Preview: RPI at Dartmouth

RPI looks to salvage their weekend against an improved Dartmouth team

Dartmouth forward Cooper Flinton stickhandles the puck (photo: Dartmouth Athletics)

Coming off last night’s disappointing loss to Harvard, tonight is a big game for the Engineers as they look to stick with the huge conglomerate of teams from 2-12 in the ECAC. If they lose this game, RPI will fall to last in the league, which would be a very disappointing result since they started the weekend tied for 7th.

Dartmouth has been much improved this year. They started the year 3-3-6 against a pretty tough schedule, but they have gone 1-4 since. Last night, they lost to Union 5-1, so with that and their recent losing streak, they will be hungry to come out and get a win.

Team Breakdowns

Dartmouth has been struggling to score this year. They are below average in every metric. They aren’t awful at puck possession and getting chances, but their finishing ability is bad. Overall, it leads to the 58th ranked offense at even strength in terms of goals scored.

Obviously, this does not matter if RPI plays like they did last night. They allowed a weak Harvard offense to generate 16 scoring chances, 3 expected goals and 6 actual goals.

Defensive play is where Dartmouth has been better. While they allow opponents to take a lot of shots, they are good at limiting scoring chances and goals. The PK has been particularly very good. Even though they are bad at limiting chances there, Cooper Black has been a rock in the net while Dartmouth has been a man down.

Overall, Dartmouth is a team that’s a bit below average in puck possession and quality opportunities, but they really struggle in the actual goals department due to their lack of finishing ability. Dartmouth is higher in the pairwise and has a better record, but this is a winnable game.

Roster Breakdowns

The rosters of Dartmouth and RPI stack up pretty evenly. At forward, Dartmouth’s top line of Nikora, Haymes and Musa lead the team in points, and their game scores are pretty solid except for Haymes. This means Nikora and Musa have been controlling the play pretty well, but Haymes appears to be their weak link at center.

Outside of those 3, Cooper Flinton has been having a good year and leads the team in goals with 7. Sean Chisholm and Oskari Vuorio may not have gaudy point totals, but they have been playing reliable hockey for the Big Green.

The defense is where Dartmouth looks better than RPI, which makes sense given Dartmouth’s good defensive numbers. CJ Foley has been great back there with 8 points in 17 games, and he leads the team with a +3 rating in +/-. Him and Ian Pierce have made up a pretty good top pairing that generates offense while also not giving that offense back in the other direction.

Eric Charpentier has been another player who has been reliable defensively, but he has not produced the same offense as the top pairing. After him, there’s a big drop off. Both Fusco brothers and Tate McRae’s brother have given up a lot defensively, and it’s reflected with pretty low game scores.

The Engineers will have to limit Dartmouth’s top line since they don’t have the scoring depth to support it, and they will need to attack the bottom of the lineup defensemen who have struggled to limit chances and goals. Lastly, they need a better effort than last night. Letting teams with poor offenses get chances is a recipe for disaster even if they struggle to finish. RPI needs these points to stay in the ECAC race. Let’s Go Red!