No. 13 Princeton to Host Dartmouth on Saturday in ECAC Hockey Opening Round

Saturday, February 24

Princeton, N.J.

3:00 PM

Princeton University

Dartmouth (Opening Round)

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Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

No. 13 Princeton to Host Dartmouth on Saturday in ECAC Hockey Opening Round

February 20, 2024 | Women's Ice Hockey

The ECAC Hockey Opening Round comes to Baker Rink on Saturday as the No. 13-ranked Princeton women's hockey team hosts Dartmouth in a 3 p.m. start.

vs. Dartmouth, Sat., 3 p.m. | ESPN+ (U.S.) | Int'l Video | Live Stats | Tickets | Game Program | First 100 Princeton University Students Free

In the Rankings: Princeton stands No. 13 in the latest USCHO and No. 13 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. 5/5 Colgate, No. 6/6 Cornell, No. 7/7 St. Lawrence, No. 9/9 Quinnipiac, No. 13/13 Princeton and No. 14/14 Yale.

Princeton in the ECAC Hockey tournament: Princeton has qualified for the quarterfinals in nine straight competitive seasons (did not compete in 2020-21), last missing the quarters in 2013. Princeton did that through its regular-season performance in each of those nine occasions, and with the new format, the Tigers will have to do that by defeating Dartmouth on Saturday, now with all 12 teams in the tournament.

Kaz Watch: Sarah Fillier entered the week leading the nation in goals per game (0.96), No. 6 in power-play goals (eight), and No. 13 in points per game (1.42). Fillier's five-goal weekend last weekend at Union and RPI earned her third ECAC Forward of the Week honor. Fillier was twice named a Kazmaier Award top-10 finalist, in 2019 during her freshman season and in 2020 during her sophomore season.

Sophomore standouts: After Sarah Fillier, Princeton's next three leading point scorers are all sophomores, and all three have outperformed their rookie totals. Issy Wunder (8G/22A/30P) had 18 points a year ago on nine goals and nine helpers, and she's had five assists over the last three games. Emerson O'Leary (6G/22A/28P) had 11 points last year on seven goals and four assists, and she's had six assists over the last three games, including a career-high four last Friday at Union. Sarah Paul (14G/6A/20P) had five points on two goals and three assists during an injury-shortened seven-game season in 2021-22 before missing all of last season due to injury.

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 188. She's the program's highest-scoring player of the 21st century, is 12 points from becoming the fourth player in program history (first since 1995) to reach 200 points, and is 19 points out of a third-place tie (207).

Goals: With 88 goals, Fillier is seventh and one out of a tie for sixth (89). To become the highest-scoring Tiger of this century, Fillier would need eight more goals to pass former teammate Carly Bullock '20 (95), who stands fifth.

Assists: At 100 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 (1.61), total goals (88) and goals per game (0.75), second in points (188) and third in assists per game (0.85).

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 101-68-22, Head coach Cara Morey is in her seventh overall year and sixth competitive season (2020-21 lost to the pandemic) leading the program. Her 101 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 leads the all-time series with Dartmouth 54-32-7 overall and 27-11-6 in Baker Rink. Dartmouth tied Princeton 1-1 in the teams' last meeting on Jan. 12 in Hanover, ending a 12-game winning streak in the series since Dartmouth's last win over Princeton in 2016. At Baker, Princeton has won seven straight since a 2015 tie and is unbeaten in nine straight since a 2012 loss. The Tigers and Big Green have met three times in the postseason, each in one-game rounds and not in more than 20 years. Princeton won in 1992 and 1995 at Baker, both in the first/quarterfinal round, and Dartmouth won in 2003 in the semis held at Brown.

On Dartmouth: Dartmouth coach Liz Keady Norton is a 2008 Princeton alumna who was a second-team All-Ivy and an honorable mention All-ECAC Hockey honoree in 2005, co-captaining the team as a senior in 2007-08. At 6-20-3 overall and 3-16-3 in ECAC Hockey, Dartmouth is 0-3-1 in its last four and is looking for its first win since shutting out Harvard 2-0 on Feb. 3. The Big Green is looking to advance in the ECAC tournament for the first time since 2011, when it made the ECAC final. That year was the last time the Big Green won a game in the ECAC tournament as it was swept from the quarters in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, which was the last time the Big Green made the tournament. Cally Dixon leads the Big Green with 10 goals while Jenna Donohue has a team-high 15 assists and 22 points. In goal, Eleanor Rogers has played about two-thirds of the minutes in goal, but Hann Humphreys has played more of the minutes recently, including the 1-1 tie against Princeton in Hanover on Jan. 12.

Stat Rankings: Princeton's has the nation's ninth-best faceoff winning percentage (.549), while Sarah Fillier leads the nation in goals per game (0.96) and is sixth in power-play goals (eight).

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.

What's next: The winner will await the outcome of the other four Opening Round games, all starting Saturday at 3 p.m., with (9) RPI at (8) Brown, (11) Union at (6) Yale, and (12) Harvard at (5) Quinnipiac. The bracket will be reseeded before next weekend's best-of-three quarterfinals, with the lowest-seeded remaining team going to (1) Colgate, followed by (2) Clarkson, (3) St. Lawrence and (4) Cornell.