No. 6 Princeton to Host RPI, Union This Weekend as ECAC Playoff Race Continues

Friday, February 7

Princeton, N.J.

6:00 PM

Princeton University

RPI

Solveig Neunzert and the Tigers will host RPI and Union this weekend.

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

No. 6 Princeton to Host RPI, Union This Weekend as ECAC Playoff Race Continues

February 05, 2020 | Women's Ice Hockey

The sixth-ranked Princeton women's hockey team enters this weekend's two games at Baker Rink in an advantageous position in the ECAC Hockey League standings, but the Tigers will have to keep picking up points in the standings to keep that spot.

Friday vs. RPI, 6 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Free Admission
Saturday vs. Union, 3 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Free Admission

Princeton stands second in the ECAC at 25 points, four back of leader Cornell and five in front of fifth-place Yale. The top four teams once the regular season wraps up Feb. 22 host the second four teams the following weekend in a best-of-three series to open the ECAC playoffs, and Cornell, Princeton, Harvard (23) and Clarkson (22) are in those hosting positions heading into the third-to-last weekend. Yale (20), Colgate (17), Quinnipiac (16) and St. Lawrence (15) are in position to make the playoffs, with Union (13), Dartmouth (7), Brown (5) and RPI (0) in the last four positions, spots that do not qualify for the playoffs.

The Tigers will head to St. Lawrence and Clarkson next weekend before hosting Brown and Yale to close out the regular season.

Along with the chance to solidify first-round home ice, the Tigers can have a couple of seniors move up in all-time program rankings. Reigning ECAC Player of the Week Carly Bullock has 83 career goals, good for seventh all-time and four out of a tie for sixth. She has 138 career points, just four points out of a tie for 10th. Classmate Stephanie Neatby's 1,765 saves are the sixth-most all-time and just 22 out of a tie for fifth. Sophomore Sarah Fillier is just six points away from reaching 100 points for her career.

Princeton swept the Union-RPI road weekend in mid-November. Bullock and Sharon Frankel put in two goals apiece while Fillier had four assists and Cassie Reale made eight saves in a 7-2 win over Union. The next day at RPI, Fillier had two goals and Bullock had four assists as Neatby made 10 saves in a 4-1 win.

RPI won at Baker Rink 2-1 just last year, taking that lead in the second period and holding on to it for the final 27-plus minutes. The Tigers have won 11 in a row over Union since a 2-1 loss on Jan. 10, 2014. Princeton is 15-0 all-time against Union at Baker Rink since the Dutchwomen's first visit to the 97-year-old arena in 2005.