Princeton Ousts Brown in ECAC Men's First Round

Princeton University has advanced to the quarterfinals of the ECAC Tournament for the second straight year. The Tigers completed a two-step sweep of visiting Brown University with a 7-1 win on Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink, one night after an 8-2 victory over the Bears in the opener of the best-of-three series.

The Tigers got goals from seven different players on the evening, and 27 saves from Ryan Ferland, after breaking open a 1-0 game with four goals in the middle period. Ryan Kuffner’s second-period score, his 28^th goal of the season, stood up as the game-winner. It also tied a 20-year-old Princeton single-season record, set by retired NHL player Jeff Halpern in 1998 when the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.

Kuffner finished the night with a goal and two assists, as did linemate Max Veronneau, who recorded his 100^th career point on Kuffner’s goal. Reid Yochim and Eric Robinson also posted two assists apiece for Princeton, which finished 2-for-6 on the power play.

The Tigers ended the game with six seniors on the ice, including relief goaltender Ben Halford, in their final appearance as a class at Baker Rink. Senior defenseman Matt Nelson closed out the scoring with a power-play goal with 34 seconds remaining in regulation, assisted by classmates Robinson and Joe Grabowski. Also on ice were seniors Max Becker and David Hallisey. Princeton outshot Brown, 44-30, over three periods.

Brown (8-19-4), which defeated both Dartmouth and Harvard last week in its regular-season finale, got its lone goal Saturday from Zach Giuttari, on a power play early in the third period. The Bears also received 37 saves overall from Luke Kania in Brown’s final game of the 2017-18 campaign.

Princeton (15-12-2), which now is assured of its first winning record since 2010-11, will play on the road next week in a best-of-three series at an opponent yet to be determined. The winner of that series will advance to the ECAC Tournament semifinals on March 16 in Lake Placid.

Princeton Outlasts No. 3 Clarkson, 4-3

Princeton University won its fourth straight game, all in ECAC play, with a 4-3 come-from-behind win Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink over third-ranked Clarkson University. Reid Yochim's third-period power-play goal broke a three-all tie and stood up as the game-winner. Full recap can be found here.

Princeton Tops Holy Cross in Home Opener

The Princeton University men's hockey team opened its 2017-18 regular season on Sunday afternoon with a 4-2 victory over Holy Cross at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink.

Derek Topatigh had three assists for the Tigers (1-0-0 overall), who were outshot, 40-38, by the visiting Crusaders. Eric Robinson and Jackson Cresey each tallied a goal and an assist for the home team, which scored three times in the middle period. Reid Yochim's power-play goal, the first goal of his college career, stood up as the game-winner and also gave Princeton a 3-1 lead at the time.

Spencer Trapp had two assists for Holy Cross (2-1-2), which finished 1-for-7 on the power play. The Crusaders came to Princeton off a 5-3 win at ECAC opponent Dartmouth on Friday.

Freshman goaltender Ryan Ferland made 38 stops for Princeton on Sunday in his NCAA debut, including 14 saves in each of the final two periods. The Tigers will begin their ECAC campaign at home on Friday against Colgate, before hosting Cornell on Saturday.

Princeton Edges UWO in Exhibition, 6-4

Liam Grande's second goal with 5:05 remaining in regulation stood up as the game-winner as the Princeton University Tigers overcame an early 2-1 deficit to best Western Ontario, 6-4, in an exhibition game at Hobey Baker Rink on Saturday evening.

Max Veronneau set up three Princeton goals and Eric Robinson had two assists while Reid Yochim, Jackson Cressey, Josh Teves and Alex Riche also scored for the Tigers, who finished 15-16-3 overall a year ago. Freshman netminder Ryan Ferland stopped all four shots he faced in playing the final eight minutes and 24 seconds of regulation for the Tigers, and also picked up the victory (which will not count in NCAA totals, as an exhibition) as he was in net for Grande's game-winner.

Princeton starting goaltender Austin Shaw stopped 19 of 22 shots over the first 40 minutes on Saturday, while Ben Halford saved two of three shots in just over 11 minutes of play. Princeton finished 3-for-7 on the power play, and stopped 4-of-5 man-advantage attempts by the Mustangs, who got two goals from Anthony Stefano.


Princeton will open its 2017-18 regular season against visiting Holy Cross on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. at Baker Rink.