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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Harvard Meet for the 195th Time Tonight in Men's Hockey
December 16, 2003 | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 16, 2003
Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton men's hockey team (4-9-0; 4-6-0 ECAC) returns to the home ice of Baker Rink for an ECAC contest against Harvard (6-5-1; 4-4-1 ECAC) tonight at 7 p.m. Princeton is looking for the season sweep of Harvard after winning the teams previous meeting earlier this season in Cambridge.
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Promotions... Fans, tonight is Take a Kid to the Game Night. For every adult ticket purchased at the box office, fans will receive one free youth ticket to the game. Additionally, presenting sponsor Fleet, will be giving out ice scrapers to the first fans in attendance.
Drop the Puck... The Princeton men's hockey team returns to Baker Rink for its final home game of 2003 tonight against Harvard.
Last Time Out... Princeton fell to 4-9-0 overall for the 2003-04 season with a 4-0 loss at Northeastern last Saturday in non-conference action.
The Series with Harvard... Tonight's game is the 195th installment of the rivalry between Princeton and Harvard that dates back to March 1, 1902. Harvard leads the series 138-47-9 overall and 49-21-4 in games played at Princeton. Princeton enters the game with a two-game win streak over the Crimson, including a 4-2 triumph earlier this season in Cambridge. Princeton has won four of its last five meetings with Harvard.
Scouting the Crimson... Harvard is 6-5-1 overall this season and 4-4-1 in ECAC play. Harvard enters the game following a win last Saturday over No. 8 Massachusetts 5-3 in Cambridge. Harvard also has wins this season at Colgate and Vermont, and on home ice versus Yale, St. Lawrence and Boston University. Harvard has losses to No. 13 Brown, Princeton, Clarkson, No. 15 Cornell and No. 2 Boston College. Top Tigers vs. Harvard... Senior Chris Owen leads Princeton in points against Harvard in his career with five goals in six games. Senior Matt Maglione and junior Neil Stevenson-Moore are next on the list, each with three assists. Sophomore goaltender Eric Leroux and junior goalie Trevor Clay have each recorded a win against the Crimson.
Why Tuesday... Tonight's game is being played on a Tuesday to allow Harvard to have only one league game on the weekend prior to its second-round Beanpot game. That weekend, Feb. 5 and 6, Princeton will face Brown on Friday night, and be off on Saturday night.
Good Friday... Friday night has been Princeton's best night this season, posting a 3-2-0 record in Friday night games with both losses coming in overtime. Conversely, on Saturday nights, Princeton is 0-7-0 and has allowed an average of over five goals per game in those seven losses. Princeton is 1-0-0 in midweek games, topping Yale 3-0 earlier this season at Baker Rink.
Looking Ahead... This weekend Princeton heads to Minnesota to play in the Dodge Holiday Classic with the National Champion Golden Gophers, No. 4 New Hampshire and No. 14 Miami. The last time the Tigers competed in this tournament was during the 1998-99 season and Princeton topped Minnesota and Boston University en route to claiming the tournament championship.
Strength of Schedule... The 2003-04 Princeton hockey schedule is one of the toughest in the nation. The Tigers currently have 11 opponents on their schedule who are either nationally ranked or receiving votes in the three national polls. Five of those opponents competed in the 2003 NCAA tournament a year ago, and three were in the Frozen Four.
Four Wins... Princeton's win last Friday night was its fourth of the season. That number surpasses the total of last season. In 2002-03, Princeton was 3-26-2.
Three-Pointers... Junior Mike Patton and freshman Grant Goeckner-Zoeller became the first Tigers this season to record three points in a game this season. Patton had one goal and two assists, while Goeckner-Zoeller had three assists in the loss at Rensselaer.
Shutout Info... Two Fridays ago, sophomore goaltender Eric Leroux made 16 saves in Princeton's 4-0 shutout of Union. The shutout was Princeton's second in a three-game stretch, after Princeton had gone it's previous 41 games without one. It was also Princeton's first road shutout since Nov. 18, 2000 when the Tigers shut out Dartmouth 6-0, 55 road games ago.
Power Play Wake Up... After struggling on the power play all season long, Princeton has scored 10 power-play goals in its last seven games, including three against Yale and two in each game against Union and Rensselaer. In that span the Tiger pp has jumped from 4.3% to 14.9% efficiency.
Give Me Nine... Princeton scored eight goals over its last league weekend at Union and RPI, a weekend high for the season. The last time Princeton scored eight or more goals in a weekend was Nov. 17 and 18, 2000 at Dartmouth and Vermont.
Century Mark... Senior captains Steve Slaton and Chris Owen both played in their 100th games as Tigers three weekends ago at Yale. The next Tiger to reach the milestone will be Matt Maglione who could reach that mark tonight.
First Goal... Freshman Darroll Powe notched his first career goal at Rensselaer. He posted his first point a week earlier when he set up a goal for junior Neil Stevenson-Moore.
Points Leader... With his four point weekend, junior Mike Patton climbed to the top of the team lead in points. He now has three goals and six assists for nine points. Patton tied for the team lead in points in 2002-03, registering 10 goals and 13 assists.
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Sophomore Sebastian Borza returned to the Tiger lineup on Saturday at Northeastern after missing 11 games with an injury suffered in Princeton's season-opening loss at St. Cloud State.
Borza looking back on last weekend... "We had the chance to prove that we're a contending force, but we didn't capitalize on that chance. It wasn't definitive of who we really are."
Borza on the Harvard game... "The game against Harvard will help us refocus on our goals and give us the chance to show that we deserve every bit of success we have had this season." |
Middle Ground... Princeton's win over Yale on Nov. 25 was Princeton's second win at home this season. Through 80 seasons at Baker Rink, Princeton is just below .500 on home ice, playing to a record of 427-428-96.
OT Struggles... The last time Princeton defeated Yale was on Nov. 20, 2001 in overtime. Since then Princeton has a string of nine overtime games without a win. The Tigers are 0-4-5 in that stretch.
Hyphen Happy... Not only does Princeton lead the nation in players with hyphenated names, but all three sit among the team's top six-scorers. Junior Neil Stevenson-Moore and freshman Grant Goeckner-Zoeller are tied for second on the team with seven points and senior Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer ranked fifth with sixth points.