In order to keep the team atop the college hockey landscape, the school turned to NHL veteran Moylan McDonnell, hoping he could get Princeton to keep pace with its conference foes.

[1] 34 men showed up for the initial practice, including several returning players, but the team would have to contend with the loss of three starters due to graduation.

By the time McDonnell took over the team in mid-December, the Tigers' roster was mostly sorted out and he only had to make the final few cuts to decide who would be going on the Christmas trip.

They proved to be far superior than a local aggregation, pounding the Lake Placid Snowbirds 6–0, but the faced a tougher test from the Victoria Hockey Club.

Fortunately, the trip appeared to put the team in good standing and the Tigers brushed Penn away with a 4–0 victory.

Burnham gave Princeton their second lead early in the first 5-minute period but the Elis tied the game almost immediately.

The Lions had other ideas and used both clever teamwork and a distinct home ice advantage to hand the Tigers their third loss.

Van Gerbig was shifted to defense due to Wall's lingering injury but the forward line was well regarded as Merritt, Jackson and Corcoran each scored in the game.

Neither team was able to score except for a fluke play in the middle of the second period; when Maxwell reached up to stop a long shot, the puck deflected off of his glove, hit the crossbar and bounced to the ice just inside the goal.

While the result demonstrated that there was little to separate either squad, Yale had finished atop in both contests and rendered it nearly impossible for Princeton to claim any success on the season.