IN SYNCH: Princeton University men’s hockey player Kyle Rankin sends the puck up the ice in a game last winter. The Tigers will be looking to senior Rankin to provide production and leadership this year in their second season under head coach Ron Fogarty. Princeton starts its 2015-16 campaign this weekend when it competes in the Capital City Classic at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton. Princeton is slated to play Yale on October 30 and either Maine or Massachusetts on October 31. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Ron Fogarty is hoping that familiarity will breed success as he begins his second year at the helm of the Princeton University men’s hockey program.

“Everyone is on the same page right away this year,” said Fogarty, who guided Princeton to a 4-23-3 overall record last year in his debut campaign.

“Whereas last season, you had to stop practices to make sure guys were in the right spot and explain to them a lot of things over again. Now it is second nature where they can just go and play the game. They came back in great shape. They understand the systems and structure that we are going after. Now we are just continuing to work on skill development.”

Over the weekend Fogarty saw development as the Tigers faced Yale and Brown in preseason scrimmages in Providence, R.I.

“The hope leading into the preseason is to have the Dartmouth playoff series  last year as a building block, not as an end and then try to start over again,” said Fogarty, whose team starts its 2015-16 campaign this weekend when it competes in the Capital City Classic at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton. Princeton is slated to play Yale on October 30 and either Maine or Massachusetts on October 31.

“The pace of play is similar to what we ended with; it hasn’t taken a dip. Usually it does at the end of the season when we start the fall. The continuum of knowledge and execution has been great here the first part of the season.”

Princeton is looking to execute better offensively, coming off a season when it averaged just 1.3 goals a game. Fogarty will be depending on leading returning scorers, senior Jonathan Liau (4 goals and 10 assists in 2014-15), junior Ben Foster (4 goals, 6 assists),  and senior Kyle Rankin (3 goals, 7 assists) to pick up their production.

“They are looking good; we are asking for the same plus more from them,” said Fogarty of the trio of Liau, Foster, and Rankin.

“Your leading goal scorer had four goals, you need that output increased exponentially. They are going to be given opportunities on special teams to up that total from last year. They will be better placed because they understand the system, not just them, but the whole team.”

A quartet of freshman forwards, Alex Riche, Spencer Kryczka, Max Veronneau, and Ryan Kuffner, will be getting opportunities right away.

“We need the freshmen to step in immediately and to contribute,” added Fogarty.

“All of them played this past weekend. They are going to get their fair share this weekend against Yale on Friday night. We look for them to come in and not play like freshmen. There will be a lot of impact minutes for them, they should contribute right away.”

Fogarty is expecting a bigger contribution from sophomore forward Eric Robinson (2 goals, 2 assists) at the offensive end.

“Eric Robinson is playing very well; he took time last year to play well without the puck and get to areas to support those teammates,” said Fogarty, whose other returning forwards include senior Mike Ambrosia (2 goals, 5 assists), junior Ryan Siiro (1 goal, 4 assists), junior Garrett Skrbich (2 goals, 2 assists), sophomore Ryan Berlin (2 goals), sophomore David Hallisey (2 goals) and senior Michael Zajac (1 goal, 1 assist).

“He had a great weekend during our scrimmages at Yale and Brown. We are looking for him to continue his strong play here.”

Princeton boasts strong foundation in his corps of veteran defensemen, which includes junior Tommy Davis (2 goals, 3 assists), sophomore Joe Grabowski (1 goal, 3 assists), junior Marlon Sabo, senior Kevin Liss (1 goal, 2 assists), sophomore Matt Nelson (1 goal, 1 assist)  junior Quin Pompi (2 assists), and junior Hayden Anderson.

“That is where we have a lot of experience and games played last year,” said Fogarty.

“We return a lot of guys, we just lost Aaron Ave and Tom Kroshus to graduation so we have a pretty good core coming back. We are looking to keep the goals against down this year. They have all stepped up their game, they are moving the puck quicker and moving into space for the breakouts.”

Promising freshman Josh Teves should also help along the blue line. “Josh will play right away; he is a defenseman that has a great hockey IQ,” asserted Fogarty. “He knows when to jump up and can distribute it really well.”

Junior workhorse goalie Colton Phinney made a jump last winter when he posted a 3.08 goals against average and a save percentage of .910 in 29 appearances.

“Colton is looking good, he just has to take the next step now,” said Fogarty, noting that sophomore Ben Halford (3.84 goals against and .889 save percentage in three appearances) and freshman Austin Shaw are pushing Phinney for playing time.

“Instead of making one or two saves, he has to make three or four and be consistent on the first shot. If he can control the first one and let the defenseman worry about the rebounds, he can have a great season.”

Looking ahead to the season opener against Yale, Fogarty believes that matchup provides an early litmus test.

“It is a great barometer to see where we are at, it should be closer than last year, I know that,” said Fogarty.

“In the games last year, they were outskating us and outcompeting us. We are looking to close that gap. Any time you play your first game, there is going to be a lot of running around with a lot of energy. We just have to make smart plays against Yale and quickly recover if any mistakes occur.”

In Fogarty’s view, producing a quick start would help jumpstart the rebuilding process.

“I think they need a couple of wins early,” said Fogarty. “In the course of the senior class all the way down, there hasn’t been many wins. You want to see the hard work and the changing of the system pay off quicker than last year. We got the first win against Cornell but it took a while to get the second and third so if we can get a handful of wins, that will be important.”

Scoring early and often is the formula to get the Tigers on the winning track, according to Fogarty.

“It is also just scoring quicker in the games, getting one in the first period, which was something that was difficult for us to do last year,” said Fogarty.

“Hopefully you take the step. The systems and structure are second nature so that is going to free up the players to just play the game. Now they will know where players are in place to help them if they are in trouble with the puck and the attack mode will be more in full force with us this year.”