The New Hampshire–Dartmouth rivalry is an intrastate college sports rivalry

Sports rivalry

A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes. This pressure of competition is felt by players, coaches, and management, but is perhaps felt strongest by the fans. The intensity of the rivalry varies from a friendly competition on one end to serious violence on the...

 between the New Hampshire Wildcats

New Hampshire Wildcats

The New Hampshire Wildcats, or Cats, are the athletic teams of the University of New Hampshire. The wildcat is the school's official mascot, the colors are UNH Blue and white...

 and the Dartmouth Big Green. The rivalry is best known for the football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 and ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 games between the two schools. The schools' football teams compete for the Granite Bowl trophy and the men's ice hockey teams compete for the RiverStone Cup. The two schools also meet in other sports, including field hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 and basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

.

Football

The two teams first met in 1901 and have played regularly since then. The longest gap between games was 22 years, between 1934 and 1956. Dartmouth was initially dominant, winning 17 out of the first 18 games. Since 1976, however, UNH has won or tied every game. Dartmouth was dominant in the early years of the rivalry. Since 2001 UNH has dominated the series, scoring at least 42 points and winning by at least 21 points six games in a row. Before the 2009 meeting the series was even at 17-17-2. UNH won the 2009 game 44-14, and the next game between the two teams is scheduled for 2014.

Ice hockey

The New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey

New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey

The New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of New Hampshire. The Wildcats are a member of Hockey East...

 and the Dartmouth Big Green men's ice hockey teams play each other once a year. They are the only Division I college hockey teams in New Hampshire. The two teams recruit from some of the same New England junior hockey teams. The game is held at the neutral Verizon Wireless Arena

Verizon Wireless Arena

The Verizon Wireless Arena is an indoor events arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, and seats 9,852 for ice hockey and just under 10,000 for basketball and some concerts.Verizon Wireless paid for the arena's naming rights...

. Though the event is located in Manchester

Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester is the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, the tenth largest city in New England, and the largest city in northern New England, an area comprising the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It is in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which...

, part of the way between UNH's campus in Durham

Durham, New Hampshire

As of the census of 2000, there were 12,664 people, 2,882 households, and 1,582 families residing in the town. The population density was 565.5 people per square mile . There were 2,923 housing units at an average density of 130.5 per square mile...

 and Dartmouth's campus in Hanover

Hanover, New Hampshire

Hanover is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,260 at the 2010 census. CNN and Money magazine rated Hanover the sixth best place to live in America in 2011, and the second best in 2007....

, the crowd is typically dominated by UNH fans. UNH leads the series 6-3-1 after Dartmouth won the "Battle for the RiverStone Cup X". The event is sponsored by insurance company RiverStone Resources of Manchester.