Tigers take the ice against Harvard and Dartmouth

Ivy League rivals provide tough test for men’s hockey

This weekend Baker Rink will host a pair of Ivy League and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference matchups. Men’s hockey (2-7-1 overall, 1-6 ECAC) faces No. 9 Harvard (7-1-2 overall, 3-1-2 ECAC) on Friday and Dartmouth (4-3-1, 2-3-1 ECAC) on Saturday. The Crimson will travel to New Jersey with immense confidence, having consecutively bested No. 1 Boston University and No. 4 UMass Lowell. The Big Green brings a two-game winning streak, including a home win over BU’s Terriers, against the Tigers, who have lost six out of their last seven contests.

Dartmouth and Princeton split last year’s series, with each side victorious at home. Andrew Ammon ’14, a winger last season and his team’s lone all-Ivy selection, scored a game winning overtime goal to give the Tigers their first conference win.

Harvard holds an all-time lead over Princeton with a record of 150-57-11. However, during the past decade the series has been fairly evenly split, with the Crimson leading 12-10-2.

The Tigers currently sit just above a winless Brown side in the ECAC table. These two Ivy League teams are drawn with the league’s worst scoring total of 13 goals. Injuries have left the Princeton side desperate for offensive productivity. Last weekend, junior winger and captain Mike Ambrosia returned for the series against Michigan State. His fellow captain, senior center Tyler Maugeri, remains sidelined.

Similarly devastating to the Princeton attack, Ammon and center Andrew Calof ’14 graduated having scored 21 points each in their final seasons last year. The next highest scorer was then-sophomore winger Jonathan Liau with 13.

Liau’s 3 points this season currently ties with three teammates for second on Princeton’s scoring tally. Sophomore center Ben Foster, who scored his first career goal against Dartmouth early last season, has the current team lead with 4 points (2G, 2A).

Sophomore goalkeeper Sean Bonar has faced one of the league’s highest shot totals (329). While his save percentage (91.8) ranks eighth of 14 qualifying keepers, his goal against average (3.16) is the ECAC’s second highest.

Four Harvard skaters rank among the ECAC’s top 10 scorers. Sophomore forward Alexander Kerfoot leads his team with 4 goals and 11 assists. At the other end of the ice, Steve Michalek owns the conference’s second-best save percentage (94.7) with a league-best 1.57 goal against average.

Dartmouth’s first line of forwards has been impressive offensively. Junior winger Brad Schierhorn and senior winger Eric Robinson have tallied 8 points each through eight games. Only their center, senior Tyler Sikura, has a higher point total with 9.

Both of the weekend’s contests will provide tough tests for Princeton. However, the Tigers can take heart in last weekend’s five-goal performance, which matched their scoring total from the past six games combined. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. both evenings, with a live feed available to Ivy League Digital Network subscribers.

Tigers seek to rebound against No. 10 Harvard, Dartmouth

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Women’s hockey (6-6-1 overall, 4-3 ECAC) will look to brake its current five-game losing streak with away wins over Ivy League rivals No. 10 Harvard (4-2-2, 3-1-1 ECAC) and Dartmouth (4-4, 2-3 ECAC). This current skid comes on the heels of seven-game unbeaten run. The last two weeks represent one of the most trying stretches in the Tigers’ regular season schedule, with three top-five teams having traveled to Baker Rink.

In the all-time series, Harvard holds a 29-45-4 lead over Princeton. The Crimson has won the last seven straight matchups in dominating fashion, outscoring the Tigers by a 38-10 margin.

Princeton won both of last year’s tilts against Dartmouth by a score of 3-2. The Orange and Black holds an all-time 39-31-5 series lead against the Big Green.

The Tigers’ sophomore winger Molly Contini earned Player of the Month honors from the ECAC for her impressive November performance. Skating against some of the nation’s top teams in No. 5 Clarkson University, No. 4 Quinnipiac University and No. 2 University of Minnesota, she picked up a league-high 10 points on 4 goals and 6 assists. The forward led all freshmen in scoring during the 2012-13 season before losing the following season to injury.

Her classmate, defenseman Kelsey Koelzer, is the lone higher-scoring Tiger. Her 15 points on 6 goals and 9 assists tie for fourth in the ECAC tally. What’s more, she sits tied for first in scoring among defensemen.

Harvard’s offense has scored 3.25 goals per game, the conference’s second-best mark. Junior forward Miye D’Oench leads her side with 11 points on 8 goals and 3 assists.

Three goalies have split time for the Crimson, with none particularly differentiating herself. Junior Emerance Maschmeyer has started in five contests, amassing a 1-2-2 record. Sophomore Brianna Laing, sister of Princeton’s 2013-14 captain Denna Laing ’14, has won both of her starts.

The Big Green offense ranks in the middle of the pack, producing 2.88 goals per contest. A pair of junior forwards, Laura Stacey and Lindsey Allen, lead Dartmouth with 11 and 7 points each.

The opening faceoff on Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Cambridge, Mass. Saturday’s game will take place in Hanover, N.H., at 4 p.m. The Ivy League Digital Network will air both contests.