Men's Hockey: Chase for first-round bye heats up at Baker Rink

As ECAC Hockey play winds down, this weekend’s games will be crucial in determining the high seeds for the conference tournament. Union is currently second in the conference with 21 points, trailing No. 3 Yale (17-4, 11-3) by a single point. With 18 points, Rensselaer is tied for fourth place. The Tigers, with 19 points, are right in between this weekend’s opponents. The outcome of the games could lead to a complete reordering of the top four seeds in the conference.

The Tigers have only played a nationally ranked opponent one other time this season, losing on Nov. 5 to then-No.5 Yale 5-3. Since then, however, Princeton has won an impressive 14 out of 18 games, including the past four.

“I think our recent streak is a sign of things coming together,” senior captain and forward Matt Arhontas said. “With as many new guys as we have this year and the poor performance we had last year, it took some time to get everything rolling at the start of the year.”

Unfortunately for the Tigers, both Union and Rensselaer are coming in hot. Both teams beat Yale last weekend and are on win streaks of three and five games, respectively.

This weekend’s games will feature some intriguing individual matchups. Freshman goaltender Sean Bonar is having a spectacular rookie season, recording a league-best 1.50 goals against average and a .938 save percentage. Trying to beat Bonar this weekend will be some of the conference’s top scorers. Rensselaer forward Chase Polacek is leading the league in goals (16), assists (24) and points (40), while Union forwards Daniel Carr and Jeremy Welsh are at his heels with 15 goals and 30 points, respectively.

Bonar is just one of many impressive performers from this year’s freshman class, which head coach Guy Gadowsky and Arhontas both simply described as providing “huge contributions.”

One of those freshmen, forward Andrew Ammon, was recently named the MLX Skates Rookie of the Week for the second time this season. Ammon led all ECAC Hockey scorers with six points over the Tigers’ past three games. Freshman, forward Andrew Calof leads the team in scoring with 22 points.

“Every weekend it seems like someone new is stepping up when we need them, scoring big goals or making key saves when we need them,” Arhontas said of the rookie class.

The Tigers have yet to face either the Dutchmen or Engineers this season and say they know little of their playing strategies.

“From years past, we know that Union is a tough team to play against,” Arhontas said. “They work extremely hard and are pretty physical, so we know that each game is going to be a battle. We do not really know much about Rensselaer either, but I have heard that their goaltending has been great lately.”

With the skill level of both Union and Rensselaer’s offenses, staying out of the penalty box will be one of Princeton’s keys to winning. One of the others? Taking care of business on home ice.

The Tigers are only 4-3-1 against conference opponents at home while boasting a 5-1 record away from Baker Rink. Adding two to their home win column will go a long way to securing home ice for the league playoffs.