Men’s hockey begins home stretch, plays first games since beginning of finals

While most of the student body was off enjoying a break from the stress of finals and Dean’s Date, the men’s hockey team kept working during Intersession as it travelled along the East Coast for a three-game stint. The Tigers (3-15-2, 1-12-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference) played Army, Yale and Brown. The team finished the week with a 1-1-1 record.

The team began its week by playing at home against non-conference opponent Army (5-17-2), a team it had not played for 16 years. The Tigers beat the Black Knights 4-1 at Baker Rink with four different goal scorers in the game. Senior Tucker Brockett, junior Michael Ambriosa, sophomore Ben Foster and sophomore Tommy Davis all lit the lamp for Princeton. Additionally, three players had a multipoint game thanks to the Tigers’ sleek passing. Princeton also proved extremely successful on the penalty kill, going an outstanding 7 for 7.

Later that week, Princeton travelled to New Haven for a game against Yale (12-6-3, 7-5-2 ECAC). The Bulldogs, a Division I powerhouse, are currently ranked 16thin the nation and sit in fourth place in the strong ECAC. Yale was able to come away from the game with a 4-0 victory over the Tigers. Princeton surrendered all four goals in the second period. The Tigers struggled on both ends of the rink as they went 0-3 on the power play and gave up 40 shots to the sharpshooting Bulldogs.

The following night, the Tigers bounced back from the loss and played the Brown Bears (4-16-1, 1-12-1 ECAC) and finished with a 2-2 tie. The Tigers got off to an early lead against their ECAC opponent in the first period with a goal from freshman Eric Robinson. Brown, however, scored two goals within 42 seconds of each other to gain the lead in the second period. Princeton responded later in the period with a goal from junior Jonathon Liau. The teams were stuck at a stalemate from that point on as sophomore goaltender Colton Phinney made an impressive 31 saves during the game.

The Tigers heads to New York on Feb. 6. The team faces off against Colgate University (14-9-3, 6-5-3 ECAC) in Hamilton, N.Y. and then travels to Ithaca, N.Y. to play the Cornell Big Red (9-9-3, 7-6-1 ECAC) the following day. Cornell and Colgate are tied for 6thplace in the ECAC compared to the Tigers, who are currently in 11thplace. Additionally, Colgate is ranked 17thin Division I. The Tigers played both of these teams earlier in the season in back to back games. Played at Baker Rink, Princeton beat Cornell 2-1 and then lost to Colgate the next day with a score of 5-1.

Princeton hockey plays in arguably the best conference in Division I hockey as the ECAC has had three of the four national championship representatives the past two seasons. This year the team welcomed head coach Ron Fogarty to the program. He leads all active coaches in the NCAA in win percentage after coaching seven years at Division III school Adrian College in Michigan. The team had a difficult season in 2013-14 and was hoping to have a bounce-back season this year with the induction of a revered head coach. There is other goods news for Princeton, in that four of the top five leading scorers on the team will be returning to the Tigers next year. Additionally, Colton Phinney has also shown flashes of brilliance with a 0.911 save percentage on the season and has two more years of eligibility remaining.