Yale, Brown to Visit Baker Rink This Weekend

Friday, January 20

Princeton, N.J.

6:00 PM

Princeton University

Yale

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Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

January 17, 2023 | Women's Ice Hockey

Just five regular-season home games remain for the Princeton women's hockey team in the 2022-23 season, and two of them will be this weekend when No. 2-ranked Yale visits Friday at 6 p.m. and Brown stops in Saturday at 3 p.m.

vs. No. 2 Yale, Friday, 6 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Game Program | Tickets
vs. Brown, Saturday, 3 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Game Program | Tickets

Saturday is the annual Denna Day, in honor of alumna Denna Laing '14, an alumna who suffered catastrophic spinal cord injury while playing professional hockey in 2015. Laing will be on hand for a ceremonial pregame puck drop. Saturday will also include a signed jersey raffle and chuck-a-puck, with fans getting the opportunity to purchase the opportunity to take part in the chuck-a-puck until the end of the second period with the promo occurring in the second intermission.

Versus No. 2: Yale, ranked second in both the USCHO.com/DCU and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls this week, will be Princeton's highest-ranked opponent since the Tigers beat No. 1/1 Cornell in the 2020 ECAC Hockey tournament final. Yale will be Princeton's ninth top-10 opponent this season.

The Series with Yale and Brown: Princeton split the visit to Brown and Yale in November, winning in Providence and losing at then-No. 8 Yale despite rookie Taylor Hyland making 41 saves and taking a shutout into the third period. Princeton leads the all-time series against the Bulldogs 67-18-3 overall and 34-10 in Baker. Yale's overall streak is two wins and streak in Baker is one win. Against Brown, Princeton leads 54-29-3 all-time and 25-13-1 in Baker. Princeton is 22-0-1 since the Bears' last win in the series in 2010 in Princeton. The lone tie came in Brown's last visit to Princeton, in 2022.

Stat Rankings: Entering the week, Princeton stood 17th in the nation in scoring defense (2.44 goals allowed/game) and in GAA (2.431) and 19th in winning percentage (.528). Individually, Sarah Fillier was 12th with 269 faceoff wins and 13th at 0.61 goals/game.

Checking the Charts: Two players are making moves high up on Princeton's career list. Senior Maggie Connors stands 14th with 68 career goals and is one out of what would be a three-way tie for 12th. Junior Sarah Fillier has 55 career goals, good for 15th with Connors right in front of her, and 82 career assists, standing seventh and one out of sixth. With the 82 assists (record is 122) and 137 points (record is 218), Fillier is more than halfway to both records with a season-plus to go.

Outshoot 'em: Princeton has outshot its opponent on goal in 13 of 18 games on the season. On the season, Princeton is averaging 34.3 shots a game to 25.1 for its opponent.

Rookies: First-year Tigers are three of Princeton's five leading scorers this season, with Issy Wunder (6/9a) second with 15 points, Katherine Khramtsov (5g/5a) fourth with 10 and Emerson O'Leary (4g/3a) fifth with seven. Classmate Taylor Hyland has played better than 42 percent of the team's minutes in goal and leads the team with a .914 save percentage.

Between the Pipes: Sophomore Jennifer Olnowich has played just short of 57 percent of the minutes in goal this season with rookie Taylor Hyland playing the other 42-plus percent. Olnowich has the lower GAA, at 2.24 to 2.48 for Hyland, and Hyland has the edge in save percentage, .914 to .899.

Olympic Gold: Junior Sarah Fillier returned to Princeton this season for the first time since the 2019-20 season that ended due to the pandemic just before the NCAA tournament. In the meantime, Fillier helped Canada to two IIHF World Championships and Olympic gold. At the Olympics, Fillier co-led Canada in goals (five) and led the team in points (11).

Hey Coach: When the Tigers host Brown, it'll be a matchup of a Brown alum in Cara Morey and a former Princeton assistant coach, with Brown head coach Melanie Ruzzi as an assistant on Princeton's 2020 ECAC tournament championship team.