Hanover
Kennedy Ottenbreit, one of the Big Green’s six seniors, notched a hat trick and Morgan Turner scored into an empty net as the hosts ended the season 7-21 overall and 5-17 in ECAC play. A gathering announced at 907 cheered lustily and waved homemade signs.
“It’s a pretty surreal feeling, going out like that,” Ottenbreit said. “Playing next to each other with so many of our friends and family here was the best feeling in the world. Our hearts were in it so much because this was the last time we could go out there. It gave us that extra edge.”
Said first-year coach Laura Schuler: “We learned a lot this year. New systems and little details and habits. Although we didn’t get the record we would have liked, we saw a lot of growth, overall.”
Dartmouth’s seven victories bested its six wins last season, but its two-year total of 13 is the fewest since the program gained varsity status in 1977.
The Big Green finished in a 10th-place tie with Brown in the 12-team ECAC standings and will miss the conference’s eight-team postseason tournament for the second consecutive year. That’s the first time such a scenario has occurred since the Big Green initially reached the event in 1989.
Yale (10-15-4, 8-12-2), which played without injured top scorer Krista Yip-Chuck, started backup goaltender Hanna Mandl, and entered the weekend all but locked into the seventh playoff slot.
The Bulldogs were blitzed by ninth-place Harvard, 5-0, on Friday and were beaten to loose pucks all afternoon long by the Big Green.
“Today is one of those memories we’ll never forget,” Ottenbreit said. “I’ll remember how much heart this team had.”
Senior goaltender Robyn Chemago, pulled during Friday’s loss to Brown, rebounded with 29 saves and finished with a .928 save percentage and a 2.37 goals-against average. Those are impressive numbers playing behind the lowest-scoring Dartmouth team in more than a decade. The Big Green averaged 1.35 goals per game this season, down from 2.70 two years ago and 4.29 in 2006-07.
Dartmouth finished the season with only two players, Ottenbreit and Eleni Tebano, producing 10 or more points. It had six such players a year ago and nine during the 2014-15 campaign, when four skaters had 20 or more points. During the 2010-11 season, 10 Big Green players finished with double-digit points and four recorded more than 30.
Dartmouth’s six seniors include the team’s top two scorers and that class combined for 47 points, total. The Big Green had 96 points overall this winter, so graduation will claim nearly half the team’s offensive output.
Ottenbreit, however, said she’s optimistic about the future.
“The way coach Schuler knows the Xs and Os of the game and the way she puts all her passion and hours into us is incredible,” Ottenbreit said. “She believes in us and I have no doubt that things will end up great from here.”
Harry Sheehy, Dartmouth’s athletic director, attended Saturday’s game and sounded a similar tone, although he cautioned that improvement will take time.
“I don’t think a lot of people know how empty (former coach Mark Hudak) left the cupboard in terms of roster size and talent,” Sheehy said. “So this is kind of the path we expected this season.
“The talent just hasn’t been there. This is a good group of kids who work hard, but we need a talent infusion and we should get that in a couple of years. We’re looking at this as a three- to five-year program and I think three is reasonable.”
Schuler said she will leave early next week to scout the Minnesota high school state tournament and is scheduled to depart in late March for Michigan, where she will coach Canada’s women’s national team in the World Championships.
Schuler declined comment when asked if she could conceive of a situation in which she would turn down the chance to coach her native land in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She did say she expected a decision on that job to be made shortly after the World Championships and noted last fall that she had been told by the Hockey Canada organization that she was the top prospect for the post.
Notes: Hudak, who stepped down after last season, attended the game and was on the ice for postgame photos with the players he recruited and coached. … Dartmouth’s incoming freshman class includes a goaltender who will take Chemago’s place on the roster. … Schuler said she remains hopeful that junior forward Brooke Ahbe, who played only seven games this season because of injury, can return for her senior campaign. Also sitting out on Saturday was sophomore defenseman Tess Bracken, hurt during Friday’s action. … Dartmouth and Brown finished the regular season as the only two Division I teams out of 35 without a tie. … The scoring on Dartmouth’s final goal featured the most unlikely of trios. Turner has four points in 77 games, Devon Moir had 11 points in 107 contests and Mackenzie St. Onge had 10 in 115 games. … Defenseman Sydney Hill was the only Big Green skater to finish with a plus rating this season. Bracken was at the other end of the spectrum with a minus-22.