Fresh off a 5-1 victory over Brown, the team’s most complete performance in almost a month, the No. 10 Tigers (15-6-0 overall, 9-5-0 ECAC) will look to gain ground on the conference-leading Big Red, ranked No. 5 in the nation.
Before Princeton has an opportunity to avenge its 1-0 loss to Cornell back in November, the team must first travel to Hamilton, N.Y., for a Friday night showdown against Colgate.
Though the Tigers defeated the Red Raiders 2-1 earlier in the season on an overtime goal from sophomore forward Kevin Lohry, head coach Guy Gadowsky said that Princeton cannot overlook Colgate.
“Making sure we are ready for Friday is critical,” Gadowsky explained. “It came up in the locker room, and our team is well aware that each game is equally important. They are both worth two points.”
The Red Raiders (7-14-5, 2-9-3) have struggled mightily this season, especially in the defensive zone. Colgate’s two conference wins have come against Clarkson by a score of 3-1 and Quinnipiac by a score of 1-0, and the team has lost six of its last seven contests. Nevertheless, the Red Raiders have retained the same offensive shell that led them all the way to the ECAC semifinals last season.
“This [Colgate] team has a lot of heart,” Gadowsky said. “Their record is not excellent, but they are very talented.”
Colgate forward David MacIntyre is currently third in the conference with 30 points, and forwards Brian Day and Austin Smith are both as dangerous as any other forwards in the league. The Red Raiders are also especially dangerous on the power play: Their power-play unit has converted on 19.5 percent of its man-advantage situations, second in the ECAC only to Quinnipiac.
Defensively, Colgate features a first-year starter in goal and young corps of defensemen. Goalie Charles Long’s .901 save percentage and 2.65 goals-against average are far from impressive, and the Orange and Black will look to capitalize on this.
The Red Raiders have surrendered 79 goals this season, more than every other team in the conference except Rensselaer, and have the league’s most ineffective penalty kill, as the 32 power-play goals they have surrendered this season is worst in the ECAC. Following the Tigers’ Friday night contest against Colgate, the team travels to Ithaca, N.Y., for a game against the league’s best, No. 5 Cornell (14-3-4, 9-2-3).
“We are very excited for the Cornell game,” Gadowsky said. “We want to show them that our loss earlier in the season was not the best that we can play. Hopefully we will earn a different result on Saturday.”
Cornell’s victory over Princeton earlier in the season sparked a 16-game stretch in which it won 12 games, but, like the Tigers, Cornell has struggled recently: The team has one win in its last four games, including an ugly 8-1 loss to St. Lawrence last weekend.
“We are not reading too much into that loss,” Gadowsky said. “In this league things are so tight that any team can win or lose in a given night. Games like that loss happen to everyone.”
Unlike Colgate, Cornell’s game starts on defense. Goalie Ben Scrivens currently leads the ECAC in save percentage and is being discussed as a serious candidate for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the best overall men’s college hockey player. Earlier this season Scrivens went 206 minutes, 44 seconds — more than 10 periods — without surrendering a goal. Cornell’s goalie tandem of Scrivens and Mike Gaman also has the league’s lowest goals-against average, a microscopic 1.62.
On offense, the Big Red features a trio of premier forwards — Michael Kennedy, Colin Greening and Riley Nash — and a supporting cast that will keep Princeton junior goaltender Zane Kalemba and his blueliners incredibly busy.
The Tigers currently sit in third place, three points behind both Yale and Cornell, but the preseason pick to win the conference has struggled of late. Nevertheless, Princeton is still among the conference’s top five teams in goals-against average, goals per game and power-play percentage.
This weekend’s two games will test the Tigers in entirely different ways, as Princeton will travel from offensively minded Colgate to defensively focused Cornell. The team will have to shift its attention quickly to be successful. Still, both matchups are equally important in the Tigers’ quest for a second consecutive ECAC title. The road tests will prove vital for Princeton’s confidence as the season progresses.
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