ON THE STICK: Princeton University men’s hockey player David Jacobs sends the puck up the ice in a game last season. Last Friday, sophomore forward Jacobs tallied two goals and an assist as Princeton rallied to tie visiting St. Lawrence 4-4 through regulation and overtime and then came up short in a penalty shootout. The Tigers, who fell 6-2 to Clarkson on Saturday to move to 10-15-4 overall and 8-11-3 ECAC Hockey, are the ninth-seed in the upcoming ECACH playoffs and will play at eighth-seeded Harvard on Friday in a single-elimination opening round contest with the victor advancing to the best-of-three quarterfinal series from March 15-17.(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

For Princeton University men’s hockey player David Jacobs, taking a nasty hit against Yale in late February that split his chin open and required 24 stitches hasn’t slowed him down.

“It is just in a tough spot,” said Princeton sophomore forward Jacobs. “We wear cages in this league, so it is not so big of a deal. It sucked that it happened. It is what it is — it’s hockey.”

Last Friday night as Princeton hosted St. Lawerence to start its last regular season weekend at Hobey Baker Rink, Jacobs played some very good hockey, tallying two goals and an assist as Princeton overcame a 4-2 deficit to tie the game at 4-4 and force overtime.

Although Princeton ended up coming up short in a penalty shootout, Jacobs was proud of how the Tigers fought back against the Saints.

“We knew we had to win this game or at least bring it overtime,” said Jacobs. “We know we have done it before. We are really good in the third period, especially at home. Shift after shift we turned them over. We rely on our hard work all of the time and we just pressured them and got our bounces.”

After Princeton fell behind 1-0, Jacobs got Princeton on the board as he scored a goal with 12:49 left in the first period.

“It was our set breakout that we work on all week,” said Jacobs in reflecting on the tally. “There was some good speed coming through the middle with my linemates. They were going to the net and it popped to me and I just poked it in.”

The Tigers forged ahead on a tally by senior star and captain Ian Murphy 38 seconds later but then yielded three unanswered goals to find themselves trailing 4-2 entering the third period.

Jacobs struck again with 12:01 left in the third period, finding the back of the net with linemates Kai Daniells and Brendan Gorman setting him up.

“That was a great forecheck by Kai,” said Jacobs. “Gorms found me in front and I just put it home.”

Later in the period, the Jacobs line produced the game-tying goal as Daniells scored to knot the contest at 4-4.

“We were staying on top of pucks. We changed our forecheck a little bit, and started turning them over and just worked them below the goal line,” said Jacobs, a 5’11, 195-pound native of Needham, Mass., whose assist on the Daniells tally gave him 24 points this season on seven goals and 17 assists. “Gorms kept it in and found me and Kai went to the net, which we have been working on all year.”

Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty likes the work he has been getting from Jacobs.

“He has been playing really well, he is a dog,” said Fogarty of Jacobs. “He is a really good hockey player. He is a 200-foot player, he is an every-situation player. He is playing with 24 stitches still in his chin from the cross check at Yale — he is a battler.”

While the Princeton senior group ended their final weekend at Baker Rink on a down note as the Tigers fell 6-2 to Clarkson on Saturday, Fogarty credited them with battling through a lot over their college years.

“It is a huge impact — they had a tough go with COVID,” said Fogarty of his Class of ’24, which includes Nick Carabin, Joe Berg, Mike Kennedy, Mackenzie Merriman, Adam Robbins, and Nick Seitz in addition to Murphy.

“They have been really good helping our young guys, setting new standards this program wants to get to,” said Fogarty, whose team moved to 10-15-4 overall and 8-11-3 ECAC Hockey with the loss to Clarkson and are the ninth-seed in the upcoming ECACH playoffs and will play at eighth-seeded Harvard on Friday in a single-elimination opening round contest with the victor advancing to the best-of-three quarterfinal series from March 15-17. “They are very valuable players, all seven of them. They are going to be missed, I have already told them that.”

The team’s senior line of Robbins, Seitz, and Murphy have been productive down the stretch.

“They have been clicking, they are playing hard and heavy,” said Fogarty. “This place means a lot to them. That senior line is doing a good job.”

Fogarty was not surprised to see his squad rally against St. Lawrence.

“I think you have seen that all year. They are resilient guys, they  don’t quit,” said Fogarty. “We knew we needed a big third period, just jumping on them. We were on our toes, we did a great job. I would like to see that for 60 minutes. It is pretty hard, heavy hockey that you have to play when you are down. You have to just leave everything on the table. I told that to the guys going into the third, and they did that.”

Heading into the matchup against Harvard (6-17-6 overall, 6-10-6 ECACH), Fogarty believes his squad is in a good place.

“We have been building after our game with Cornell (a 6-2 loss on January 19), we played Colgate (a 6-3 loss on January 20) and played pretty well,” said Fogarty, whose team tied the Crimson 4-4 and prevailed in a shootout on November 3 and then posted a 5-2 win over Harvard on December 30 in regular season meetings between the rivals.

“I think the one bad game we had was here against Dartmouth (a 5-1 defeat on February 2)  that we weren’t good the last seven or eight games. We have been playing well, we have gotten points out of our last four games. We have been in all of those games but even before that we were competing, we were just missing.”

Jacobs, for his part, is determined to compete hard to the final horn for the Tigers.

“I think it is just confidence, the coaches trust me in all areas of the game,” said Jacobs, reflecting on his progress this season. “I try to bring it, shift in, shift out. I am a hard working player. I try to use that and be physical when I can and help my line in any way possible.”