Great Expectations

This was an actual conversation from yesterday:

Old alum: "What's up with the hockey team? They're struggling."
TigerBlog: "You mean the 15-6 hockey team?"

It's amazing how some success can change expectations. Princeton's men's hockey team is five seasons removed from a 5-24-2 season and three years away from 10-18-3. A year ago, when Princeton won the ECAC tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament, the Tigers were 12-9 after 21 games.

This Princeton team has also had to deal with a stretch where it played no games in 20 days, six games in 13 days and then no games in 16 more days.

Now that exams are over, Princeton is heading to the heart of the schedule, with a run of five straight Friday/Saturday games prior to the ECAC tournament that began last week at Yale and Brown and continues with a huge trip this weekend to Colgate and Cornell.

Princeton is currently tied with Dartmouth for third in the ECAC with 18 points, three behind co-leaders Yale and Cornell. Every team in the league has played 14 games to date.

Behind Princeton and Dartmouth is Quinnipiac in fifth with 16 points. The top four teams get a bye in the ECAC first round.