No. 12 Princeton to Wrap ECAC Hockey Regular Season This Weekend at Union, RPI

It's the final week of the regular season in ECAC Hockey, and before the national No. 12-ranked Tigers host a first-round playoff game next weekend, a trip to Union and RPI to finish the 22-game league set is ahead this weekend.

at Union, Fri., 6 p.m. | ESPN+ (U.S.) | TSN+ (Canada) | Int'l Video | Live Stats
at RPI, Sat., 3 p.m. | ESPN+ | Int'l Video | Live Stats

In the Rankings: Princeton stands No. 12 in the latest USCHO and No. 12 in the latest USA Hockey/The Rink Live national rankings. ECAC Hockey has seven teams ranked in the 15-team polls, in No. 3/3 Clarkson, No. 4/4 Colgate, No. 6/6 Cornell, No. 7/7 St. Lawrence, No. 9/9 Quinnipiac, No. 12/12 Princeton and No. 14/15 Yale.

ECAC Hockey standings: Princeton (24.5 points) will finish either seventh or eighth in ECAC Hockey's regular season with Brown (25.5 points) finishing in the other of those positions. The Tigers will host the single-game ECAC first round next weekend against one of Dartmouth, RPI, Union or Harvard.

Kaz Watch: Sarah Fillier entered the week ranked No. 4 in the nation in goals per game (0.83), No. 7 in power-play goals (seven), and No. 15 in points per game (1.29). Fillier was twice named a Kazmaier Award top-10 finalist, in 2019 during her freshman season and in 2020 during her sophomore season.

Team Effort: Fifteen players have scored a goal for Princeton this season. Among those who have already surpassed their previous season-best goal total coming into this season are sophomore Sarah Paul, who has scored 14 goals after getting two in an injury-shortened seven-game rookie season in 2021-22, and sophomore Jane Kuehl, who has scored seven this year after three in her rookie year last winter. Sarah Fillier is close to surpassing her previous career best goal total, with 20 this year and 22 each as a freshman and sophomore. Six players have scored at least 10 points this season, and of those, sophomores Issy Wunder (26 this year, 18 last season), Emerson O'Leary (23 this year, 11 last season), Paul (20 this year, five in 2021-22), and Jane Kuehl (13 this year, seven last season) have surpassed their previous season-best point totals. Senior Fillier leads the team with 31 points and classmate Annie Kuehl has 14.

Fillier Climbs the Charts: Here's an update on where Sarah Fillier stands on Princeton's career points, goals, and assists list:

Points: Fillier stands fourth, with 182. She's the program's highest-scoring player of the 21st century, is 18 points from becoming the fourth player in program history (first since 1995) to reach 200 points, and is 26 points out of a third-place tie.

Goals: With 83 goals, Fillier is eighth and four out of a tie for seventh (87). To become the highest-scoring Tiger of this century, Fillier would need 13 more goals to pass former teammate Carly Bullock '20 (95).

Assists: At 99 career assists, Fillier is in second place, behind only record holder Katherine Issel '95 (122). Only one player in Princeton men's program history, John Messuri '89 (118), has as many assists as Fillier.

Fillier, who was recently named The Hockey News' top PWHL prospect for the new league's 2024 draft, is among the active career leaders in Division I in several categories, including the leader in points per game (1.58) and co-leader in total goals (83), second in points (182) and goals per game (0.72), and third in assists per game (0.86).

Fillier with Team Canada: Senior Sarah Fillier won an Olympic gold medal with Canada at the 2022 Olympic Games, returning Canada to the top of the podium for the first time since the 2014 Games after the U.S. won in 2018. At the 2022 Games, Fillier scored eight goals to stand second among Canadians as well as among all players in the tournament, and she had 11 points to stand sixth, again both among all players and Canadians. Fillier is a three-time IIHF Women's World Championship medalist, winning gold in 2021 in Calgary, gold in 2022 in Denmark and silver in 2023 in Brampton, Ont.

The Staff: At 100-68-21, Head coach Cara Morey is in her seventh overall year and sixth competitive season (2020-21 lost to the pandemic) leading the program. Her 100 career wins are second-most in program history to predecessor Jeff Kampersal '92 (327). On Jan. 13 at Harvard, Morey became the second Princeton women's hockey coach and sixth hockey coach between the men's and women's programs to reach 100 wins. The four men's coaches who have reached 100 are Richard Vaughan (158 from 1935-59), Jim Higgins (130 from 1977-91), Don Cahoon (122 from 1991-2000), and Guy Gadowsky (105 from 2004-11). Along with Dan Gould, who returns and coaches the goaltenders, Morey has two new assistant coaches in Jamie Lundmark, who played professionally from 2001-18 including parts of six seasons in the NHL with the Rangers, Coyotes, Flames, Kings and Maple Leafs, and Melissa Samoskevich, who stands among the highest-scoring players in Quinnipiac history after graduating in 2019.

Series History: Princeton is 35-2-2 all-time against Union, but one of those four non-wins was earlier this season, Dec. 2 in a 1-1 tie at Baker Rink, the first time Princeton didn't win the visit against Union. In Schenectady, Princeton is 17-2-1 all-time, but Union won the last time there, 4-1 on Dec. 3, 2022, breaking a seven-game Tiger winning streak at Union. Princeton is 21-9-5 all-time against RPI overall and 10-3-3 in Troy. The Tigers won 6-0 earlier this season in Baker Rink, has won seven straight overall against the Engineers and has won the last four in Troy. RPI's last win over Princeton came in 2019 in Baker and the last home win for RPI was in 2018.

On Union: At 8-22-2 overall and 3-15-2 in ECAC Hockey, Union will be looking to break a 10-game skid overall and eight straight in ECAC Hockey. The Garnet Chargers' last win was on Jan. 5 at Penn State, and the team's last league win was over RPI on Dec. 9. Riley Walsh leads the team with 11 goals and 26 points. Sophie Matsoukas has played most of the minutes in goal this season, holding a 2.87 GAA. Matsoukas is 2-1 in her career against Princeton but has stopped at least 44 shots in each of those three games, including her career high of 56 last season. Matsoukas, a junior, has stopped at least 44 shots six times in her three seasons at Union, and three of those times have come against Princeton. Matsoukas stopped 44 shots in the Dec. 2 1-1 tie in Baker earlier this season, which is the last time Matsoukas made that many saves.

On RPI: The Engineers are 13-16-3 overall and 5-15-0 in ECAC Hockey. RPI was swept by Cornell and Colgate last weekend but defeated Brown on Feb. 3 in the team's last win. Ellie Kaiser leads the team with 10 goals and Marah Wagner's team-high 15 assists have helped give her a team-best 20 points. Wagner is fourth in the nation at 397 faceoff wins. Amanda Rampado has played most of the minutes in goal this season, holding a 2.07 GAA.

Stat Rankings: Princeton's has the nation's seventh-best faceoff winning percentage (.552), while Sarah Fillier is fourth nationally in points per game (0.83) and seventh in power-play goals (seven), among team and individual top-10 rankings.

Against the top 10: Princeton's Nov. 18, 2023 win over then-No. 6-ranked Cornell was the 16th win over a top-10 team under Cara Morey, who is in her sixth competitive season as the team's head coach. It was Princeton's third top-six win of calendar year 2023, as the Tigers beat No. 4 Quinnipiac on Jan. 23 at Baker Rink and No. 3 Colgate to open the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals on Feb. 24 in Hamilton.

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