When asked the number of Tiger relatives, Pettit is sheepish. “Somewhere in the high teens,” he said with a smile.

His lineage does not seem to have affected his Crimson loyalty, as that performance proved. Still, Pettit admitted this weekend’s games will be especially interesting for him.

“It’s a little more fun for me,” he said. “I’m not sure whom my family is cheering for.”

More offensive exploits from Pettit would be nothing, however, without sturdy defense, and the Crimson has not one, but two strong goalies from which to choose.

Sophomore John Daigneau notched a 6-4 win against Vermont last week, but both Daigneau and Mazzoleni felt he looked nervous at the start of the game.

Daigneau is scheduled to start tonight, and said he hopes to “challenge the shooters” more against Princeton.

“I wasn’t aggressive in the first two periods [against Vermont],” Daigneau said. “I [made] an effort to stay farther out [of the crease] in the third.”

The decision was rewarded, as he shut out the Vermont offense in the last frame.

“When he is aggressive, you see him outside the blue [of the crease], and he stands up,” Mazzoleni said. “[Against Vermont] he was down on everything, and he was back in the net.

“He’s got to be selective about when he goes down, and he’s got to be outside the blue to really make himself big.”

Junior Dov Grumet-Morris, who has been Harvard’s No. 1 goaltender for much of the last two seasons, will start against Yale on Saturday.

Mazzoleni explained the two-goalie rotation simply. He said he is “waiting for one of them to take the upper hand. If two of them could [share the upper hand], it would be great.”

Grumet-Morris, meanwhile, is focusing on his own play, citing his goals of “understanding opposing rushes, concepts, and trends.”

Though the Bulldogs (1-3-0, 1-1-0) are without ECAC Co-Player of the Year Chris Higgins, who left Yale after two seasons to sign with the Montreal Canadiens, they still have a potent offense. Forwards Vin Hellemeyer and Ryan Steeves, both of whom scored over 30 points last season, return to an offense that tied Harvard for the ECAC’s best a year ago.

But neither the Harvard nor Yale offense is yet up to last year’s standards. Though the Crimson showed improvement last weekend against Vermont and Dartmouth, it’s clear there is still progress to be made.

“We’re basically trying to hit our stride,” Grumet-Morris said.