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Tanner Glass remembers his first game for Dartmouth. It was against Holy Cross and during the pregame warm-up, he "beat the puck until it was square."

That game was three years ago, on Nov. 1, 2003, and Glass assisted on the game-winning goal in the second period of a 2-1 victory. Some guy named Stempniak scored it. Glass had 11 points in his freshman year and 15 points as a sophomore. Last season he scored 28 and he already has five points through the first two games this year.

Now Glass is a senior and is the captain of the Big Green. His game has blossomed over the last three years, but just as important has been the growth of his poise and confidence. In many ways, it has mirrored the development of Dartmouth's team. It had been among the four or five best teams in the ECAC Hockey League over the past six years, but it wasn't until last season when Dartmouth finally earned a trophy, by sharing the regular-season title with Colgate.

This team is ready to do more, and Glass is a perfect captain for it. A strong group of upperclassmen lead the way for the Big Green.

"A lot of our most depended-on players are older guys. We've been through it before. On defense you've got [Mike] Hartwick, [Ben] Lovejoy and [Grant] Lewis, and up front you've got guys like myself and Nick Johnson and David Jones," Glass said. "As an older team, we're more familiar with our opponents."

While last year marked Dartmouth's first ECACHL title of any sort, the beginning and end of the season were regrettable. Dartmouth lost its first four games and finished its season, save for a consolation game against Colgate, by getting smoked 10-1 against Harvard in the ECACHL semifinals.

The obvious goal for the team is to avoid a repeat of those events. The first part has been taken care of. Dartmouth defeated Harvard and Vermont on home ice and welcomes St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend.

We won't know until March how the second part unfolds, but we do know that Dartmouth hasn't forgotten the sting of that defeat. It has motivated them through the summer and fall. The loss also factored into Dartmouth narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament last year. The Big Green know that a better regular season can help get them into the NCAAs this time around, and to ensure they reach that next step, they need to avoid falling short in the ECACHL tournament again.

"Starting this season goes back to how last year ended, with a 10-1 loss to Harvard," Glass said. "Guys didn't forget that, and going back the last few years we didn't get [into position for] a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Once you're in the ECACHL tournament, anything can happen, especially in a one-game situation. Now we're treating every game like it's a big game, treating every night like it's the ECACHL final."

And that's exactly where they hope to end up.

Seen and Heard in the ECACHL
Going To Albany. Again: The bus ride from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., to Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y., takes approximately 2½ hours. The Bobcats know that quite well by this point; they have made their second trip to New York's capital in less than a week.

Quinnipiac went to Albany Friday night for weekend games in the Governor's Cup. Now the Bobcats have ECACHL contests at Union Friday and Rensselaer Saturday. That's not a bad thing. The eventual goal for all ECACHL teams is to get to Albany in March for the league's championship weekend. Quinnipiac appreciated the opportunity to get a feel for the downtown rink.

"It was good for us to get a taste of it, and see that arena if we're fortunate enough to get back there at the end of the season," Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. "If that happens, we'll be more comfortable after having gone through the Governor's Cup."

Defensive concerns linger for the Bobcats. They defeated Union 8-5, but the game was tied 5-5 with less than 10 minutes to play.

"We've played OK so far, but we need to continue to become a better defensive team," Pecknold said. "We had a lot of defensive breakdowns that Union capitalized on. You won't win a lot of games by giving up five goals a night."

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag
• RPI won the inaugural Governor's Cup tournament at Pepsi Arena. Both semifinal games were tied after 65 minutes of hockey and will be recorded as ties in the teams' overall records. Colgate and RPI advanced to the championship game via shootout. RPI's Dan Peace scored with 49 seconds left in the third period to give the Engineers a 2-1 win over Colgate Sunday. Peace, a junior, was playing in his first game of the season. It was just the third goal of his career.

• Pecknold on the quality of play at the tournament: "I thought it was a great tournament and was really impressed with the other three teams. Anyone could've won it, and I give credit to RPI for doing the things that it took to win."

Extras

Bench Minor If you've missed the news, you obviously haven't been paying much attention. RPI's loveable mascot Puckman has been relegated to a supporting role, and won't be the primary logo for the hockey team anymore. He'll appear on uniform shoulder patches and the mascot will still entertain at Houston Field House, but it's a bit of a bummer for the little guy. I would like to think that Puckman is taking the news well, and will help the team by moving from the power play to the checking line. Whatever it takes to win.

• Dartmouth isn't the only Ivy League team off to a perfect 2-0-0 start this season. Yale impressively scored wins over Holy Cross and New Hampshire. Bulldogs freshman Greg Beller scored 3:02 into overtime at UNH's Whittemore Center to give Yale a 4-3 win. The winning goal was assisted by another freshman, Chris Cahill, who scored the game-tying goal with 3:15 left in the third period.

• Cornell is the third 2-0-0 Ivy. The Big Red defeated visiting Robert Morris and RIT, and like Yale, freshmen are making an impact. Rookie defenseman Brendon Nash leads the team with four points (one goal, three assists), forward Blake Gallagher had a goal in the opener against RMU and Tony Romano had two assists against RIT.

• St. Lawrence snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory at Wayne State on Saturday. The losses to Niagara, Providence and Michigan State were all decided in the third period.

• Clarkson enters league play with a pair of tests at Harvard and Dartmouth. An exhibition loss against the U.S. Under-18 team followed an earlier home loss to Lake Superior State. The inconsistent efforts are bothering Golden Knights coach George Roll. He said in the team's weekly notes, "To get beat 5-1 and 6-2 in your own building in two out of three games is certainly not the type of effort we need. It is something that is certainly a concern for us as a staff. We have to get the players motivated to play each and every night. Until we learn that we are going to continue to have those ups and downs."

• Union battled back from a pair of two-goal deficits to tie the game each time against Quinnipiac on Sunday. A slew of penalties helped cause the downfall of the Dutchmen in the 8-5 defeat. Union's goaltending situation is still unsettled; junior Justin Mrazek and freshman Rich Sillery have shared the ice time in recent games. Sophomore Augie DiMarzo carries a four-game point streak into this weekend's games against Quinnipiac and Princeton.

• Brown's Brian Ihnacak is back on the ice. He had a goal and an assist in an exhibition win over Trois-Rivieres, and no points in a tie against Merrimack, but he did see time on the power play. Goaltender Mark Sibbald started both contests.

• Princeton made three lineup changes after its season-opening tie against Bentley. With the new faces in the lineup the following night, the Tigers lost 3-2. Senior Darroll Powe and freshman Mark Magnowski each have three points to lead the team in scoring.

• Expect Harvard to come out hard against Clarkson on Friday. The Crimson are 14-0-1 in their last 15 games following a loss, and haven't lost back-to-back games in the regular season since the first week of January 2005.

• All of this early-season optimism might translate into box office revenue. The ECACHL started selling ticket packages for its championship weekend in Albany, N.Y. Tickets went on sale Wednesday at the Pepsi Center, which will be called the Times Union Center by the time the tournament takes place.

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