anyone who doesn't follow Canadian collegiate sports, the hockey players tend to be older than NCAA athletes because CIS schools don't have the same amateurism rules and can draw from major junior leagues. The game started out a little sloppy on our part as we were all getting used to new systems and line mates but as the game wore on things seemed to settle down. Reeds and Gillam notched a couple of goals early in the game while Quebec tallied midway through the second. In the end we were just happy to post the win in our first contest.

We were hoping for the same result in New Haven but unfortunately came up short. To Yale's credit they have a hard skating team that applies good puck pressure all over the ice. We traded shots with them during even strength play but they edged us out on special teams which I think was the biggest factor in their 4-1 win. Harrington scored our only goal on a low blocker shot from the slot. As with any preseason game, we took away a number of positives, one of which being that after tonight all of our younger players have cycled through the lineup and have seen the pace we have to play for the rest of the season. We're obviously a young team this year but our freshmen are playing with confidence and we have seen a lot of improvement from our returning players.

Not a lot else to say at the moment except that we're all ready to get back to practice this week as we look towards our season opener Friday at Harvard and then our home opener Sunday against Vermont.

Since it's my first entry of the year, I'd appreciate any feedback people want to send. Feel free to include criticism, concerns, or even the occasional beak just to let me know people are still paying attention.