Princeton draws Elis first

“We paid attention because we wanted to see who our next opponent would be,” sophomore forward Cam MacIntyre said. “But in terms of who won and who lost, it didn’t really matter to us.”

That’s because the No. 16 Tigers (17-12-0 overall, 14-8-0 ECAC Hockey) greet every opponent the same way: with quick, physical, in-your-face play that has earned them the reputation as a grinding team, tough on both sides of the puck.

“They are very fast, and when they are on the puck, they are very aggressive,” Clarkson head coach George Roll said of the Tigers following Princeton’s 4-3 loss to the Golden Eagles two weeks ago.

“We don’t change [our play] for anyone,” MacIntyre said. “Obviously there’s a heightened sense of urgency because it is playoffs, but we are confident in our style of play.”

And why not? The Tigers finished the regular season in second place in the ECAC, accumulating a program-best 14 league wins, Princeton’s first outright Ivy League title and the school’s first-ever first-round ECAC bye.

It only makes sense, then, that as they prepare for this weekend’s quarterfinal series against Yale (15-12-4, 9-9-4), the Tigers intend to stick to what has been successful for them in the past.

“Yale is an aggressive, big, hard-hitting team,” MacIntyre said. “The only way to counteract a team like that is to hit back, which is perfect for us because that’s our game — we backcheck, drive hard to the net and create opportunities by outworking opponents.”

The teams have already met three times this season — a non-conference showdown back in October and the typical ECAC home-and-home later in the year — with Princeton taking all three, 6-2, 4-3 and 4-2. Yale, however, is no pushover, and will certainly be looking to enact revenge for the Tigers’ regular-season sweep.

Coming off a thrilling first-round sweep of RPI — the Bulldogs beat the Engineers 3-2 in triple overtime last Friday, then 3-2 in single overtime the following evening — Yale is certainly riding momentum heading into this weekend’s showdown at Baker Rink.

Forward Broc Little led the ECAC in game-winning goals, and forward Sean Backman is a threat to score whenever he touches the puck. The Elis are backstopped by Billy Blase, who struggled in the early part of the season but has excelled in the playoffs.

Yale enters this series riding two impressive wins, but the real story will be how Princeton responds to its late-season adversity. During their last regular-season weekend, the Tigers lost a hard-fought game at Clarkson and put in a lackluster performance the following evening at St. Lawrence, but the team insists that it has put those losses behind it.

“We have put those two games solely in the past,” MacIntyre said. “It was a weird weekend [having to play the Golden Eagles for the ECAC title and then an irrelevant game against the Saints], but we know better than to dwell on it. We are confident in our abilities and our system, and from the moment the St. Lawrence game ended, we’ve been looking forward.”

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Princeton has benefitted from a hard-earned two-week break — the top four teams in the ECAC get first-round byes — which the team has used primarily to rest and get healthy. The long break has also given the 17 returning players from last year’s team a chance to reflect on what they learned from last season’s quarterfinal matchup, in which the Tigers were swept on the road by Dartmouth.

“Last year we really learned the importance of starting a series playing your best possible hockey,” MacIntyre said. “We wasted our first game against Dartmouth, and with these short [best-of-three] series it is tough to crawl out of that hole. [Against Yale] we know that we can’t waste any shifts, let alone games, so we are focusing one game at a time, not looking past Friday at anything else down the road.”

One crucial difference between this year’s and last year’s quarterfinal matchups is the location — the Tigers will play on Friday, Saturday and possibly Sunday nights in the friendly confines of Baker Rink, where Princeton has won its last six games.

“Clinching home-field advantage was huge,” MacIntyre said. “We have gotten a lot of support all season from the Princeton fans, and that feeds our energy when we’re on the ice.”

The Tigers were also bolstered this week by the announcement of post-season awards. Junior forward Lee Jubinville, the ECAC scoring champion, was named Ivy League Player of the Year, first team All-ECAC, and a candidate for All-America honors and the Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey’s most outstanding player. Senior defenseman and captain Mike Moore, the team’s leader both on and off the ice, was also named first-team All-ECAC and a candidate for All-America honors.

“We are all excited for those guys,” MacIntyre said, “but when awards like that are given out, they aren’t just individual. Jubinville cannot win that [Player of the Year] award without [junior forward Brett] Wilson, or contributions from Moore. It is great to see them get recognized, but it is even better for what it says about our team.”

The Tigers take the ice at 7 p.m. with Princeton history all around them; both in what they have already accomplished this season and in what remains to be proven.

Getting to the playoffs has been the goal all along, but though the opponent now has a face — and a blue, bulldog-embroidered jersey — very little has changed. It has been tough, smash-mouth Princeton hockey that got the Tigers this far, and it will be that same Princeton hockey that the Bulldogs see — and feel — tonight at Baker Rink.