Tigers hunting for first ECAC title of decade

For most students, Intersession is a time of unwinding and much-needed relaxation. But for winter athletes, the season's midpoint is a perfect vantage point both to reflect on the past and prepare for the future.

As the ECAC Hockey League's first-place men's squad, it is difficult for the Tigers (12-8-0 overall, 8-4-0 ECAC) to tell which is more promising, the team's 8-4 conference start or the extraordinary chance to do what no Princeton hockey team has done in over 10 years — win the ECAC Hockey League.

In the season's early weeks, this seemed unlikely. The team dropped four of its first seven ECAC games and looked lackluster in bad losses to No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 14 Quinnipiac.

But over winter break the team responded to its critics, rattling off five straight wins — four over ECAC foes Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale and Brown — and vaulting to the top of the ECAC Hockey League standings.

As things stand now, the No. 19 Tigers have 16 points in 12 games. Quinnipiac is a point behind Princeton after 12 games, and No. 12 Clarkson is a point behind Princeton after 11 games.

The Tigers are 1-2 against those teams this season — the lone win coming against travel partner Quinnipiac back in November — but what has distinguished Princeton from the field is its ability to handle the lesser ECAC teams.

On Jan. 29, the Tigers will return to the ice on the road against Robert Morris (14-19-2 overall), a competitive College Hockey America team, before resuming ECAC play at Union (12-7-4 overall) and RPI (8-14-3 overall) on Feb. 1 and 2.

Union is tied for fourth in the ECAC with 12 points, but the Dutchmen are riding a six-game winning streak that includes wins over RPI and Cornell.

Union does struggle, however, on the penalty kill, a weakness that the Tigers hope to exploit. The Tigers' power play is just 13.8 percent, eighth in the ECAC, but recently their play on the man advantage has been improving. Princeton has four power-play goals in its last five games.

The Dutchmen offense is fueled primarily by sophomore forward Jason Walters, who leads his team with 13 assists and 16 points. The defense revolves around senior goalie Justin Mrazek. Drafted by the NHL's Washington Capitals, Mrazek is currently fourth in the ECAC in both goals-against average and winning percentage.

If Union is the league's hottest team, RPI is the exact opposite. The Engineers are currently on a nine-game losing streak that included a four-game series against Union, Colgate and Cornell in which RPI was outscored 12-3.

The Engineers are currently 11th in the ECAC in scoring offense — just 2.12 goals a game — and last in power play offense — converting only 5.8 percent of their man-advantage chances. RPI has also allowed a league-high 68 goals, a perfect fit for Princeton's third-ranked offense, which averages three goals a game.

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Like all ECAC teams, however, the Engineers are good enough to cause problems for an unsuspecting opponent.

Tiger fans, meanwhile, can expect to see a lot more of the same from Princeton in the second half. That means more crashing the net on offense, more back-checking on defense and a continuation of the Tigers' aggressive all-or-nothing mentality.

Freshman forward Mike Kramer, who last weekend was plus 5 with five points, is this week's ECAC Rookie of the Week, and sophomore goalie Zane Kalemba was last week's ECAC Goalie of the Week.

For all the Tigers, the first half of the season has been a successful one, filled with weekly honors, big victories and a spot atop the ECAC standings. Starting Jan. 29, Princeton will see if the second half holds comparable highs in store.