THE RINK: There's a bit of a difference between a Yale women's game at Ingalls Rink and a Yale men's game. Of course, the women's team doesn't draw as well - even though the women are expected to be more competitive in their league than the men in theirs - so some of the atmosphere fades away, especially on an afternoon when the Yale football team is still battling Harvard in "The Game." Of course, given that the seating at Ingalls can feel kind of cramped when the building is full, there's a nice silver lining on that particular cloud. And Ingalls is still a really fun building to be in.

GAME 15: DARTMOUTH 4, YALE 2

Once again, I helped out my friends at USCHO with a recap of the game, so for a full blow-by-blow, click here.

This is, of course, an interesting year for Dartmouth, with top scorers Cherie Piper, Gillian Apps and Katie Weatherston all playing with the Canadian national team in preparation for the 2006 Olympics, and would-be freshman Sarah Parsons on the U.S. team. Tiffany Hagge is still one of the best forwards in the country, though, and Kate Lane is looking better and better in net. Still, this is the first time since the USCHO rankings started in 1998 that Dartmouth hasn't been a top 10 team, and I'm sure the Big Green is anxious to change that.

Dartmouth didn't have a large recruiting class last year, deciding to wait until this year, when the Big Green would need the bodies, to bring in nine freshmen. As a result, Big Green coach Mark Hudak is sending out two freshman on every shift, one center and one defenseman. If you're looking for a reason behind Dartmouth's slow start, you can start looking there. That's not meant as an insult to the Dartmouth freshmen: they wouldn't be at Dartmouth if they couldn't play at the highest level, and several of them were very impressive in Saturday's game, especially Shannon Bowman, who centers the Big Green's top line with Tiffany Hagge and Danielle Grundy. Saturday was a good day for Dartmouth, and as the freshmen mature over the course of this season, Dartmouth will have more and more good days. Will it be enough to make the NCAA Tournament? It's still too early to tell.

Of course, Dartmouth hardly has the market compared on impressive freshmen, and on this day, the most impressive freshmen on the ice belonged to Yale: Crysti Howser and Maggie Westfal. Less than 24 hours after losing to Notre Dame in the third round of the NCAA women's soccer tournament, Howser and Westfal were back in New Haven and in the lineup for the Bulldogs. Westfal even scored a goal, and got a game puck afterwards from Yale coach Hilary Witt. That's got to be one of, if not the toughest road weekend I've ever heard of.

Westfal and Howser weren't the only recent returnees from South Bend at Ingalls on Saturday, either. A solid contingent from the Yale women's soccer team - fresh off of a great season - turned up to cheer on their teammates, shouting out warnings like, "They know how to play together, Dartmouth, they've been doing it for three months!"

Of course, Howser and Westfal weren't the only players on the ice who caught the eyes of the soccer team, as Yale goalkeeper Sarah Love was outstanding. I've been impressed by Love for a while now, and she was strong on Saturday, making 40 saves, which gave her a weekend total of 86 after Yale's 3-1 win over Harvard on Friday. When Love is on, she's as good as any goalie in the country, plain and simple.

After I first saw Love two years ago, I felt that Yale was going to become a serious contender in the ECACHL and on the national level by the time she graduated. Yale certainly had a big year last year, recording a number of firsts: first national ranking, first home playoff series, first ECACHL semifinal game, etc. However, I expected this, the Olympic year, to be Yale's big chance, and so far that doesn't appear to be happening. Of course, there's a lot of hockey left to be played, so we'll see. Their games in the Mayor's Cup tournament against Providence and Niagara this weekend will be huge.

Of course, I won't be there, but I will be at the rink, as usual. This week, while I'm thankful for a lot of things, one nice "extra" is all the big non-conference games on tap for the coming week. Have fun, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!