Men's Hockey Preps For Home-And-Home With #5 Quinnipiac

Friday, January 12

Hamden, Conn.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

#5/5 Quinnipiac

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Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Men's Hockey Preps For Home-And-Home With #5 Quinnipiac

January 10, 2024 | Men's Ice Hockey

Princeton at #5/5 Quinnipiac
January 12 | 7 p.m. | M&T Bank Arena
ESPN+ | International Stream | Tickets | Live Stats | Game Notes

Princeton vs. #5/5 Quinnipiac
January 13 | 7 p.m. | Hobey Baker Rink
ESPN+ | International Stream | Tickets | Live Stats

THE ALL-TIME SERIES WITH QUINNIPIAC
Princeton and Quinnipiac have met 36 times previously, with the Tigers entering this weekend with a 12-23-1 record all-time against the Bobcats. Princeton is 4-13-1 against Quinnipiac at Baker Rink and 8-10-0 in Hamden. Quinnipiac has won the last eight meetings between the two teams dating back to 11/30/18. Princeton's last win over Quinnipiac was a 5-3 win in CT on 1/30/18. It's last win at Baker Rink against the Bobcats was a 5-3 win on 12/9/16.

THE GAUNTLET CONTINUES
Princeton is in the midst of a five-game stretch against ranked opponents with four of those games coming on the road. Last weekend, the Tigers were upended twice at #16/17 New Hampshire leading into this weekend's home-and-home with Quinnipiac. Next Friday, the Tigers head to #17/18 Cornell to complete the slate.

IVY LEAGUE RACE HEATS UP
Princeton started its second lap through the Ivy League with a win against Harvard, improving to 4-1-1 record against Ivy opponents and moving into first place in the title race with 11 points. Cornell (2-2-1) is second with nine points, while Dartmouth (1-0-2) and Harvard (1-1-2) are tied with six. The Tigers last won an Ivy League title in 2007-08.

REELING IN RANKED TEAMS
The Tigers have 20 wins over ranked opponents during Ron Fogarty's tenure, including a 2-1 (OT) win over No. 10 Cornell on 11/18/23. Princeton also picked up a 5-0 win at No. 20 RIT and a 3-2 (OT) win over No. 12 Providence last year and a 5-4 win at No. 8 Cornell in 2021-22. Princeton has at least one win over a ranked team in each of its last eight seasons.

PRINCETON ALL-TIME AGAINST THE DEFENDING CHAMPS
The Tigers are 3-23-0 all-time against the defending NCAA champions, the last win against a team coming off a national championship a 4-1 win over then two-time defending NCAA champ Denver in Denver. Princeton spotted the Pios a 1-0 lead but scored the next four. Future Stanley Cup champion Kevin Westgarth had a goal and an assist in the game for Princeton.

OFFENSE ON POINT
Princeton has scored 49 total goals over its first 15 games to start the season, ranking No. 2 in the ECAC and No. 18 in the country in Scoring Offense (3.27 goals-per-game). The Tigers scored 3+ goals in their first five games to start the year, the first 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 10 of its 15 games this season. There has been balance to the scoring with 15 different goal scorers and seven Tigers in double figures in points.

POWER PLAY POPS OFF
The Tigers are 15-for-43 on the power play this season, connecting at a 34.9% clip to lead the country ahead of Michigan (31.5%), Minnesota-Duluth (30.3%) Western Michigan (30.2%) and Boston College (29.0%). Nine different players have PPGs for the Tigers -- Kai Daniells leads with four, while Jack Cronin, David Jacobs and Adam Robbins each have two.

THE ARTY PARTY
Freshman goalie Arthur Smith is staking his claim to the net. He enters the weekend No. 6 in the ECAC in save percentage (.910) and in GAA (2.70) Nationally, Smith ranks No. 33 among all goalies and No. 4 among freshmen in save percentage. He is also No. 35 among all goalies in GAA and No. 4 among freshman goalies. Smith has a 5-4-1 record, good for a .550 winning percentage which ranks No. 32 among all goalies in the country and No. 7 among freshmen.

CARDIAC CATS
So far through 15 games this season, Princeton has reached overtime five times, with another decided by one goal with under 1:00 left in regulation. The Tigers have won three of their five overtime games during the 5:00 OT period and claimed the shootout over Harvard in another. Princeton's three overtime wins so far this season are tied for most in the ECAC (Clarkson) and No. 5 in the nation. Arizona State leads with 5 OT wins. 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 five of the 12 games reached overtime, of those five, fans have seen two reach a shootout and two others were decided with under 0:10 left in OT. To put it another way, Princeton has played 21:59 of its possible 25:00 of overtime this season.

TRYING TO FIND THE FRONT FOOT
Princeton has struggled out of the gate in games, being outscored in the first period by an 23-8 margin over its first 15 games. The Tigers have regained composure often in the second period, outscoring opponents by a 21-15 margin in middle frames.

CAREER YEARS
Eight of Princeton's returning skaters had career years during the 2022-23 season. Joe Berg (+2 points), Nick Carabin (+10 points), Jack Cronin (+12 points), Noah de la Durantaye (+7 points), Mike Kennedy (+2 points), Ian Murphy (+10 points), Adam Robbins (+1 point) and Nick Seitz (+6 points) all increased their scoring output from 2021-22 to 2022-23.

This season, Jaxson Ezman (+5), Tyler Rubin (+3), Adam Robbins (+1), and Brendan Wang (+1) each have set new career highs in points.

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 tallied 15-14-29 last season to lead Princeton in goals, assists, and points. This year, he is just under a point-per-game player (5-8-13) to start the season with points in 11 of the 15 games -- including a seven-game point streak (2g, 6a) from 11/18-12/9.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Ian Murphy enters this weekend with 61 career points (29g, 32a) in 71 games. His 61 career points rank No. 59 all-time and No. 9 by a player who has played just three seasons.

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 21 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.

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 nine points (1g, 8a) in 15 games played. He had gone 19 games without a goal dating back to 2/11/23 at Clarkson before scoring against Sacred Heart on December 9.

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 -- 33 pts. (10g, 23a) in 46 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. During the 2020-21 year, Robbins won a Clark Cup with the Chicago Steel. He has a career-high 15 points (5g, 10a) through 15 games this season, also setting a career high in assists and matching his career high in goals. He enters the game with points in eight of his last 10 games, tallying 11 points (4, 7a) in that span.

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 10 points (2g, 8a) in 15 games this season, including 3-assist games at Dartmouth (11/4) and against Harvard (12/30).

KD ON THE PP
Freshman Kai Daniells ranks No. 2 in the ECAC and No. 26 in the nation with four PPGs -- a number which is No. 4 among freshmen in the country.

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 8 points (2g, 6a) in 13 games this season, including a three-point game (1g, 2a) against Harvard (12/30).

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 7 points (4g, 3a) in 15 games. He had his first career multi-point game with two assists at RPI on 12/2 and his first career multi-goal game against Harvard (12/30).

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 12 points (2g, 10a) including a 3-point game (1g, 2a) against Yale.

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.

SMITH NAMED ECAC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK ON 11/20
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 4-2-1 to start his career and is No. 5 among ECAC netminders in GAA (2.54) and No. 6 in save percentage (.914).

COACH FOGARTY
Ron Fogarty began at Princeton in 2014 after seven years at Division III Adrian, rolling up a 167-23-10 record. Since coming to Princeton, he has won 86 games, already the fifth-most in program history and trailing Guy Gadowsky (2004-2011, 105 wins), Don Cahoon (1991-2000, 122 wins), Jim Higgins (1977-1991, 130 wins), and Richard Vaughan (1935-1959, 158 wins). Prior to Adrian, Fogarty was an assistant coach at his alma mater Colgate from 1996-99, Clarkson from 1999-2002, and Bowling Green from 2002-06. In 2018, he led Princeton to its third ECAC title, along with 1998 and 2008. Fogarty's overall head coaching record is 253-183-35; .577).

LET'S GO CAMPING
Three players on this year's team have attended NHL Development Camps:
Noah de la Durantaye - Vegas (2022)
Brendan Gorman - Vegas (2023)
Ian Murphy - Vancouver (2022), St. Louis (2023)

A total of 24 Tigers have been drafted in the NHL since the draft began in 1963.