Princeton's Hobey Baker Rink Celebrates 100 Years

Princeton University certainly made famed alumnus Hobey Baker proud⁠—and Patty Kazmaier, also.

On the weekend where Princeton's venerable Hobey Baker Rink was celebrated for the passage of a century since the facility first opened its doors on Jan. 5, 1923, the Tigers men's and women's hockey teams combined for three wins in four games against ECAC Hockey/Ivy League opponents Dartmouth and Harvard. 

On Saturday, the Stanley Cup was on display at a fan fest held outside the arena. Also in attendance were the Hobey Baker Award and the Patty Kazmaier Award, both named for Princeton hockey alumni, and annually awarded to the top NCAA Division I men's and women's player in the nation, respectively. 

The Princeton women blanked Harvard, 3-0, Saturday afternoon behind Taylor Hyland's 32 saves and Issy Wunder's two goals, in front of 1,544 spectators. The men's team topped Dartmouth, 4-2, that night before 2,300 on-lookers as Ian Murphy scored twice, Nick Seitz notched the game-winning goal shorthanded, and Ethan Pearson made 22 stops. The ceremonial opening faceoff for the men's game against Dartmouth was conducted with Princeton athletic director/alumnus John Mack and U.S. Army General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Princeton hockey alumnus. Fellow Tiger hockey alumni 

George Parros and Kevin Westgarth appeared Saturday night with the Stanley Cup, with Parros having won it in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks and Westgarth in 2012 with the Los Angeles Kings. Many other Princeton hockey men's and women's alumni were in attendance over the weekend, with the men's program dating back to 1900 and the women's program having begun in 1979.

Friday afternoon saw head coach Cara Morey's Tiger women topple Dartmouth, 5-2, as Annie Kuehl tallied two goals and Jennifer Olnowich made 15 saves in net. Ron Fogarty's The Tiger men saw a three-goal lead evaporate later that night in a 4-3 overtime setback to 10th-ranked Harvard, despite 37 saves by Pearson. Princeton's Adam Robbins made ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 highlights list with his penalty-shot goal.

The Princeton women (8-7-1 overall, 5-5-0 ECAC) return to action this weekend at Cornell and Colgate, while the Princeton men (8-9-0, 6-7-0) will host independent LIU on Friday and No. 11 Providence on Jan. 17.

Union Tops Tigers, 4-1, on Princeton Senior/ECAC Remembrance Night

On a night when Princeton University honored its outgoing seniors along with members of two of its former league champion squads, Union College spoiled the party with a 4-1 victory before 2,271 onlookers at Hobey Baker Rink.

Union (20-13-1 overall, 15-5-0 ECAC Hockey) started off with a goal in-close that was credited to Liam Morgan nine minutes into the game. The Dutchmen were also outshooting the Tigers by a 15-3 margin with six minutes left in the first period, and made it a 2-0 game when Ryan Walker scored off a scramble in front of the Princeton net with 2:46 left.

The Dutchmen increased their advantage just 2:41 into the second stanza when Jack Adams followed up own rebound to give the Dutchmen a 3-0 lead. Just under six minutes later, the Tigers responded when Ryan Kuffner curled out to the left point with the puck, then wristed it home to the far side to put Princeton (12-12-3, 9-10-1) on the board with his 23rd goal this year, and fourth of the weekend.

As snow fell steadily outside Baker Rink, the third period saw no penalties committed by either team, a time-out called by Princeton in the final two minutes of play, and then an empty-net goal by Union's Brett Supinski with 35 seconds remaining in regulation to close out the scoring. Union outshot Princeton, 43-29, on the evening, as Jake Kupsky made 28 stops for the Dutchmen. Ryan Ferland had 39 saves for the Tigers.

Princeton celebrated the eight seniors on this year's roster on Saturday, and also honored members of the 1998 and 2008 Tiger teams that won their respective ECAC Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Princeton and NHL alumni George Parros and Kevin Westgarth, who were members of separate Stanley Cup championship teams, dropped pucks for the ceremonial opening face-off.

NCAA Grads Duel in NHL Line Brawl

I went to a boxing match and ... oh, never mind.

The Vancouver Canucks hosted the Calgary Flames on Saturday night, and their NHL contest broke out in a line brawl at the opening face-off at Rogers Arena. In all there were 152 penalty minutes whistled—and the pleasantries all began at center ice between a pair of NCAA graduates.

Calgary's Kevin Westgarth (Princeton) faced off with Vancouver's Kevin Bieksa (Bowling Green), who moved up from the blueline to take the inaugural draw after trading words with Westgarth prior to the puck drop. (Bieksa won the draw, by the way, according to the Vancouver Sun.)

Nine players were ejected when all was said and done. Vancouver ultimately won, 3-2, in a shootout.

Westgarth played at Princeton from 2003 to 2007, where he tallied 47 points and 76 PIM over his last two campaigns with the Tigers. Bieksa was at BGSU from 2000 to 2004 and accumulated 75 points and 316 PIM in four seasons with the Falcons, according to hockeydb.com.