Correction appended
With seedings in both the ECAC and NCAA playoffs at stake, the importance of Princeton’s home games against Brown and Yale this weekend cannot be stressed enough. Princeton can clinch a first-round bye in the ECAC tournament for the second straight year with a weekend sweep.
The Tigers (18-7-0 overall, 12-6-0 ECAC Hockey) will start their final home weekend Friday night against Brown (2-19-4, 2-13-3). The Bears have struggled recently, losing their last several games and stumbling into the conference cellar. In the middle of that losing streak is the 5-1 home loss they suffered at the hands of the Tigers in January.
Brown is last in the conference in both goals per game (1.94) and goals-against average (3.67), but it has had a decent power play so far this season, converting on 16.9 percent of its man-advantage opportunities.
Unforunately for the Bears, the Tigers log only 10 penalty minutes per game, the fewest of any Division I team.
Despite the favorable matchup, the Tigers cannot overlook their match against Brown.
“Friday night is a huge game in the Ivy League and in the ECAC,” senior forward and captain Brandan Kushniruk said. “We can’t give it away. It’s a must-win.”
While the Brown game is clearly important to Tigers, their game Saturday night against conference-leading Yale (19-5-1, 14-3-1) has far-reaching consequences.
Should Yale win, it would clinch its second regular-season first-place finish ever. Yale recorded its only first-place finish in 1998, and Princeton won the conference tournament that year.
Yale is one of the hottest teams in the nation right now, posting an astonishing 11-1-1 record since the beginning of the calendar year.
Princeton’s fourth-ranked defense — with a 1.96 goals-against average — will have to handle the red-hot Yale offense, one of the most potent offenses in the country with an average of 3.52 goals per game so far this season.
Heading up the Yale attack is a trio of forwards who are all averaging at least one point per game: Mark Arcobello, Sean Backman and Broc Little.
The Princeton power-play unit will have to be especially mindful of Little, who has notched five shorthanded goals this season.
Last month, it was the Yale defense — ranked third in the ECAC with a 2.06 goals-against average — that proved too much for the Tigers, as the Orange and Black fell 3-1 in New Haven, Conn. But the Tigers are confident that they can play their game without any major adjustments and come away with a win this time around.
“We play the same way every game,” Kushniruk said. “In Yale, they dictated the play. We want to turn that around and dictate the tempo.”
Princeton will need solid first-period play to take control of the tempo of the game. The Tigers have struggled early in their last three games, allowing their opponents to score first in each of those games.
“Our starts have been kind of lackluster, but we have poured it on toward the end,” Kushniruk said. “If we can get by the first period, we’ll be better off.”
As is often the case in late-season matchups, injuries will play a significant role in Saturday’s showdown. Yale will likely play without Backman, who was injured on a late hit in its Feb. 7 game against Dartmouth. The Bulldogs will also play without their top defenseman, Tom Dignard.
Princeton will have to do without sophomore forward Kevin Lohry and junior forward Cam MacIntyre, who has missed much of the 2008-09 season.
“We’re missing a couple of guys,” Kushniruk said, “but that’s no excuse. Every team is hurt.”
The Tigers have not had a star scorer this season, as five players are within two points of the team lead. Junior forward Dan Bartlett, junior forward Mark Magnowski and senior forward Brett Wilson are all tied for the lead with 17 points.
Bartlett and Wilson each posted three points in last weekend’s games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, and senior forward and co-captain Lee Jubinville notched two power-play goals.
At the other end of the ice, sophomore defenseman Taylor Fedun has 12 points and a team-best plus-10 rating.
The Princeton-Yale matchup will also have implications in the race for invitations to the NCAA tournament.
The NCAA selection process involves team-by-team comparisons, putting high emphasis on wins against top contenders and awarding bonus points for head-to-head wins.
Both Princeton and Yale are currently in position for at-large selections, but each team could still use another quality win to help secure one of the 16 hotly contested bids.
While internet hockey buffs may like to analyze possible selection scenarios, the Tigers are not concerned with the ranking system.
Kushniruk is certainly focused on this weekend’s games, and won’t let the hype of a possible NCAA tournament berth get in the way of the competition.
“We’re not looking at it,” Kushniruk said. “If we play our game, it’s just going to work out for us in the end. We want to win.”
Correction
An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of junior forward Cam MacIntyre.
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