Men's Hockey Ventures Back Into ECAC Play At Union & RPI

Friday, December 1

Schenectady, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

Union

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Photo by: Erica Denhoff

Men's Hockey Ventures Back Into ECAC Play At Union & RPI

November 29, 2023 | Men's Ice Hockey

Princeton at Union
December 1 | 7 p.m. | Messa Rink
ESPN+ | International Stream | Tickets | Live Stats | Game Notes

Princeton at RPI
December 2 | 7 p.m. | Houston Field House
ESPN+ | International Stream | Tickets | Live Stats

THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH UNION
This weekend marks the 78th meeting all-time between Princeton and Union, with the Garnet Chargers holding a 42-27-8 lead in the series and a 25-9-6 advantage at Messa Rink. During Ron Fogarty's time at Princeton, the Tigers are 5-16-2 in what has been a closely-contested rivalry that has featured four playoff meetings. Nine of the 23 games between the two teams since Fogarty took over in 2014-15 have either been decided by one goal or ended in a tie and seven have required overtime. Last year, Princeton went 2-1 against Union including a 6-4 win at Messa Rink in the First Round of the ECAC Playoffs.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH RPI
This weekend marks the 124th meeting all-time between Princeton and RPI, with the Engineers holding a 72-39-12 lead in the series. In Troy, Princeton is 18-43-6 all-time. Since Ron Fogarty took over in 2014-15, Princeton is 6-8-2 against RPI but 1-7-0 at Houston Field House. Princeton's last win at RPI was a 6-2 victory on 11/11/17.

OFFENSE ON POINT
Princeton has scored 27 total goals over its first eight games to start the season, ranking No. 3 in the ECAC and No. 16 in the country in Scoring Offense (3.38 goals-per-game). The Tigers scored 3+ goals in their first five games to start the year, the last time that had happened since the 2006-07 team also had 3+ goals in five consecutive games to open that season. Princeton has hit the back of the net 3+ times in seven of its eight games this season. There has been balance to the scoring with 13 different goal scorers and 15 different players with at least one point. Entering this weekend, five players are tied for the team lead in points (7) - Ian Murphy, Nick Seitz, Adam Robbins, Brendan Gorman and David Jacobs.

CARDIAC CATS
So far through six ECAC games this season, Princeton has reached overtime in four of its six games, with another decided by one goal with under 1:00 left in regulation. The Tigers have won three of their four overtime games during the 5:00 OT period and claimed the shootout over Harvard in the other.

Princeton's three overtime wins so far this season are most in the ECAC and No. 3 in the nation alongside Air Force and Lake Superior who each have three. Arizona State and Ferris State lead the NCAA with four overtime wins.

Fun Fact Of The Week: Princeton (3-4-1) and Ferris State (4-7-1) both have yet to win a game in regulation this season yet are mopping up in OT.

Nerd Nugget: There are 15 teams in the country who have played 3 or more overtime games this season, Princeton is the only team to get the two points in each game to extend past regulation time.

SMITH NAMED ECAC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Freshman goalie Arthur Smith made 36 saves in a 2-1 (OT) win over No. 10 Cornell on 11/18 to earn ECAC Rookie of the Week honors for the first time in his career. Smith is now 2-2-0 to start his career, with both of his wins coming in overtime against ECAC and Ivy League opponents. Smith is No. 8 among ECAC netminders in GAA (3.04) and No. 7 in save percentage (.904).

Among freshmen goalies in the country, Smith ranks No. 5 in save percentage and No. 6 in winning percentage (.500).

GETTING YOUR MONEY'S WORTH
From strictly a cost-benefit analysis, a ticket to a Princeton game is one of the most efficient uses of your hockey-fan budget. Not only have four of the eight games reached overtime, of those four, fans have seen one reach a shootout and two others were decided with under 0:10 left in OT.

To put it another way, Princeton has played 16:59 of its possible 20:00 of overtime this season and ended each of those four games with a winning pigpile.

AMONG THE NATION'S TOP OFFENSES
The Tigers enter this weekend ranked No. 3 in the ECAC and No. 16 in the country in goals-per-game (3.38). Quinnipiac (4.36) leads the ECAC, while Denver (5.50) leads the NCAA.

POWER PLAY POPS OFF
The Tigers are 7-for-24 on the power play this season, connecting at a 29.2% clip to lead the ECAC and rank #4 in the country behind Minnesota-Duluth (34.0%), Michigan (32.8%) and Northern Michigan (29.3%). Six different players have PPGs for the Tigers -- Jack Cronin has two, while Nick Seitz, Kai Daniells, Tyler Rubin, David Jacobs and Nick Carabin each have one.

THE MURPH
For the second year in a row, Ian Murphy is the top returning scorer on the team. After posting 9-10-19 numbers in 2021-22, he popped off for 15-14-29 last season to lead Princeton in goals, assists, and points. This year, he is just under a point-per-game player (3-4-7) to start the season with points in six of the eight games -- including a three-game point streak entering the weekend. He had two hat tricks last season, tying for most by an ECAC player and second-most by any player in the NCAA.

JACK ATTACK
Jack Cronin struck for five PPGs and was second on the team with 12 goals overall last year. He scored 10 more goals last year than he did in his freshman season, and his 12-point growth from 2021-22 to 2022-23 was the most of any player on the team. In the opening weekend, Cronin had three points in two games, including a two-point game (1g, 1a) at Harvard -- his first multi-point game since 12/30/22 at Colorado College.

Cronin's 18 career goals are second-most by an active Princeton player, and his two-goal game against Colgate was the first of his career after 15 previous one-goal games.

Of Cronin's 18 career goals, eight have come on the power play (44%).

DE LA SOUL
Junior defenseman Noah de la Durantaye tallied a career-high 17 points last season, up from 10 as a rookie in 2021-22. He leads all returning defensemen in goals (4), assists (13) and points (17).

This season, he has five assists in eight games. He has gone 15 games without a goal dating back to 2/11/23 at Clarkson.

GORMAN FAMILY SCORING RACE
Sophomore Brendan Gorman is chasing down his older brother, Liam (Class of 2023), and father, Sean (Class of 1991) on his family's all-time scoring leader list. Brendan averaged 0.6 points-per-game last season as a true freshman.
1. Liam Gorman -- 36 pts. (16g, 20a) in 91 games
2. Brendan Gorman -- 26 pts. (7g, 19a) in 39 games 3. Sean Gorman -- 23 pts (5g, 18a) in 99 games

ABOUT ADAM
Adam Robbins tallied 14 points (5g, 9a) in 32 games last season after registering 15 points (5g, 10a) over his first 49 combined games. Of his nine assists last season, seven came on the power play. He has five assists this season, two of which have come on the power play. During the 2020-21 year, Robbins won a Clark Cup with the Chicago Steel.

Robbins scored the OTGWG against Yale, landing at #5 on that evening's Sportscenter Top-10 Plays -- the second time in his career he landed on the #SCtop10 following a penalty shot goal against Harvard on 1/6/23 which was #4.

SETTING SEITZ
Another NYC product had a standout 2022-23 in Nick Seitz. Last year, he connected for a career-high 15 points (9g, 6a) in 28 games after tallying 11 points (3g, 8a) over his first 56 games. He has 7 points (2g, 5a) in 8 games this season, including a 3-assist game at Dartmouth.

CARABIN CARRIES HIS WEIGHT
Assistant captain Nick Carabin stepped into a larger role last season as a junior and delivered with a career-high 11 points (1g, 10a) in 32 games after registering just one assist in 21 games during the 2021-22 season.

He has 5 points (1g, 4a) in 8 games this season.

EZMAN IS THE MAN
After tallying 2 points in 22 games as a freshman last season, Jaxson Ezman has started the 23-24 season with 3 points (2g, 1a) in 8 games.

DJ SPINS GOLD
David Jacobs had 15 points (5g, 10a) as a freshman last year over 32 games. He had five different one-goal games, and is looking for his first career multi-goal game.

To start this season, Jacobs has 7 points (1g, 6a) including a 3-point game (1g, 2a) against Yale and is No. 7 in the ECAC in assists-per-game (0.75).

FRESH FACES FIND FOOTING IN NET
Princeton's two wins against Yale and Brown each provided the first career win in their first career start for Princeton's two freshmen netminders. Arthur Smith made 24 saves in the 5-4 win over Yale, while Conor Callaghan made 30 saves in a 3-2 win over Brown.

PEARSON PROTECTS THE NET
Junior Ethan Pearson had taken over the starting goalie role before a season-ending injury at St. Lawrence last season, posting an 11-9-0 record with a 2.71 GAA. He had four shutouts last season, which tied for No. 2 all-time in a season by a Princeton netminder. His 2.71 GAA in 21 games played ranks No. 7 in a season all-time by a goalie to play in at least a third of Princeton's games.

Pearson started the first two games of this season before suffering an injury at Dartmouth. He returned last weekend at Ohio State and made 24 saves in a 4-3 loss to the Buckeyes.