Well, 2 weeks into the season and the ultra-high expectations have come crashing down to Earth. Based on paper and talent Dartmouth should be 4-0 in the young season. Instead they’re 2-2 after suffering another shocking loss, this time to Princeton, the unanimous pick to finish last in the conference (though in fairness to the Tigers, Yale has been far and away the worst team in the country so far.)
The good news for Dartmouth is also the bad news. They definitely have had more talent than any of their early opponents and the underclassmen are carrying the team thus far. Players like Stempniak and Przepiorka are too good to remain this quiet on the scoresheet for an extended period of time. But it also appears that this team is built to win games 4-1, 5-3, or 7-4. Which means in any game that stays 1-0 or 2-1 late into the game, they could be in trouble. They also have to start playing smarter, especially in the defensive zone. It’s only four games in and they’ve already made roughly a season’s worth of absolutely horrible turnovers that have lead to goals or near-misses for the opposition.
Also, if anyone sees or hears anything further regarding Hugh Jessiman’s ankle injury in Saturday’s Princeton game in the local papers or otherwise, please let me know either here or via e-mail. All I know is what was said on the radio, which was that he went straight to the hospital before the game even ended. If he’s going to be out for an extended period of time, that’s a huge blow to the team.
Also, kudos to the people webcasting all of the men’s home games. The quality is much higher than I was anticipating. It isn’t TV quality, but for a free service it’s pretty damn good.
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