Playing its last two home games of the regular season this weekend, the men's hockey team will look to send off four stars in winning fashion. Dartmouth and Vermont, tied for fourth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League, are formidable obstacles that stand in Princeton's way, however.
Senior defensemen Jesse Masear and Luc Paquin, along with senior forward Neil Stevenson-Moore and junior forward Dustin Sproat, are making their last Baker Rink appearances and will be honored before Saturday's game against Vermont.
The Tigers (6-17-2 overall, 4-13-1 ECACHL) enter the contests following two weekend losses to fifthand 12th-ranked opponents. Princeton's schedule doesn't get much easier this weekend, as the Tigers will face two top conference competitors, Dartmouth and Vermont.
Staring them down across the ice tonight will be a Big Green team (14-9-2, 11-7-0) that has scored 83 goals on the season while only allowing 56. Eight members of the squad have reached double digits in points on the season, including five with 20 points or more.
"Dartmouth is a solid offensive team," Sproat said, "so getting the puck deep into the offensive zone will be key to neutralizing their speed on the rush."
That speed includes the reigning ECACHL Player of the Week, Big Green defenseman Garret Overlock, who tallied three points in his last game. But forward Lee Stempniak leads the team in the points column with 31, second only to Sproat in the ECACHL. The two have helped Dartmouth put up 3.32 goals per game.
Princeton certainly has the offensive threats to balance Stempniak and company. Three Tigers — Sproat, sophomore forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller and Paquin — are among the top 10 in ECACHL scoring standings. By tallying 21 points on the season, Paquin became the first Princeton defenseman since the 1997-98 season to reach the 20-point plateau.
If Princeton wants to win, it has to make sure the Dartmouth offense does not find the back of the net first. The Tigers are 0-12-0 when allowing their opponents to score first.
Princeton defeated the Big Green the first time they met this season, 3-0. Dartmouth, though, then went on to win 11 ECACHL games and establish itself as the fourth-place team in the league alongside Vermont (16-11-3, 10-6-2). The Big Green is rolling late in the season. They enter Baker Rink with a three-game winning streak.
Friday's game against Vermont should be no less challenging. Considering the tie in the standings with the Big Green, the Catamounts will have plenty to play for in terms of home ice advantage in the playoffs.
Vermont forward Scott Mifsud leads the ECACHL in total points with 39, but forward Jeff Corey has been hot as of late, scoring goals in each of his last five games. He has 27 points on the season. As if this offensive firepower is not enough, the Tigers will also focus on getting past the Catamounts' freshman goalie Joe Fallon.
"[Fallon is] a great goaltender, so we will have to create traffic in front of him and drive the net hard to get and create rebounds," Sproat said.
Fallon sports an impressive .917 save percentage and a .614 win percentage. In conference play, Fallon's numbers are even higher, with a .930 save percentage. Collectively, the Catamount defense has allowed just 2.33 goals per game this season, including 1.83 against ECACHL opponents.
Princeton has had trouble with Vermont in the past. This year the Tigers were shut out by the Catamounts in Burlington, 2-0. The Tigers are 14-53-2 against them all-time and 7-14-2 at home. Vermont is coming off a weekend in which it split games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
The Tigers must minimize their mistakes over the weekend if they are to record any victories.
"We'll be trying to shore up some of the untimely defensive zone and neutral zone breakdowns we've had over the past couple of weekends," Sproat said.
Princeton remains in contention for a home playoff game, but the chances are slim. As it currently stands, the No. 11 Tigers are two points below 10th-place Rensselaer and two ahead of bottom-dwelling Yale. If the season ended today, Princeton would travel to Brown for its first playoff game.
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