Men's Hockey: High-powered offenses await Princeton

The men’s hockey team looks to keep the momentum from their best weekend of the season going as it faces ECAC Hockey rivals Harvard (3-3-3 overall, 2-3-2 ECAC Hockey) and Quinnipiac (9-6-3, 2-4-3) this weekend. Princeton (4-7-2, 3-5-1) is riding a three-game unbeaten streak, highlighted by its most recent game, a 3-3 tie against No. 10 Union.

For the first time this season, the Tigers will be playing a home and an away game on consecutive nights. First, the Crimson comes to town on Saturday to battle at Baker Rink at 4 p.m. Princeton will then travel to Connecticut to take on Quinnipiac, the team with which the Tigers usually travel.

This will be the second time the Tigers have faced both squads. In early November, the then-No. 19 Bobcats beat the Tigers 5-2 in the first game of the season at Baker Rink. Quinnipiac scored four goals on sophomore goaltender Sean Bonar on 31 shots, plus an empty-net goal, while holding the Tigers’ offense to two goals on 27 shots. Sophomore forward Matt Farris recorded assists on both goals but has yet to notch another point since that multi-point game.

Princeton fared better in its first meeting with Ancient Eight rival Harvard, thanks to a very potent power play. The Tigers scored three times on four opportunties with the man advantage en route to securing their first win of the season and head coach Bob Prier’s first career victory. Harvard forward Alex Killorn found the back of the net twice, but, not to be outdone, sophomore forward Eric Carlson scored his second goal of the evening to give the Tigers the victory.

Since that first meeting, Harvard has established the best-scoring offense in the ECAC Hockey conference. The Crimson averages 3.44 goals per game to the Tigers’ 2.31 average. This statistic is even more impressive when considering the Crimson is scoring by committee, no player having over 12 points or six goals on the year. Killorn leads the team with six goals while defenseman Danny Biega’s 10 helpers put him in the lead in that category. Perhaps attesting to its even 3-3-3 record, Harvard’s defense is ranked last in goals against average at 3.35. The key to beating the Crimson is weathering its offensive storm while taking advantage of its often-made mistakes on defense.

The Bobcats’ offense appears to be even more deadly. Four Quinnipiac players are in the top 20 scorers in the ECAC Hockey conference while two, Connor Jones and Jeremy Langlois, reside in the top five with 17 points apiece. In contrast, the Tigers’ top scorers, sophomore forwards Jack Berger and Andrew Calof, rank 32nd in the conference with nine points each. Berger doubled his point total coming into the weekend as he recorded five points, earning him honors as the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week.

The two games this weekend will be the last of the first stretch of conference games this season. So far, the Tigers have been right around an average team in the conference. They currently rank tied for seventh with seven points, trailing first-overall Cornell by six points. Quinnipiac also enters the weekend in the tie for seventh while Harvard is right below both teams with six points. While it is still early, this weekend’s games could be pivotal in deciding the end of the season rankings — with a sweep Princeton could secure the head-to-head tiebreaker over Harvard and ensure a split with Quinnipiac. With a conference as tough as ECAC Hockey, every game matters.