CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Men's Ice Hockey is set to open the 2024 ECAC playoffs with the Princeton Tigers on Friday night at Bright-Landry. Picking up three of six points last weekend to clinch home ice in the first round, the Crimson will play the Tigers in the playoffs for the second straight season.

Action is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. on Friday with the winner advancing to the ECAC quarterfinals next weekend.

WHAT TO KNOW

• The Crimson opens the playoffs as the No. 8 seed while Princeton enters as the No. 9 seed.
• A rematch of last year's quarterfinals, Harvard completed the season series with the Tigers before the New Year.
• The Crimson tied the Tigers on opening night before dropping a 5-2 decision on the road on December 30^th.
• After wrapping up the season series, Harvard sat in 12^th place with a 1-4-3-0 record through seven games while Princeton was second in the conference with a 2-3-1-3 record. The Crimson finished the season in eighth while Princeton fell to ninth.
• This marks the third time since 2008 that the Crimson have played Princeton in the ECAC playoffs as Harvard owns a 6-1 record against the Tigers in the post-season.
• Ryan Fine and Joe Miller both scored their first-career goals against the Tigers. Fine scored in the opener this season and Miller's goal came in a career-night last season, leaving him with three points.
• Last season, the Crimson skated to two 6-1 wins on home ice in the quarterfinals against the Tigers.
• The Crimson clinched home ice after picking up an overtime win last Friday and adding another important point in the shootout loss to Brown on Saturday.
• Ian Moore picked up the overtime winner in the series finale against the Bulldogs to net his first goal of the season.
• Fine scored to tie the game at one for his second goal in as many games. It was the first-time in his career that the New York native scored in consecutive games.
• Aku Koskenvuo was named game MVP and was awarded the Tim Taylor Cup after making 29 stops in the 2-1 win.
• Alex Gaffney scored the lone goal for the Crimson against Brown to push the game to overtime. Alex Gaffney has scored four goals in the third period over the last month and a half at key moments for the Crimson.

NEXT UP

With a win, the Crimson would move on to the ECAC quarterfinals and play Cornell, Quinnipiac, Clarkson, or Dartmouth in a three-game series on the road.