Last season, Dartmouth beat the Engineers in the opening round of the ECAC playoffs, losing to eventual champion St. Lawrence in the semifinal match-up in Lake Placid. This year, look for the Big Green to win in the semifinals.
Dartmouth is a team that bolsters quickness and speed in some areas, while retaining strength and size in others. They have no standout scorer, although they have the best goaltender in the East in Nick Boucher. With eight of their top nine scorers returning this year, Dartmouth will be the measuring stick in the ECAC. Captain Mike Maturo (18-15-33) led the team in goals and points last season, and will be joined by Center Kent Gillings (11-18-29) and Right Wing Mike Murray (7-14-21) on the Big Green’s top scoring line. With names like Jamie Herrington (7-16-23) and Chris Baldwin (14-10-24) on the roster, the offense runs deep and is well balanced.
The blue line will rely heavily on two juniors, Trevor Byrne (5-21-26) and Pete Summerfelt (2-15-17), who combined for 43 points and over 60 percent of the defensive scoring for the squad last season. If Mike Turner (2-4-6) can repeat with another plus-14 rating this year, the team will be a brick wall on the blue line.
That, combined with Boucher (2.56, .912, 16-12-4) in goal, will make the Big Green the toughest team defensively in the ECAC this year. Boucher doubled his wins over the previous year, starting 28 consecutive games while recording personal bests in nearly every category in 2000-01.
