Harvard hosts Princeton Friday in a televised game on NESN (Gil Talbot).

The Opening Faceoff
The No. 7/7-ranked Harvard men's hockey team hosts a single game this weekend, as Ivy League foe Princeton journeys to Cambridge Friday night for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. The game can be seen live on NESN and the Ivy League Digital Network and is the final primer for the Crimson before heading to TD Garden Monday, Feb. 1 to face-off against No. 5/5 Boston College in the semifinals of the 64th Annual Beanpot. 

The First Line
• Harvard moved into the top spot in the Ivy League standings with its 6-2 triumph last Saturday at Cornell. The Crimson has 11 points, one ahead of Yale, with Ancient Eight games versus Princeton (tonight), Brown (Feb. 5), Yale (Feb. 6) and Cornell (Feb. 19) remaining. 

• With its weekend sweep on the road against Colgate and Cornell, the Crimson picked up four league points in the ECAC and are now in second place in the standings with a month left in the regular season. Harvard has 17 points, trailing Quinnipiac's 23, but remains ahead of Rensselaer (16) and Yale (15). The top four teams in the ECAC standings at the end of the regular season earn first round byes in the ECAC playoffs.

• Senior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo joined the 100-point club last Friday when he scored on the power play in the second period at Colgate. The goal proved to be the game-winner and he also had an assist in the game. He tacked on another goal the next night at Cornell, also the game-winner, giving him five of those this season and earning him ECAC Player of the Week honors. Freshman Michael Floodstand was also recognized by the ECAC as the Rookie of the Week after scoring and providing an assist in the win at Cornell for the first multi-point game of his career.

Last Time Out
Harvard captured a pair of wins on the road last weekend, taking down Colgate and Cornell to earn four points in the ECAC standings, moving into sole possession of second place. On Friday, the Crimson posted a 4-2 triumph over the Raiders in the last regular season meeting between Harvard and Colgate at Starr Rink. The next night, Harvard raced out to a 3-0 lead on Cornell en route to a 6-2 win over the Big Red.  The win was the first at Lynah Rink for Harvard since Nov. 16, 2012. 

Scouting Princeton
The Tigers garnered their first victory since Dec. 5 when it topped American International College, 1-0, Tuesday evening at Hobey Baker Rink. Sophomore Ryan Berlin scored his first of the season early in the third period and junior Colton Phinney made 23 saves in net to ensure the Princeton win. 

Tuesday's win was the first since the Tigers trumped then No. 10 Yale on the road in early December. Until Tuesday, Princeton was 0-4-2 with those two ties coming Jan. 7 and 8 at home against Rensselaer and Union.

Freshman Ryan Kuffner paces the Tigers with 13 points and nine assists. Classmate Max Véronneau holds the team-lead in scoring with seven goals, one ahead of sophomore Eric Robinson. Junior Colton Phinney has played every game in net, posting a 2.80 goal-against mark and a .927 save percentage. The shutout Tuesday was his second of the year.

Series History
Harvard and Princeton have been squaring off on the ice since their first meeting on March 1, 1902. The Crimson won that meeting, and six of the first seven, setting the stage for its dominance in the series. Friday's meeting at Bright-Landry is the 222nd, with Harvard boasting a sizable 152-58-11 advantage over its Ivy League rival from New Jersey. 

Previous Meeting
Harvard and Princeton engaged in a goalie showdown back on Nov. 14. Despite the Crimson leaving Hobey Baker Rink with a 3-0 win, the game was a 1-0 nail-biter until Harvard potted two empty -netters in the final minute of play. Jimmy Vesey scored the only even strength goal of the contest 5:47 into the first period. Crimson netminder Merrick Madsen made 38 saves for the shutout. He has four this season entering Friday, supporting his 10-1-2 record. 

Standing Out
For the first time this season, Harvard student-athletes earned multiple weekly awards from the ECAC. Senior co-captain Kyle Criscuolo, who scored the game-winners in the victories at Colgate and Cornell, was named the Player of the Week. Freshman forward Michael Floodstrand recorded a goal and assist for the first multi-point game of his career to earn Rookie of the Week honors. Both awards were the first for each player. 

Special Teams Success
Harvard's power play has been lethal this season, scoring on 31.8 percent of its opportunities (21-of-66), including its 3-of-4 showing last Saturday at Cornell. That conversion percentage ranks second in the nation. The Crimson's penalty kill has also done well this season, killing off 85.2 percent of penalties, good for 11th nationally. 

Games on Games
Friday's game at home against Princeton begins a 10-day stretch in which the Crimson are scheduled to play five game. After the Princeton matchup, Harvard has the Beanpot each of the next two Mondays, with road games at Brown and Yale sandwiched in between. 

Century Mark
On Saturday Dec. 5, Kyle Criscuolo joined Jimmy Vesey in the 100-games played club. Vesey has dressed in 113 games during his career. Desmond Bergin made the group a trio Friday, Jan. 22 when he skated in his 100th game at Colgate. This year's trio is the first set of teammates since 2008's Jon Pelle (135, most all-time), Tyler Magura and Mike Taylor to skate in at least 100 games in their careers. 

70 is Elite
Senior forward Jimmy Vesey joined a list of the most prolific scorers to wear a Harvard jersey Friday, Jan. 22 when he netted the 70th goal of his career. He is just the seventh Harvard player to reach that plateau. 

Record Watch
In addition to joining the top-10 ranks among Harvard's all-time goal scorers, Vesey also entered the top-20 of all-time point scorers this season. With 128 points he ranks 20th on Harvard's all-time list. 

Ivy League Digital Network
The Ivy League Digital Network returns for a third season as the home for all live streaming and on-demand video content for each of the conference's eight institutions. Broadcast in full HD and featuring a live score bug and play-by-play and color commentary, the Ivy League Digital Network provides fans with unprecedented access to the Ancient Eight. 

Closed Caption
Harvard is proud to announce the addition of closed captioning for men's and women's hockey to make its Ivy League Digital Network broadcasts of those two teams accessible to all. 

Closed captioning for the Crimson's hockey programs will be available on desktop and mobile devices. The service is provided by Vitac (vitac.com). 

Beanpot Tickets
Harvard fans, first and second round Beanpot tickets are available now! Please call the Harvard Athletics Ticket Office at 617-495-2211 to order.