Men's Hockey Set for ECAC Semis Against Cornell In Lake Placid

Friday, March 20

Lake Placid, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

No. 8 Cornell

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Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Men's Hockey Set for ECAC Semis Against Cornell In Lake Placid

March 19, 2026 | Men's Ice Hockey

ECAC Semifinals: Princeton vs. Cornell | March 20 | 7 p.m.
Herb Brooks 1980 Arena
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LOOSE ENDS
Princeton enters the weekend 56-102-8 all-time against Cornell n a series that dates back to 1901. This season, the two teams split their series with each team winning on home ice. Cornell secured a 2-1 win at Lynah on January 16 before the Tigers picked up a 4-2 win at Baker Rink on Senior Night.

The Tigers rank No. 25 in the nation in Scoring Offense (3.09 goals-per-game) which is also No. 5 in the ECAC.

The Tigers rank No. 22 in the nation and No. 5 in the ECAC in Scoring Defense (2.69 goals allowed-per-game).

Princeton is No. 25 in the country in Scoring Margin, outscoring opponents by an average of 0.42 goals-per-game.

The Tigers are 54-for-64 (84.4%) on the penalty kill over their last 20 games (11-7-2 record) and had killed off 18 consecutive penalties at one point in that stretch. That run has improved their overall PK% to 80.7% after starting the year at 72.2 through 12 games. In the ECAC Quarterfinals, Princeton was 9-for-10 on the PK.

Princeton is 14-for-68 (20.6%) on the power play over its last 23 games after starting the season 4-for-29 (13.8%) through nine games.

Princeton has scored 4+ goals in 13 of 32 games (13-0-0 record) this season. Last year, they scored 4+ goals in in 8 of 30 games and were 5-2-1 in those games.

PRINCETON IN THE POLLS
The Tigers entered the national rankings on 1/5 for the first time since the 2018-19 season and reached as high as No. 18 in both the USCHO and USA Hockey rankings. This week, the Tigers are ranked No. 20 in the USA Hockey Rankings and receiving votes in the USCHO poll.

Princeton currently sits No. 23 in the NPI entering the ECAC semifinals while Cornell is No. 9.

TIGERS UNPLUG CHARGERS IN ECAC QUARTERFINALS
Princeton swept Union -- a team that entered the weekend ranked No. 20 in both polls -- by matching scores of 5-2 to reach the ECAC Championship Weekend for the first time since 2018.

Game One was a more comfortable win as the Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Jake Manfre had two goals, while Joshua Karnish, Tyler Rubin and Jaxson Ezman add the others. Arthur Smith made 29 saves in goal.

In Game Two, the Tigers had to rally from a 2-1 deficit entering the third period, and did just that with four unanswered goals in the final frame to close out the series. Ezman tied the game 3:00 into the third and Daniells scored the game-winner 4:14 later and Princeton would tack on two empty-netters.

David Jacobs finished the weekend with six assists, including a four-helper night in Game Two. Daniells had five points over the weekend with a hat trick in Game Two.

The Manfre-Daniells-Jacobs line accounted for six of Princeton's 10 goals in the sweep with 15 total points combined and a group +/- that was +14.

Arthur Smith was 2-0 with a 2.02 GAA and a .938 save percentage as he stopped 61-of-65 shots faced.

PRINCETON IN THE PLAYOFFS
The win over Union improved the Tigers to 4-0 all-time in home ECAC Quarterfinal series with wins over Cornell (1998-99), Yale (2007-08) and Union (2008-09, 2025-26). Princeton has now won its last seven home playoff games overall.

With that series sweep, the Tigers have advanced to their eighth ECAC Championship Weekend and first since 2018.

2018 - Lake Placid (Champions)
2009 - Albany (Third Place)
2008 - Albany (Champions)
1999 - Lake Placid (Fourth Place)
1998 - Lake Placid (Champions)
1997 - Lake Placid (Fourth Place)
1995 - Lake Placid (Runner Up)

Princeton is 3-5-1 all-time against Cornell in the ECAC Playoffs and 2-1 in games played during ECAC Championship Weekend.
1998 ECAC Final Five Play-In (Lake Placid)
Princeton 6, Cornell 2
2009 ECAC Semifinals (Albany)
Cornell 4, Princeton 3 (2 OT)
2018 ECAC Semifinals (Lake Placid(
Princeton 4, Cornell 1

A YEAR TO REMEMBER
Princeton's 17 wins this season are 9th all-time in program history and the most since the 2017-18 team won 19 on its way to an ECAC Championship and NCAA bid.

The 2025-26 Tigers have set a new program record for wins at home with 14, surpassing the 13 home games won by the 2008-09 team.

SYER'S ON FIRE
Ben Syer is now the fastest Princeton head coach to reach ECAC Championship Weekend in program history.

Don "Toot" Cahoon (1995), Guy Gadowsky (2008) and Ron Fogarty (2018) all needed four seasons to earn their first trip to the ECAC semifinals as a head coach. Syer is looking to join Gadowsky and Fogarty who won the whole thing in their first trip to Championship Weekend.

A finalist for ECAC Coach of the Year, Syer's 11-9-2 record inside the ECAC this season is Princeton's best conference mark since Gadowsky had a similar record in 2010-11 in his last season at Princeton.

This follows a 2024-25 season where Syer won 12 games which was one off the program record for wins in a debut season by a head coach held by Richard Vaughan (1935-36) and Bill Quackenbush (1967-68).

PRINCETON VS. THE FIELD
The Tigers went 4-1-1 in the regular season against the three other teams in Lake Placid this weekend:
vs. Clarkson (2-0)
vs. Cornell (1-1)
vs. Dartmouth (1-0-1; won shootout)

Other teams' records against the field:
Clarkson (1-4-1)
Cornell (3-3-0)
Dartmouth (2-2-2)

TWO TIGERS NAMED ALL-ECAC
Kai Daniells and Arthur Smith were honored by the ECAC head coaches with selection to the All-ECAC teams ahead of the postseason. Both were named Third-Team All-ECAC to earn their first career All-ECAC honors.

In addition, David Jacobs has been named a finalist for ECAC Defensive Forward of the Year.

ALL-IVY HONORS ROLL IN
Four Tigers were named All-Ivy at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season. David Jacobs, Kai Daniells and Tyler Rubin were all named second-team All-Ivy for their efforts in Ivy League games -- each earning All-Ivy accolades for the first time in their careers.

Arthur Smith was named honorable mention All-Ivy, picking up his second career All-Ivy nod.

In addition, Tyler Rubin was named Academic All-Ivy.

SISON NAMED FINALIST FOR HOCKEY HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Senior Jayden Sison has been named 1 of 5 finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award which is presented annually to college hockey's finest citizen — a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team but also to the
community-at-large through leadership in volunteerism.

HOT HANDS
David Jacobs (9g, 21a) has 30 points over his last 24 games which has included a seven-game point streak in December/January and a current five-game streak. Overall this season, he has points in 22 of 32 games (9g, 26a) with 10 multi-point efforts. He has 10 points (2g, 8a) over his current five-game run.

Jaxson Ezman has points in 15 of his last 23 games (7g, 13a) and had a four-point weekend against RPI and Union (1g, 3a) and three points against Yale and Brown (1g, 2a). He has points in each of his last three games (2g, 1a) and had a goal in each game last weekend.

After recording one point in his first 27 collegiate games, Malcolm Green has four (1g, 3a) in his last five games.

Joshua Karnish went 39 games without a goal dating back to a goal at Yale on 11/25/24 but had goals in four consecutive games from 2/21-3/13 - scoring Princeton's first goal of the game in each of those four contests.

Kai Daniells has eight points in his last four games (4g, 4a).

Tyler Rubin now has five points (2g, 3a) in his last eight games played.

Jake Manfre has eight points (4g, 4a) in his last 10 games.

GO-GO GORMAN
Brendan Gorman had 13 total points (6g, 7a) over his last 13 games of the 2024-25 season and posted eight total multi-point games last year. He led Princeton in goals (12), assists (14), points (26), and faceoff wins (285). His 0.4 goals-per-game was No. 11 among all ECAC players and his two short-handed goals last year were No. 2 in the ECAC and No. 8 in the country.

Growth has been consistent for Gorman over his three previous seasons as his point totals have increased from 19 as a freshmen to 24 as a sophomore before reaching the 26-point mark last year as a junior.

All-time, Gorman now ranks No. 26 in scoring by a Princeton men's hockey player with 90 points (37g, 53a) in 122 games. He is one point away from tying for the No. 25 spot.

Last season, Gorman was named third-team All-ECAC and he was a first-team All-Ivy selection.

Gorman's 0.41 goals-per-game are No. 13 in the ECAC.

KD, ARE YOU WITH ME?
The Tigers are glad Kai Daniells is with them in 2025-26 as the junior opened the season with four points (2g, 2a) in a sweep of Alaska-Fairbanks. Those four points in two games matched his entire output over 17 games during an injury-riddled 2024-25 season and hearkened back to his rookie season in 2023-24 where Daniells had 19 points (8g, 11a) including five PPGs.

In November, Daniells had one of the best two-game performances in Princeton history with six goals over two games. On Friday against St. Lawrence, he tied the program record with five goals -- the most scored in a game by a Princeton player since 1962 and just the fourth time the mark was reached all-time. His five goals scored in one game were the most by a NCAA Division I player since 2011.

He followed that outing up with a goal and an assist against Clarkson to cap off a seven-point weekend.

Over the course of that weekend, Daniells scored two game-winning goals, a power-play goal, a 4-on-4 goal and an empty net goal.

Daniells now has 19 goals this season in 32 games, surpassing his career high (8) set in 30 games in 2023-24.

He also has a career-high 37 points (19g, 18a) this season and ranks No. 4 in the ECAC and No. 20 in the country in points-per-game (1.16). He also ranks No. 11 in the nation and No. 3 in the ECAC in goals-per-game (0.59).

He has five game-winning goals this season, tied for No. 7 in the nation.

Daniells has been nominated for the Hobey Baker Award fan voting for his work this season.

MAN AT THE TOP
Jake Manfre was the man at the top of the Princeton rookie scoring race in 2024-25 with 8-9-17 totals through 30 games. A four-point weekend against Ohio State last November earned him ECAC Rookie of the Week honors and ECAC Rookie of the Month honors for November. Manfre's three PPGs last season led the Tigers and were No. 16 overall in the ECAC and No. 5 among ECAC rookies. His two game-winning goals last campaign were No. 4 among ECAC rookies, and No. 11 by a freshman in all of Division I hockey.

Manfre had two goals on Nov. 1 against Alaska-Fairbanks, netting the game-winner in the third before tacking on an ENG to close the game.

This season, Manfre is second on the Tigers with 15 goals and has points in 14 of his last 23 games with 19 total points (12g, 7a) in that span.

Manfre's 0.47 goals per game rank No. 10 in the ECAC. His 4 GWGs rank No. 4 in the ECAC and No. 18 in the country.

JACOBS' LADDER
David Jacobs was limited to 24 games last season, his lowest total over his first three seasons with the Tigers. That resulted in his lowest point total in his three seasons (3g, 11a) for 14 points after posting 24 points (7g, 17a) in 30 games the year before. Now in his second year as a captain, Jacobs enters the weekend No. 27 in Princeton's all-time scoring list with 88 points on 24 goals and 64 assists. His 64 helpers are No. 13 all-time by a Tiger.

Jacobs had points in seven consecutive games before going without a point on the Cornell/Colgate trip, tallying 12 total points (4g, 8a) over that span which was tied for the 9th-longest point streak by a Tiger since 2002-03. He has 17 points (5g, 12a) over his last 13 games and is on a five-game point streak (2g, 8a).

Jacobs has 26 assists overall in 32 games this season, ranking No. 2 in the ECAC in assists per game (0.81) and No. 11 in the country. His 26 helpers this season are T-9 in a season all-time by a Tiger.

His four assists against Union in Game Two were the most by a Tiger since David Hallisey had four against Brown in February of 2018.

E-Z MONEY
Jaxson Ezman had 15 points last year -- including 10 points (5g, 5a) in his last 14 games to close the season.

Already this year, he has a new career high in points with 26 (11g, 15a) in 32 games.

Ezman had a stellar start to 2025-26, tallying five points (3g, 2a) over three games including the GWG on opening night. His play earned ECAC Forward of the Week honors.

Over his last 23 games, Ezman has 20 points (8g, 12a) with three GWGs.

His four GWGs overall this season rank No. 18 in the NCAA.

THE ARTY PARTY
Over his career, Arthur Smith has earned two ECAC Goaltender of the Month awards, doing so in December of both 2023 and 2024. He is Princeton's most experienced netminder, with 53 career games played with a 22-22-5 record, two shutouts, a 2.76 GAA and a .903 save percentage. After missing nine games with injury, Smith returned to win both games over No. 9 Dartmouth and No. 18 Harvard with 58 saves on 64 shots (.906 sv%) and a 3.00 GAA for the weekend to earn ECAC Goaltender of the Week honors.

Three weeks ago against Yale and Brown, Smith was 2-0-0 with a 2.00 GA and a .907 save percentage to earn ECAC Goaltender of the Week honors once again.

GET TO KNOW GREAVO
Sophomore Kai Greaves is the younger brother of Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves who has played in 62 career games in goal with the Blue Jackets and another 158 with Cleveland of the AHL.

Kai Greaves played in all but one game last year, and had two goals and an assist.

Greaves matched his point total from all of last year on opening weekend with three assists in two games and he is now up to 14 points -- all assists. Only two defensemen in the country have more assists without a goal scored than Greaves.

CAREER YEARS
This year, Kai Daniells (+18), Kai Greaves (+11), Jaxson Ezman (+11), David Jacobs (+11), Julian Facchinelli (+9), Jake Manfre (+9), Luc Pelletier (+3) and Tyler Rubin (+3) have already set career highs while Jayden Sison, Ian Devlin and Joshua Karnish have matched their career high.

PRINCETON VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
All-time, the Tigers have 65 wins over ranked opponents all-time dating back to its first – a 3-2 win over No. 1 Boston University on December 30, 1997. Princeton had three wins over ranked opponents last season -- each a 3-1 victory. The first two were part of a sweep of No. 12 Ohio State at Baker Rink over Thanksgiving Weekend, followed by a 3-1 win at No. 19 Dartmouth on February 1.

This season, Princeton is 5-3-1 against ranked opponents, with a sweep of No. 9 Datmouth (5-4) and No. 18 Harvard (3-2) at Baker Rink January 2-3. a 4-2 win over No. 10 Cornell in February and a sweep over No. 20 Union in the Quarterfinals.

GLORY DAYS
The Tigers have won the ECAC Championship three times, doing so in 1998, 2008 and 2018. Princeton's four Ivy League championships came in 1941, 1953, 1999 and 2008. The Tigers have played in four NCAA Tournaments, reaching the national tournament in 1998, 2008, 2009, 2018.