Princeton Edges No. 12 Providence in OT

Jack Cronin's one-man effort in overtime lifted Princeton University to a 3-2 victory over 12th-ranked Providence College on Tuesday night, in NCAA men's hockey action at Hobey Baker Rink in central New Jersey.

Cronin's backhand shot from the slot, following a solo rush through the neutral zone, eluded Providence netminder Philip Svedebäck (23 saves) up high on the glove side to lift the Tigers (10-9-0 overall) to their third consecutive win, all at home. Ethan Pearson made 36 stops for Princeton, which snuffed all six Providence power-play attempts, while Tigers defensemen David Ma and Pito Walton notched two assists apiece.

After Liam Valente opened the scoring for the Friars (12-7-6) on a tip-in goal less than three minutes into regulation, Adams Robbins responded later in the first period for Princeton with his own deflection, to knot matters at a goal apiece. The score then remained unchanged until Princeton's Nick Seitz and Providence's Riley Duran exchanged goals 21 seconds apart in the third stanza, setting the stage for Cronin's sudden-death heroics.

Tuesday marked the third contest between the former Eastern College Athletic Conference rivals since last season, which began with a two-step sweep by the Friars at home, but it was the first meeting at Hobey Baker Rink since 1997. Providence still leads the all-time series, which started in 1954, by a 25-13-3 count.

Princeton returns to ECAC Hockey play this weekend at Colgate and Cornell, while Providence will be idle until returning to Hockey East action on Jan. 27-28 at Maine.

Princeton Outlasts RPI, 6-5

After starting off the 2022-23 campaign with six losses in its first eight outings, Princeton University seems to have righted the ship heading into the holiday break.

The Tigers claimed their fourth victory in their last five games by holding on for a 6-5 win over Rensselaer in an ECAC hockey matchup on Dec. 10 at Hobey Baker Rink. The Tigers never trailed that night, but saw several multiple-goal leads ultimately evaporate by the final minute of regulation as the Engineers pulled out all the stops to try and force a tie.

Nick Marciano opened the scoring for the home side with his first career collegiate goal early on, followed by a Brendan Gorman goal that made it 2-0 for Princeton before Auston Heidemann got RPI on the board with 0.4 seconds left before intermission. Ryan Mashie then pulled the Engineers within one just 24 seconds into the second period, but Princeton made it 4-2 at the end of 40 minutes on goals by Adam Robbins and Spencer Kersten, the latter a shorthanded marker.

The Tigers made it 5-2 early in the final stanza on David Jacobs' tally, before Mashie got RPI back within two goals just under 10 minutes later. Ian Murphy then scored into an empty-net, shorthanded, with under two minutes remaining, with that goal ultimately standing up as the game-winner after Jake Gagnon notched two extra-attacker goals for the Engineers only 24 seconds apart, the latter with just 2.2 seconds left on the clock. 

Nathan Pearson (30 saves) helped keep Princeton ahead for good with a point-blank glove save on TJ Walsh's one-timer from the right circle in the last minute of regulation. Jack Watson had 29 saves for RPI, which finished 4-for-8 on the power play. Princeton defenseman Pito Walton collected three assists, which helped him earn ECAC Defender of the Week accolades.

Princeton (6-7-0 overall, 5-6-0 ECAC Hockey) is now off until a two-game NCAA non-conference set at Colorado College on Sec. 30-31, while RPI (7-9-1, 2-6-0) returns to action that same weekend at Bowling Green.