Standing atop the ECAC standings, the Harvard men’s hockey team will face Ivy rivals Princeton and Yale on the road this weekend. The Crimson will do everything possible to make sure that this year’s trip does not turn out like last year’s inauspicious voyage down I-95.

Ranked No. 12 in the nation, Harvard (7-3-0, 7-2-0 ECAC) hopes that recent history will not repeat itself. Both the Elis and the Tigers got the better of Harvard last year away from Bright Hockey Center.

The Crimson split its series with Yale last season, winning 4-3 at home before dropping a heartbreaker late in the season at New Haven by the same score. Yale sophomore sensation Christopher Higgins scored twice in the final three minutes to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 come-from-behind win. Higgins—recently chosen for the US Junior National team—was last year’s ECAC Rookie of the Year, and Harvard knows his skills all too well.

Against Princeton, Harvard has struggled in years past, especially when playing in New Jersey. Harvard lost both its games to the Tigers last season, including a 3-0 shutout at Hobey Baker Rink. Princeton was the only team to defeat Harvard twice in both regular season matchups last year.

“Princeton definitely dominated us the last time we went into their building,” captain Dominic Moore said. “We’re not happy with how we played them last time.”

The Tigers (1-10-0, 1-7-0), though currently ECAC doormats, have often given the Crimson fits in New Jersey.

“Princeton has had our number, especially since I’ve been here,” Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni said. “We’ve got to compete really hard, and that’s something we haven’t done in their building.”

On paper, the game looks like an easy Crimson victory, but experience has taught Harvard differently. The Crimson will need to play with high intensity and avoid getting slowed down by the Tigers’ usually lethargic game tempo if they hope to come out of Hobey with a victory.

Harvard can expect the opposite from Yale (6-3-0, 6-2-0). Unlike the Tigers, the Elis are a run-and-gun team with the weapons and ammunition to cause serious damage.

Of the top eight scorers in the ECAC, three (Tyler Kolarik, Tim Pettit and Brett Nowak) belong to Harvard. The other five are Yalies. Senior Evan Wax, juniors Ryan Steeves and Vin Hellemyer, freshman Christian Jensen and Higgins lead a potent Eli attack that averages five-and-a-quarter goals per game, tops in the ECAC. Yale defeated Princeton 6-1 this past Saturday.

In addition to its offense, Yale has been surprisingly solid between the pipes, with sophomore Peter Cohen solidifying what had been a question mark for the team coming into the season.

“I think we’ve been getting very good goaltending, which we weren’t sure about going into the season,” Yale coach Tim Taylor ’63, said. “Peter Cohen has established that it’s his job. He’s played great, and we’ve obviously scored lots of goals. We’ve got our No. 1 and No. 2 lines really scoring right now and No. 3 and No. 4 are chipping in, too.”

If there is any hole in Taylor’s team, which is just two points behind the Crimson in the ECAC standings, it comes at the defensive end. The Elis’ team defense is in the middle of the ECAC statistically, allowing nearly three goals per game.

But Harvard cannot get sidetracked into gearing its game solely around its opponents, Crimson goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris cautioned.

“We’re not anticipating their styles; we have to play our game,” Grumet-Morris said. “We need to concentrate more on what we do than what they do. This weekend we’re looking to play our road game—the same game that swept the North Country [in wins against Clarkson and St. Lawrence]. Both nights the key to our success will be consistency in our defensive zone.”

Another element working in the Crimson’s favor is the youth and inexperience of the Elis, who have yet to face the class of the ECAC.

“We haven’t played some of the iron in the league yet,” Taylor said. “We’ll see. This is a big weekend for us.”

This road trip, the seventh and eighth away games of the young season for Harvard, marks the Crimson’s last conference contests before the holidays. A win would give Harvard some breathing room atop the league standings in the race for the regular season title.

A sweep, however, will not be easy. The Tigers’ history and home-ice advantage combined with a likely sold-out crowd at Yale’ Ingalls Rink will put pressure on the Crimson, which could break into the top ten nationally with back-to-back wins.

“This is always a huge game,” Taylor said. “It’s a great athletic event down here every year. It’s a sellout two times over, a standing-room-only crowd. The Harvard-Yale game means a lot to our community in any sport, and in hockey, it’s particularly big.”

—Staff writer Timothy McDonald can be reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.