03.04.19
The Weekend Roundup p. 2-3 Men’s basketball drops to 2-10 in disappointing conference play p. 6
Pucks in Deep: ‘Pajama Boy’ Tavares Returns to the Island p. 7
2019 marks 30 years for coaches Thompson Graves and Dodge p. 8
Men’s hockey secures No. 5 seed in ECAC tournament p. 4 ALEX FREDMAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
The weekend Roundup
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019
Men’s basketball
Compiled by THE DARTMOUTH sports STAFF
Baseball The Big Green traveled to Cary, North Carolina this weekend for the Army Baseball Classic and went home with three wins out of four games. On Friday, Dartmouth took on Tulane University. Although the Big Green got out to a one-run lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Michael Calamari ’20, Tulane would pick up two runs off of Cole O’Connor ’19 in the latter half of the inning and then three more in the fifth before heavy rain led to the game ending early with a 5-1 score in Tulane’s favor. Saturday went much better for the Big Green as the team picked up two wins against Fairleigh Dickinson University, 6-1 and 4-3. In the first game, the Big Green put up six runs on nine hits to give Nathan Skinner ’22 his first win of
the season on a one-run, two-hit 4.1 inning performance. Later that day, the Big Green came back in dramatic style from a 3-1 deficit in the ninth inning, as Trevor Johnson ’20 drove in two runs in a clutch twoout single, and Kade Kretzschmar ’22 drove in the dagger with a sacrifice fly in the tenth to secure the victory. The team finished the weekend on Sunday on a high note with a 4-2 victory over Saint Joseph’s University. Matt Feinstein ’19 led the way with a 2-4, 2 RBI effort, and pitchers Trystan Sarcone ’22 and Jonah Jenkins ’21 combined for two runs on just five hits, with Jenkins earning the win. The Big Green (4-4) has a brief break before heading to Kissimmee, Florida to take on Wayne State University on March 14.
SOFTball Women’s softball had a tough weekend at the University of C e n t r a l F l o r i d a I nv i t e t h i s weekend, losing all five games in Orlando. The team got pummeled on Friday, falling 8-0 to Louisiana Tech University and 10-0 to UCF, with Madie Augusto ’22 and Shelby Wilkison ’21 taking losses. The Big Green put up a better effort the next day against the University of Toledo, building a 3-2 lead coming into the final inning but then falling 5-4. Tessa Grossman ’20 went 3-4 with a run and an RBI, while Augusto gave up four runs on five hits in 6.2 innings with five strikeouts.
On Sunday, the Big Green lost a rematch against Toledo, 4-3. Sophie Ausmus ’20 knocked in three runs on a triple in the fourth, but it was not enough to prevent Wilkison from picking up her second loss of the season. Later that day, the Big Green put a valiant effort against No. 1 Florida State University — putting up four runs in the first — but the Seminoles responded with a barrage of runs to win the game, 8-4. The Big Green (2-8) has two weeks off before heading to the Golden State for the California State University Northridge/ Loyola Marymount University tournament.
ALEX FREDMAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Men’s basketball lost to Princeton and Penn this weekend and stand at last place in the Ivy League.
The men’s basketball team endured another disappointing homestand this weekend, losing 77-76 to Princeton University in overtime and 65-51 to the University of Pennsylvania. With the losses, the team drops to 11-17 overall and 2-10 in conference play. As has been the case throughout Ivy League play, the Big Green was unable to win a game that came down to the final seconds against Princeton. Dartmouth miraculously rallied from an eight-point deficit to send the game to overtime, but it fell behind quickly in the extra period and was unable to overcome its eightpoint overtime deficit.
Against Penn, the first half was close, but the second half was more decisive. Penn took a 24-point lead at one point in the half and held Dartmouth to its lowest point total of the season. Aaryn Rai ’21 stood out with 21 points on Friday night and 12 on Saturday night, and Chris Knight ’21 had a stellar 22-point effort against the Tigers on Friday. Now, the Big Green turns its focus to its final two-game stretch of the season. It will take on Columbia University on Friday night before traveling to Cornell University on Saturday night to close out the season.
SQUASH Three Dartmouth squash players traveled to Brown University for the men’s and women’s individual championships. Anne Blasberg ’20 and Sam Epley ’19 exited in the quarterfinals, while Matt Giegerich ’19 made it all the way to the finals, winning that match to secure the Molloy Cup North Division championship. Blasberg, who compiled a 4-11 record at the No. 1 ladder position this season, swept her St. Lawrence University opponent 11-4, 11-5, 11-3 in the first round of the women’s tournament. She was competitive in the quarterfinal match but could not get the edge on Trinity University’s Vanessa Raj in any of the three games.
Epley bowed out in the men’s quarterfinals after going 6-11 at the No. 3 spot in 2019. To get to the quarterfinals, Epley dispatched his Cornell University opponent in three games. He lost the first game against Franklin and Marshall College’s Sanjay Jeeva, then pulled even with an 11-9 win before losing the next two. Giegerich, who went 10-7 at Dartmouth’s No. 2 spot, climbed all the way to the finals by beating Bard College’s Rhys Nordstrom, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Joe O’Connor and Harvard University’s Julien Gosset. In the finals, Giegrich recovered from a 2-1 deficit and won his final two games to take home the trophy.
men’s hockey Zachary ZacharyBenjamin Benjamin’19 ’19
Zachary Benjamin ’19 Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief
Hanting Hanting Guo Guo ’19 ’19
Vinay Reddy ’20 Publisher Publisher Interim Publisher
Ioana IoanaSolomon Solomon’19 ’19
03.04.19 Vol.CLXXV CLXXVNo. No.27 146 4.30.18 4.23.18 Vol. Vol. CLXXV No. 21
AmandaZhou Zhou ’19 Ioana Amanda Solomon ’19 ’19 Executive Editors Executive Editors Executive Editor
Mark Cui ’19
Mark Cui ’19 Alex Fredman ’20 Justin Kramer ’21’20 Samantha Hussey Evan Morgan ’19
Associate Sports Editor Sports Editors Divya DivyaKopalle Kopalle Kopalle’21 ’21 ’21 Divya Michael MichaelLin Lin Lin’21 ’21 ’21 Michael Photography PhotographyEditors Editors Editors Photography Jaclyn Jaclyn Eagle Eagle ’19 ’19 Hattie Newton ’21 Templating TemplatingEditor Editor Editor Templating
The men’s hockey team finished the regular season in fifth place of the Eastern College Athletic Conference standings after an overtime loss and victory this weekend. The Big Green lost 4-3 in overtime to Union College and earned a 5-2 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The team will open the ECAC tournament next weekend at Thompson Arena in a best-of-three series against St. Lawrence University. On Friday, the Big Green never had the lead in the game. With under eight minutes in the third period, Alex Jasiek ’19 tied the game at one, Union soon followed with two more goals. But then, Drew O’Connor ’22 scored on an empty net goal with 78 seconds left, followed by a Quin Foreman ’21 goal 57 seconds after that, sending the game into overtime. Union would eventually win the game in overtime, but the Big Green were still able to
pick up a point for the night. The game actually was the first time this season that the Big Green lost a game when it registered fewer shots on goal than its opponent. With the assurance of a home playoff series under its belt, the Big Green entered Saturday night looking to get a better seed in the tournament. Will Graber ’20 scored three times to earn a hat trick, and O’Connor added two more to give the Big Green the win. After initially trailing 1-0, Dartmouth then scored four unanswered goals, including two goals in the second period that came separated by only 19 seconds. The Big Green finished the regular season with a record of 11-14-4, including a 10-9-3 record in ECAC play. The first two games against St. Lawrence will be on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m.
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
Men’s lacrosse Men’s lacrosse picked up its first win of the season on Saturday with an 11-4 victory over Wagner University. Ben Martin ’20 and George Prince ’21 eached picked up three goals and Matt Paul ’21 picked up two, while Trevor Ballantyne ’21, Peter Rizzotti ’22 and Harlan Smart ’20 netted the other three goals for the Big Green. Daniel Hincks ’22 proved solid in goal, making 11 saves and allowing three goals in 57 minutes. The Big Green is back in action tomorrow with its first home game of the season against the University of Massachusetts Lowell at 4:00 p.m.
Women’s lacrosse Women’s lacrosse opened Ivy League play on Saturday with a 15-11 home win over Brown University. Kierra Sweeney ’19 scored five goals and Campbell Brewer ’19 scored three with one assist, while Kellen D’Alleva ’19 scored two points and tacked on six assists. Brown’s 11 goals on the day was a season low for a team that is among the nation’s leaders in offense, and a nine-save performance by Kiera Vrindten ’20 earned her the win. The Big Green (2-3, 1-0 Ivy) will stay at home for a matchup against the University of Connecticut on Wednesday.
SAILING The Dartmouth sailing team opened its 2019 season on Sunday at the Sharpe Team Race Trophy competition in Providence, Rhode Island. The Big Green defeated six of its seven opponents, earning a
third place finish. Dartmouth’s one loss came to host Brown University, which finished in first place overall. The team will next compete on March 23 and 24.
W TENNIS The women’s tennis team suffered a close loss on Saturday to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, dropping the home match 4-3. Despite a doubles victory from Allison Chuang ’19 and Allison McCann ’20, UMass won the other two doubles matches to pick up the point. Chuyang
Guan ’20, McCann and Jingyi Peng ’22 garnered three points for the Big Green with singles victories, but three singles wins by UMass gave Dartmouth its fourth straight loss. The Big Green (3-8) next faces Rice University in Houston on March 17.
M Swimming The Big Green finished in last place in the Ivy League Championship for the fifth straight season, but the meet was not without its individual highlights. Connor LaMastra ’21 finished fifth in the 200-yard fly with a time of
1:44.35, while Justin Sodokoff ’21 took third on the 3-meter diving board with a score of 355.80. Meanwhile, AJ Krok ’19 earned the title of Ron Keenhold Career High Point Diver, having secured 105.5 career points.
After losing 60-44 to Penn in Leede Arena two weeks ago, the Big Green headed to the Palestra seeking to prove themselves against the league leaders. Despite losing 56-52, the Big Green held the Quakers (20-5, 10-2 Ivy) to their smallest margin of victory of conference play. Isalys Quinones ’19 and Kealy Brown ’19 led the Big Green in scoring, with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Next weekend, the Big Green returns to Leede Arena for the final weekend of conference play. Currently one game out of fifth place, Dartmouth’s performance against Columbia University and Cornell University on Friday and Saturday will help determine who earns the fourth and final spot in the Ivy League Tournament.
The men’s golf team kicked off its 2019 play on Monday and Tuesday at the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate Tournament in Hilton Head, South Carolina, finishing 17th out of 19 teams. Reed Russ ’19 led the Big Green on the second day with a oneover-par day on the par-73 course, while the team as a whole shot nine over par on the day. Reed
would finish tied for 58th among individuals in the tournament with an overall 16-over-par effort, while Jason Liu ’21 rode a two-over-par performance on the second day to tie for 45th overall. T he Big Green will take three weeks off before heading to Greenville, South Carolina for the Furman Intercollegiate Invitational.
M GOLF
DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Women’s lacrosse defeated Brown 15-11 in its Ivy League opener on Saturday.
Taking on Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania for the second time this season, women’s basketball (12-13, 5-7 Ivy) fought hard but ultimately fell to the two Ivy League leaders. On Friday night, the Big Green faced the Tigers (18-9, 10-2 Ivy) on their home court. A solid start put the Big Green up by one at the half, but a third quarter slide left the Green and White down 18 heading into the final quarter. Though the team played Princeton evenly in the fourth, outscoring them 11-10, the bad start to the second half proved to be too much to recover from for Dartmouth, and the Big Green lost 64-47. Elle Louie ’21 led the Big Green’s scoring effort as the only player in double digits with 12.
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Men’s hockey secures No. 5 seed in ECAC tournament B y ADDISON DICK
The Dartmouth Staff
A three-point weekend propelled the men’s hockey team into fifth place of the Eastern College Athletic Conference standings as the regular season came to a close. The Big Green lost 4-3 in overtime to Union College and earned a 5-2 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The team will open the ECAC tournament next weekend at Thompson Arena in a best-of-three series against St. Lawrence University. On Friday against Union, the Big Green never led and appeared on its way to a regulation loss. After Alex Jasiek ’19 tied the game at one with under eight minutes in the third period, Union found the back of the net twice. With fewer than two minutes remaining, the Big Green trailed 3-1. Drew O’Connor ’22 cut the lead in half on an empty net goal with 78 seconds left, and 57 seconds later, Quin Foreman ’21 scored another empty net goal and sent the game into overtime. Union quickly found the back of the net in the final minute of overtime, but the Big Green salvaged a point in a game that appeared out of reach. The game marked the first time in seven games this season that the Big Green lost a game
when it registered fewer shots on goal than its opponent, and the loss eliminated the team from the possibility of a first-round bye. Having already secured a home playoff series, the Big Green entered Saturday night hoping to improve its seeding in the ECAC tournament. Will Graber ’20 scored a hat trick and O’Connor added two goals to lead the Big Green to a comfortable win over RPI. The Big Green, trailing 1-0, scored four unanswered goals, including two goals in the second period that came 19 seconds apart. The win over Union concluded the Big Green’s regular season. The Big Green finished the regular season with a record of 11-14-4 and a 10-9-3 record in ECAC play. Goaltender Adrian Clark ’20 said the season was marked by ups and downs and that he learned just how crazy the ECAC can be, with any team being in a position to win any game. The Big Green showed that this year, with wins over each of the top four teams in the ECAC. “It’s pretty cool to have shown that we can play with top teams like Cornell, Clarkson and Yale,” Clark said. “At this point, I’m really happy with how we’ve played against every team. We didn’t take any teams lightly, and we didn’t give up against the higher ranked teams. It shows not only our mental
ALEX FREDMAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The Big Green defeated RPI 5-2 on Saturday, ensuring its second straight No. 5 seed in the ECAC tournament.
toughness, but also the skill set that everyone has on the team.” Saturday’s victor y placed Dartmouth into a tie with Yale for fifth in the ECAC standings, but the Big Green’s season sweep of the Bulldogs gave them the tiebreaker
for conference tournament seeding. because we know how good every As a result, the Big Green will play team is.” at home next weekend against St. O’Connor finished the regular Lawrence, which finished in last season with 13 goals to lead the Big place in the league. The Big Green Green in scoring. He is hoping to recorded a win and a tie against the continue his momentum into his Saints this season, most recently first conference tournament. playing to a 2-2 “I’m draw on Feb. 16. not going to If the team is able “At this point, I’m let it change to win the series, really happy with how t o o mu ch , ” it will travel to he said. “It’s p l a y H a r v a r d we’ve played each the same University in a team. We didn’t take g a m e we ’re three-game series playing, just any teams lightly, on March 15-17. a little more The Big Green and we didn’t give intense. I’m opened the season up against the higher really excited against Harvard for it. Playoffs in one of the ranked teams. It are a lot of fun most memorable shows not only our to play in.” games of the T h e mental toughness, but season. Despite Big Green a l l o w i n g f i v e also the skill set that will face the power play goals everyone has on the same scenario to the Crimson, it faced last the Big Green team.” season. That defeated its year, No. 5 rival 7-6 in an Dartmouth overtime thriller. -ADRIAN CLARK ’20 played No. 12 “It was a really St. Lawrence, emotional one,” with the Big Clark said. “Looking back at it Green advancing in a three-game now, it’s crazy how those two points series. The Big Green then fell to were really critical for us and how Harvard in another three-game they’ve helped us in the standings series. This postseason, the team at this point in the year.” will look to move a step further Looking ahead to the postseason, and reach the third weekend of O’Connor is hoping to make the tournament in Lake Placid, a playoff run deep into the New York. tournament. Games one and two against “In the playoffs, everyone wants St. Lawrence are on Friday and to win,” O’Connor said. “So it Saturday night in Thompson doesn’t matter who we’re playing, Arena at 7 p.m. If the teams split we need to play a complete game, those two games, a winner-take-all and I think we’ll be fine. We have third game would take place on no reason to overlook anybody Sunday night at 7 p.m.
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
Men’s basketball drops to 2-10 in disappointing conference play B y Baily Deeter
The Dartmouth Staff
T he theme of the men’s basketball season has been losing close game after close game in Ivy League play, and to some degree, the trend continued this weekend. Princeton University defeated Dartmouth 77-76 in overtime on Friday night, while the University of Pennsylvania knocked off the Big Green more convincingly with a 65-51 win the following night. With the losses, the Big Green fall to 2-10 in Ivy League play and 11-17 overall. While that record is obviously disappointing, it doesn’t truly tell the story of the team’s season. Out of those 10 losses, seven of them came by five points or fewer, with six of them being by just one possession. With its 14-point win on Saturday night, Penn joined Yale University as just the second Ivy League team to beat the Big Green by more than five points. Regardless, the team still finds itself in last place in the conference. In some of its close losses throughout the season, the Big Green missed shots that could have tied or won the game. However, while the result was the same, the team made the plays it needed to down the stretch against Princeton. On Friday, Dartmouth trailed
60-52 with 1:22 left, but a Brendan Barry ’20 3-pointer, a Princeton turnover and a Chris Knight ’21 layup narrowed the deficit to three points. The Big Green got the ball back for the last possession, and James Foye ’20 buried a clutch three-pointer from the left wing to tie the game at 60. “Everyone in the gym probably counted us out in the last minute, and they responded,” head coach David McLaughlin said. “They made tough plays and they played together.” Unfortunately for the Big Green, the positive momentum didn’t carry into overtime. Princeton scored the first eight points of the overtime period, putting Dartmouth in familiar territory. This time, it could only make up seven points of the eight-point deficit. “We’re always fighting,” Aaryn Rai ’21 said. “We’re going to compete no matter who we play against. One of these games, we’re going to make that jump. We’re right there.” While the team fell short in overtime, it didn’t lack for electrifying plays during the period. Knight scored five points and had a key block in a span of 29 seconds, Foye hit another clutch 3-pointer and Rai scored six points in the final 18 seconds of the game. Rai
scored a career-high 21 points and had a few key steals in arguably his best performance this season. “[Rai’s] a really great player, and he went through a really bad injury at the beginning of the season that he’s honestly just coming back from,” McLaughlin said. “Aaryn’s got to realize that, if he wants to be really good, he can. He’s a high-level college basketball player.” On top of Rai’s solid effort, Knight scored 22 and Barry scored 17 to pace the offense against the Tigers, whom McLaughlin called the best defensive team in the Ivy League. Princeton, at 8-4 in Ivy League play, clinched a spot in the Ivy League tournament, which will feature the top four teams in terms of conference record. And yet Dartmouth, six games back at 2-10, was just one point away from beating them in both of the teams’ matchups. Penn currently sits at 5-7 and will need a mini-miracle in order to make the conference tournament, but you wouldn’t have known it from watching Saturday’s game. The Quakers dominated the Big Green in the second half, building up a lead as large as 24 points before winning by 14. “They played tougher than us, and they played more together basketball,” McLaughlin said.
ALEX FREDMAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Brendan Barry ’20 scored 17 points in Dartmouth’s loss to Princeton on Saturday.
“When they made a little run, we lost our identity a little bit, and we had a hard time grasping that back. We took shots we don’t normally take, and we weren’t getting to stops we normally would.” The halftime score of 27-24 seemed to point to another thrilling finish, but a double-double from star A.J. Brodeur and a few timely 3s gave the Quakers an insurmountable lead. Brodeur scored a whopping 36 points in the first meeting between the two teams, so his 19-point effort tonight was more modest in comparison. However, he had 13 rebounds, many of which contributed to key second-chance points that made all the difference for Penn. Eleven of Penn’s 27 firsthalf points came off of offensive rebounds, and the Quakers ended up outscoring the Big Green 15-2 on second-chance points. Additionally, double-teaming Brodeur opened up opportunities for his teammates, with three other Quakers scoring in double-digits. Foye and Rai contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively, but otherwise, the Big Green were quiet on offense. Dartmouth’s 51 points was its lowest point total of the entire season. On an otherwise disappointing night, a bright spot was the senior night ceremony. Guilien Smith ’19, as the only senior, took center stage as he was honored for his four-year career. In his final game at Leede Arena, Smith made two 3-pointers. One of those came in the final 30 seconds, a fitting end to a career that would have been even more
successful if not for several injuries. “Coming in as a freshman, I thought he was the best player on our team,” Foye said. “What he’s been playing through is remarkable. He has fractures in both ankles and a sprained Achilles, but he’s been a warrior.” Now that it has been officially eliminated from the Ivy League tournament and any other postseason tournament such as the National Invitational Tournament or the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, the Big Green only have two games left on the season. The team will hit the road to take on Columbia University next Friday and Cornell University the day after before the focus shifts to the 2019-20 season. Dartmouth is the only Ivy League team that hasn’t regularly started a senior this year, meaning that it will return its entire starting lineup next year. With the addition of Trevon Ary-Turner ’21 and an extra year of experience under the team’s belt, the Big Green should be a threat in conference play next season. “I know for a fact that this season is not an indicator of what next season’s going to be like,” Smith said. “It’s a building block. Next year the games we’re losing by one or two points are the games we’re going to be winning by one or two points.” Smith, while understandably sad that he won’t be a part of the team next year, has full confidence in his teammates to get the job done in his absence. “They’ll take it from here,” he said.
Pucks in Deep
with Sam Stockton ’19 Pucks in Deep: ‘Pajama Boy’ Tavares Returns to the Island As finals encroach and The Dartmouth’s winter term production comes to its close, I’d like to conclude this term’s run of “Pucks in Deep” where I began — with John Tavares’ free agent signing in Toronto. In my first column of the term, I wrote about Tavares’ homecoming to Toronto and its terrifying implications for Leafs Nation. As I sign off for the term, I’d like to consider Tavares’ signing from the opposite perspective — that of the New York Islanders, the team that drafted Tavares first overall in 2009 only to watch him leave in free agency last summer having won just one playoff series in his tenure with the Isles. The easiest explanation for what’s happened since requires the invocation of Bill Simmons’ “Ewing Theory.” According to Simmons, who attributes the theory to his friend Dave Cirilli, the Ewing Theory comes into play when a given franchise’s dominant star, subject to the bulk of its fan and media attention, leaves the team — whether through free agency, trade or injury — prompting the media to write off that team’s chances for at least the following season. However, in true instances of the Ewing Theory, that team inexplicably improves without its star. The name “Ewing Theory” goes back to Cirilli’s observation that Patrick Ewing’s teams — both at Georgetown University and in the NBA for the Knicks — seemed to play better during his absences from the lineup due to injury or foul trouble. As alternative examples, Simmons cites the 2000 Seattle Mariners (who traded away Ken Griffey, Jr. and before that Randy Johnson only to take home the American League Wild Card and win a first round series over the White Sox) and the Corleone family from “The Godfather” (who survived Sonny’s death and Vito’s near assasination, only to see Michael return from exile in Italy and breathe new life into the family). To help quantify the Isles’ turnaround, last season, the team finished second-to-last in the Metropolitan Division with just 35 wins and 80 points in the standings. Last year, they surrendered the second most expected goals per
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60 minutes in the league at 2.78. This year, through 64 contests, the Islanders have already eclipsed both those totals, with 37 wins and 81 standings points, good for the secondbest mark in the Metro. After being one of the most porous defensive teams in the league a season ago, the Isles are among the stingiest defensive teams in the league this season, surrendering just 2.27 expected goals per game — the fourth best mark in the league. Though the 2018-19 Islanders fit Simmons’ Ewing Theory mold perfectly, I think we can arrive at a more substantive explanation for their success having lost their franchise cornerstone. This explanation must begin with the arrival of new head coach Barry Trotz. Last season, Trotz guided the Washington Capitals to their first ever Stanley Cup championship. After that crown, Trotz demanded a pay raise, Caps’ owner Ted Leonsis declined and, just like that, Trotz was gone, inking a deal with the Islanders. The specifics of the deal have not been made public, but it has been reported to be worth at least $4 million per season. Trotz’s contribution to the Caps, beyond the shiny and obvious one, was in many ways a stylistic one. Under Trotz, the high-flying Capitals developed the ability to play a tightchecking style within a rigid system. He turned the Caps’ offensive stars into more complete players, capable of making an impact with or without the puck. During the last season’s Cup run, the Caps adopted a 1-1-3 neutral zone trap that flummoxed the skilled and speedy Penguins, Lightning and Golden Knights in succession. In four seasons in Washington, Trotz made the playoffs every year, won the Metro in each of his final three seasons, won the President’s Trophy twice for best record in the league and, of course, captured the Stanley Cup. In less than a full season in New York, Trotz has had much the same impact. Last season, the Islanders lacked any semblance of defensive structure, playing a pond-hockey style that relied on their skilled forwards to outscore opponents. It was fun hockey to watch but did not translate to victories. Upon his arrival, Trotz turned the Isles into a defensive juggernaut, instituting a similar 1-1-3 neutral zone to the one that proved so effective in D.C. In today’s NHL, many teams are moving away from the old school tight-checking, dumpand-chase style of play in favor of the controlled zone entry, carrying the puck into the offensive zone without ever losing possession. Meanwhile, Trotz’s islanders have turned back the clock to perfection. They dump the puck in more often than any team in the league, looking to jump out to an early lead before smothering opponents with their tight defense of the neutral zone. With all that out of the way, let’s return to the reason we’re discussing the Islanders in the first place. On
Thursday night, John Tavares and the Maple Leafs returned to Nassau Coliseum. The historic home of the Islanders and the site of their early ’80s dynasty, the stadium had been out of commission for the final few seasons of the Tavares era with the team having been shut down in the 2015 playoffs following a first round loss to Barry Trotz and the Caps. This season, due to the poor fit of the Islanders in its new Brooklyn home at Barclays Center, the team has played a few games back in the Coliseum, and it just so happened that Tavares’ return is among them. Leading into the return, Long Island’s Channel 12 news aired a segment entitled “Dear John,” featuring a few fans reading heartfelt letters to their former captain. In this video, grown adults appeared on the brink of tears over John Tavares’ choice to go home. I cannot do justice to this video in prose, so I’d highly recommend looking it up for yourself, but one highlight: “You turned us all down … you hurt us all.” N o w, I c a n u n d e r s t a n d disappointment or even resentment at a star’s departure in free agency, but the Islanders’ collective bitterness toward Tavares takes that resentment to new heights. I don’t mean to suggest that there wasn’t a single Islanders fan pleased for their former captain, especially given their own team’s success. However, as the Isles played a tribute to Tavares’ tenure on the Island on the Coliseum video board, the boos and chants of “A—
h—” drowned out the Jumbotron audio. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski was kind enough to catalogue all of the chants directed by the Coliseum at Tavares. These ranged from the aforementioned vulgarities to “You’re a liar” to “We don’t need you.” I find this last one great, as it seems peculiar to burn and otherwise deface jerseys of, direct jeers at and throw rubber snakes at someone whom you are pleased departed. On this point, another interesting moniker Isles’ fans have developed for Tavares is “Pajama Boy,” a reference to the now famous picture with which Tavares announced his signing in Toronto. In the picture, a young Tavares sleeps in a bed with Maple Leafs sheets. Notably absent from the picture are pajamas, but who am I to judge the ways in which Long Islanders work through their rage? On the ice, the game was a perfect example of Barry Trotz hockey. The Islanders withstood an early push and goal from Toronto and tied up the game going into the first intermission. In the second, the Islanders barraged the Leafs with physicality and constant offensive pressure, netting three goals. In the game’s final frame, the Isles sat comfortably back in their rigid neutral zone, smothering any hope the Leafs had at a comeback and adding two more goals of their own for good measure. In the end, the contest was just one regular season game among 82,
but, for the Islanders — or at least their fans — it seems the season’s greatest work is done. For about three hours, the old Nassau Coliseum was as raucous as any venue in American sports. The Islanders and their fans showed their former captain that what he left behind is doing just fine. At this point, I’d encourage Islanders fans to move on from their Tavares-bashing and start celebrating their upstart team led by Trotz. With less than 20 games to go, it seems a lock that Trotz will take home the Jack Adams as NHL coach of the year. I don’t think the Isles have the firepower to win more than a round in the postseason, but this is not cause for despair. Their prospect bank is rich — good reason for optimism for the future. Without a doubt, revenge was sweet, but it’s time to channel the same energy they invested in lampooning Tavares into their own team every night. The Isles have been at the league’s attendance cellar for years, and the NHL would be a more fun league if they could replicate Thursday night’s atmosphere for an 82-game season. As for “Pajama Boy,” the return to Long Island was not one to remember, but, as I said in my initial Tavares column, the success of his contract with the Leafs will be determined by whether he brings Lord Stanley back to Toronto for the first time since 1967, not a late February game in Long Island. Here’s to hoping we get Leafs-Islanders in the playoffs before too long.
MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
SW 8
SPORTS
2019 marks 30 years for coaches Thompson Graves and Dodge
By ELIJAh Czysz The Dartmouth
In 1985, Cami Thompson Graves and Peter Dodge ’78 found themselves in very different positions — but both trying to make it in professional skiing. The former had just graduated from St. Lawrence University and made the jump to the U.S. Ski Team, which took her to the 1985 World Championships in Seefeld, Austria. The latter was enjoying success on the pro tour, winning the slalom at the Peugeot tour national finals that year, his fifth season since he was rookie of the year in 1980. By September 1989, their paths had converged in Hanover. Thompson Graves spent just one more year on the U.S. Ski Team before taking a job at Dartmouth as a development coach in 1988. And Dodge, then a pro tour veteran, had begun to consider options outside of racing. When the men’s alpine head coaching job opened up at his alma mater, Dodge jumped on it. Thirty years later, Dodge and Thompson Graves are still here, Dodge as men’s alpine head coach and Thompson Graves now as director of skiing and women’s Nordic head coach. A long list of athletes has achieved national and international success on the strength of coaching from Dodge and Thompson Graves. Thompson Graves’ skiers have won 42 All-America honors since 2000, and five of them competed in biathlon and cross-country skiing at both the Pyeongchang Games and the Sochi Games. Thirty-two of Dodge’s skiers since 2000 have been All-Americans, and he has coached several Olympians as well, David Chodounsky ’08 and Patrick Biggs ’06 among them. Long before they sent skiers to the NCAA championships and the Olympics, Dodge and Thompson Graves both started skiing in their home state of Vermont. Growing up in St. Johnsbury, Dodge’s whole family skied and his father raced. He and his brother were always on the slopes of the Northeast Kingdom. “There were a couple little rope tow hills that we could ski in after school during the week, and on the weekends, we’d go to a race or a bigger mountain,” Dodge said. Like Dodge, Thompson Graves grew up alpine skiing in Vermont, taking after her father, who skied for the University of Vermont. “We’d ski in the backyard a little
bit,” Thompson Graves said. “The mountain was our babysitter.” Thompson Graves was one of the founding members of the high school ski team in Stowe. Since the team was completely made up of alpine skiers, they all agreed to try both alpine and Nordic to score for their team events. Thompson Graves initially thought she was going to specialize in alpine skiing. “In my day, I was built much more like an alpine skier, but I think I liked [Nordic skiers] more,” she said. “They were my people — it just felt like the right place.”
Change in the world of skiing Over the past three decades, the pair has seen massive change in the world of skiing. From 1997 to 2006, Dodge served as the president of the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association. Before his time as president, college skiing was often a landing spot for European skiers who had fallen past their peak or Americans with little chance of making the national team. During his time leading the EISA, Dodge pushed for International Ski Federation (FIS) recognition of east coast EISA races. Dartmouth hosted the first FIS UNI race at the Skiway in 1995. After that, the Dartmouth Carnival became a FIS race, and eventually all of the team’s races had been converted. With FIS legitimacy, colleges could attract more European skiers and eventually more skiers would move onto national teams after college. “It put us in the sights of the national program,” Dodge said. But according to JP Daigneault ’97, now the head men’s FIS coach at Burke Mountain Academy and Dodge’s team captain during his senior year, it took more than FIS UNI races for Dodge to establish a pathway from college to national teams. “It’s an attitude adjustment that the people running and governing our sport have had to make,” Daigneault said. “[Dodge] was one of the main drivers, if not the main driver of a pathway to national teams,” he added. Thompson Graves has also seen an increase in the level of skiing on the Nordic side. “Nordic skiing is much more mainstream than it used to be, so we attract better athletes,” Thompson Graves said. “It’s not to say we didn’t have any good athletes back then, but we certainly didn’t have as many.” A major change in the world of Nordic racing was the introduction
of skate skiing. Skate skiing, where athletes propel themselves much like ice skaters rather than the classic style of kicking and gliding, provided a major advantage to skiers who made the transition. “When I got to the [1985] World Championships in Seefeld, everyone was skating and so we” — the skiers on the U.S. Team — “were learning to skate while we were there, and we skated all the races there,” she said. The massive change to the skiing world didn’t go unopposed. “We’d have sections of the course where they put fencing up right next to the tracks so that you couldn’t skate, or they tried building snow berms,” Thompson Graves said. In particular, Scandinavian traditionalists despised the new style. Thompson Graves recalls a crowd “screaming and yelling” at anyone who skated at one relay race in Finland. The technique is still slowly changing, according to Thompson Graves. She could only see the truly stark contrast after being sent a video of her original 1985 performance. “It was hysterical to me, to see how bad we were at skating then,” Thompson Graves said.
Coaching at Dartmouth At Dartmouth, the pair of coaches has continued their record of success. The moment at the top of both coaches’ list of career highlights is the 2007 NCAA Championships. It was Dartmouth’s first NCAA championship since 1976 and only the third in program history. “A number of things went our way. We had a good strong team. Not a lot of superstars, but a lot of just really solid athletes,” Thompson Graves said. “I remember being ready to throw up for most of that, if not the last couple days going into it and watching. Lindsay Mann [’07] was our last athlete down on that day and she just nailed it. It was just the coolest thing to be standing there at the finish and the excitement of the team. We were on a high for a long time.” Over the years, Dartmouth has earned numerous individual titles at the NCAA championships. Most recently, the team earned four individual titles at last year’s meet. Tanguy Nef ’20 won the men’s slalom, Brian McLaughlin ’18 won the men’s giant slalom and Katharine Ogden ’21 won the women’s 15-kilometer freestyle and 5-kilometer classic. Dodge and Thompson Graves’ accomplishments in NCAA championships have been particularly
impressive considering that NCAA championships typically take place during final exams and, unlike schools with scholarships for athletes, Dartmouth is unable to recruit older European skiers. However, Dodge says that Dartmouth’s D-Plan and lack of scholarships actually benefits its ski program. The D-Plan allowed athletes like four-time Olympian Nina Kemppel ’92 to take sophomore and senior winters off to compete professionally full-time. Without scholarships, athletes aren’t bound to compete in every carnival race, which allows skiers like Tanguy Nef ’20 to alternate between World Cup and carnival skiing. Spending a winter off campus or missing carnival races to compete on a national team may not benefit the team’s NCAA championship chances, but it is the best possible scenario for skiers hoping to progress beyond the collegiate level. “We want to do what’s best for the individual,” Dodge said. “That has a trickle-down effect, in that, people see what we’re doing here, they see the kind of skiers we have here, and that attracts the other skiers.” The success of Dartmouth skiers goes beyond attracting new recruits. According to Kemppel, the women’s Nordic team has always “had the next generation waiting in front of them that they were chasing after.” According to Dodge, when he is recruiting skiers, Dartmouth “sells itself.” “The history of the program really helps,” he said. The emphasis on helping individuals is immediately apparent walking into the ski program’s offices in Robinson Hall. Guests are frequently welcomed by Dodge’s dog. Signed posters and old pennants adorn both coaches’ offices. And whenever the accomplishments of their skiers are mentioned, both coaches smile from ear to ear. “You become so attached to each and every one of them,” Thompson Graves said. She fondly recalled a skier who, after training hard over three years, skied her first carnival in her junior year and landed a spot on the podium. “That’s the stuff that just warms your heart, and that’s why we do it,” Thompson Graves said. Kemppel came to Dartmouth in 1988, the same year as Thompson Graves. “Cami incubates that culture of inclusiveness,” she said. Thompson
Graves made Dartmouth skiing not only a very competitive program, but “a really fun place to ski,” Kemppel said. When asked about the most memorable stories of her 30-year career, Thompson Graves was quick to mention what she called the “everyday moments.” She recounted one such moment in practice a week and half ago. Her skiers were trying to ski downhill while lifting up one foot, taking its ski off, spinning the ski around and putting it back on. Small moments in the team van, too, stick out to Thompson Graves. “We’ll play music and people will be laughing and Cami will be driving the van with this huge grin on her face. I think she just loves the excitement, when all the girls are happy,” women’s Nordic team captain Emily Hyde ’19 said. Like Thompson Graves, Dodge says some of the breakthroughs are his favorite moments. “When the lightbulb goes off, or someone gets it, or someone makes a big leap and improves and has a great performance — as a coach, you really like seeing those,” Dodge said. But even though everyone on the team gets an opportunity to perform, at the end of the day, Dodge can only take a certain number of skiers to carnivals. “He’s very objective about it, and fair,” Nef said of his coach, whom Skiing magazine once called “a man of few words but meaningful action.” “[Dodge was] focused on providing the environment and letting the environment challenge us,” Daigneault said. Sometimes that could be difficult, Daigneault acknowledged, but “it was exactly what I needed,” he said. Over the years, both Dodge and Thompson Graves have earned the respect of their skiers and of each other. “[Dodge] is one of the most silently intense individuals that I’ve ever met,” Daigneault said. “I cared about how the team did … but I cared a lot more about making that guy proud of me.” As for Thompson Graves, “she’s just really steady,” Dodge said. “We just work well together, respect each other. And you know, I let her do her job with the cross country, and I do mine with the alpine.” Thirty seasons in, Dodge and Thompson Graves will be doing their jobs once again at the NCAA championships as competition returns to their home state next week.