HANOVER — In just over a week, the Dartmouth College men’s hockey team will take the ice for regular-season play as the program looks to build on its best campaign in recent history.
The Big Green are coming off a year in which they won their first ECAC tournament championship, advanced to their first NCAA Tournament since 1980 and won a program-record 23 games.
After a year like that, expectations are rising. Dartmouth was ranked second in the ECAC preseason poll last month and is currently 10th in the nation in the latest United States College Hockey Online rankings without a game under its belt.
It’s also not hard to see why expectations are high. Dartmouth returns much of its core from last season, having graduated just four players.
The Big Green get back the country’s leading goal scorer from last season, junior forward Hayden Stavroff (29 goals), and the team’s leading assist man and second-leading scorer, junior forward Hank Cleaves (18 goals, 22 assists).
Dartmouth also returns its top defenseman and the program’s newest captain, senior CJ Foley, who had 21 assists last season, along with its top netminder, senior Emmett Croteau, who posted a 1.93 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage last year.
On top of that, Big Green head coach Reid Cashman has high hopes that other returners will be just as, if not more, impactful than a season ago. That group includes senior forward Nikita Nikora, junior forward Jack Silverberg, junior defenseman Tim Busconi and junior defenseman Colin Grable.
That said, Dartmouth’s bench boss, his staff and the players aren’t running from their recent ascent — they’re taking it head-on.
“One, we address it,” Cashman said. “The last six years I’ve been here, like, (we) speak really honestly with each other. So let’s address the success that happened last year and what comes with that: expectations, preseason teams or preseason whatever that is.
“Then we realize, like, but it’s about us, and we’ve always talked about being present and being intentional, being here at Thompson and be present and be intentional about what we do. And then it’s how good can we be today.”
Cashman said that day-to-day mindset was what his squad needed when it was a five-win team four years ago, and it’s just as necessary now that his players avoid getting ahead of themselves.
With all the talk about expectations, two of the Big Green’s top athletes aren’t feeling the expectations.
“I wouldn’t say I feel any pressure,” Stavroff said. “You know, we put in the preparation day in, day out. Like I said, confidence, just kind of having that, trusting your game, trusting your team. We’re going to get our opponents’ best every night, which we want. It’ll make it interesting.
“We’re playing the game we love, so yeah, just kind of keeping it light, keeping it fun, trusting in the fellas.”
Foley echoed that sentiment: “Like, that’s not really how we think about things. Like, ‘Oh, we had a successful season last year, so it’s be a national championship team or bust.’ I think it’s just we take it one day at a time, one opponent at a time, one shift at a time, and the results will come in our favor.”
The Big Green had an exhibition with Norwich University last weekend. Though that and recent practices, one thing has stood out to Cashman about his squad: its passion.
“From day one, they’ve been really intentional,” he said. “Whether it’s the weight room, practice, I mean, it’s a long preseason. You can get frustrated or whatever the emotion might be, but they’ve stuck with it.
“That is the biggest takeaway. We have this really great group of kids that care about Dartmouth and care about the success of the season.”
Preseason work has also given the staff and veteran players a chance to see the newcomers; the program announced in June that it brought eight new players aboard.
“They have a lot of skill. They all — they work hard. They got determination, and they kind of share a common goal of wanting to get better, so they fit well in our group,” Stavroff said.
“Very mature class coming in. Older guys, they’re all doing great, and the thing that stands out the most is probably their work ethic. They all show up to the rink ready to go, work hard, doing all the right things, and yeah, they’re great,” Foley added.
The Big Green will get to satiate a hunger for more that their head coach said has been present since spring workouts when they host the University of Alaska Fairbanks to open the season. This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
“We lost a handful of guys. We brought in good freshmen. We have a good core group of guys here as well. So we’re really excited to see where things go here,” Stavroff said.
The Big Green’s season opener against the Nanooks is set for Halloween with a 7 p.m. puck drop at Thompson Arena.
