Men's Hockey Hosts No. 20 New Hampshire Twice At Baker Rink This Weekend

Princeton vs. #20 New Hampshire | January 3 | 7 p.m.
Baker Rink
Tickets | Live Stats | ESPN+ | International Stream | Game Notes

Princeton vs. #20 New Hampshire | January 4 | 4 p.m.
Baker Rink
Tickets | Live Stats | ESPN+ | International Stream | Game Notes

LOOSE ENDS
The Tigers are 2-15-0 all-time against New Hampshire in a series that dates back to 1934 -- a 5-4 Princeton win at Hobey Baker Rink. This weekend marks New Hampshire's first trip to New Jersey since January 5, 1983 -- a 7-5 UNH win. The last six meetings between the two teams have come in Durham, N.H., Estero, Fla. and Belfast. Last year, Princeton dropped a pair of games in New Hampshire, 5-2 and 3-1. Ian Murphy, Kai Daniells and Brendan Gorman each had PPGs for Princeton in the series while David Jacobs has a pair of assists.

ALL THE WAY HOME
The Tigers are in the middle of a stretch where they play 11 of 13 games at home between 11/29-1/26 with only a pair of one-game road trips mixed in. The Tigers are 4-0-0 to start that block of games at Baker Rink and are now 4-1-1 at home this season.

WRECKING BALL
Princeton enters this weekend on a five-game winning streak -- matching the longest in the regular season since the 2017-18 team won five in a row from 1/13-2/9 during a season which ended in a ECAC championship. Princeton's five-game winning streak is the third-longest active streak in the country right now and the four wins in a row at Baker Rink are tied for the fifth-longest active home winning streak in the country.

ONE STEP UP
Princeton's performance of late has marked a step up for the Tigers in terms of the Pairwise rankings and overall national notoriety. The Tigers were named "Team Of The Week" by College Hockey News after the sweep of OSU and are up to No. 20 in the Pairwise rankings. Entering this weekend, Princeton has played the No. 22 toughest schedule with its previous opponents boasting a combined win percentage of .541 (72-60-16).

THE WALL
Arthur Smith was named honorable mention All-Ivy last season in goal as a freshman bolstered by a 5-1-0 record against Ivy opponents with a 2.26 GAA and a .926 save percentage. This season, he earned ECAC Goaltender of the Week honors after stopping 66-of-68 shots in two wins over No. 12 Ohio State -- his second career ECAC Goaltender of the Week honor. He then followed up with ECAC Goaltender of the Month honors for December after a 3-0-0/1.01/.962 line in Princeton's three wins. That marks the second December in a row that Smith was named ECAC Goaltender of the Month -- overall in December games over his two seasons, Smith is 6-0-1 with a 1.40 GAA and a .947 save percentage.

He currently ranks No. 2 in the ECAC and No. 3 in the country in save percentage (.942) and is No. 1 in the ECAC and No. 5 in the country in GAA (1.67). He is 5-1-0 overall, leading the ECAC and ranking No. 4 in the country with a .833 winning percentage.

Smith has started -- and won -- each of Princeton's last five games with some remarkable numbers. Dating back to 11/29 against Ohio State, Smith is 5-0-0 (1 shutout) with a 1.00 GAA and a .966 save percentage. He leads all goalies with 5+ appearances in that span in wins, GAA and save %.

I'M ON FIRE
Brendan Gorman enters the week with seven points (3g, 4a) over his last five games. His 1.0 points-per-game rank No. 5 in the ECAC and No. 39 in the country and 0.45 goals-per-game this season rank 9th in the ECAC and 54th in the country. He has two short-handed goals this season, 2nd in the ECAC and 3rd in the country.

MAN AT THE TOP
Jake Manfre is the man at the top of the Princeton rookie scoring race with 4-3-7 totals through 11 games. After tallying an assist in his first collegiate game against Harvard (11/8) he notched his first career goal in his third career game with a redirection at Yale (11/15) before exploding for 2 PPGs and an assist in a 3-1 win over Ohio State (11/29) and adding an assist against the Buckeyes on 11/30 for a four-point weekend to earn ECAC Rookie of the Week honors and ECAC Rookie of the Month honors for November. Most recently, he had the lone goal -- a PPG -- in a 1-0 win at Army. Manfre's three PPGs this season are No. 3 in the ECAC, No. 26 overall in the nation and tied for No. 7 among all freshmen in the country. His two game-winning goals this season are No. 4 in the ECAC, No. 24 overall in the country and are tied for No. 2 among all freshmen in the nation.

IF I SHOULD FALL BEHIND
Princeton struggled out of the gate last season, being outscored in the first period by an 42-21 margin over its 30 games during the 2023-24 season. So far this season, Princeton has a +2 (7-5) goal differential in the first period. The Tigers are 4-1-1 when leading after one period and 0-3-0 when trailing through twenty minutes.

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