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Princeton University Athletics
Men's Hockey Begins Run to Playoffs This Weekend in the North Country
January 28, 2004 | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 28, 2004
Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton men's hockey team hits the home stretch with this weekend's trip to the North Country to face Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The weekend begins a span in which the Tigers play league games each weekend through the final five weeks of the season leading to the ECAC playoffs the first weekend in March. Both games will be important as Princeton hunts for home ice in the opening round of the playoffs.
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Drop the Puck... The Princeton men's hockey team returns to action this weekend, following its three-week exam break, with its trip to the North Country to face Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
Last Time Out... The Tigers claimed an exhibition game win against the U.S. National Under-18 team last Sunday afternoon at Baker Rink. Prior to that, Princeton's last action came the weekend of Jan. 9-10 when Princeton tied and fell in overtime to St. Lawrence and Clarkson at home.
Weekend Storyline... This weekend's games in the north country feature the sixth, eighth, ninth and 10th-ranked teams in the ECAC standings. With these teams all close together in the standings, as the number of games dwindle down, this weekend's games will be important in the battle for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
Standings Shakeup... As Princeton, Yale, Brown and Harvard took off the last few weeks, and many of the other league teams were able to make up their games-in-hand, the ECAC picture has changed considerably. Colgate, Cornell and Dartmouth all took advantage of those games and have climbed into three of the top-four positions. The Series with Clarkson... Princeton is 20-61-5 all-time against Clarkson and is 2-28-0 versus the Golden Knights in Potsdam. The teams first met in the 1928, in a game won by Clarkson 8-3. The Golden Knights swept the season series a year ago, claiming a 7-3 win in Princeton and a 5-2 win in Potsdam and won in overtime three weeks back at Baker Rink. Clarkson is unbeaten in its last 13 meetings with Princeton (11-0-2).
Scouting the Golden Knights... Clarkson enters the weekend 10-9-5 overall and 5-5-2 in the league. The Golden Knights enter the weekend off a loss at St. Lawrence in their last game. Five of Clarkson's last eight games have gone to overtime and the Golden Knights have taken advantage of those extra minutes, posting a 3-0-2 record in those games.
The Series with St. Lawrence... Princeton is 15-46-6 all-time against St. Lawrence and is 6-21-1 versus the Saints in Canton. The teams first met in the 1948, in a game won by St. Lawrence 6-3. The Saints swept the season series a year ago, claiming a 5-2 win in Princeton and a 9-4 win in Canton. In the first meeting of the season, Princeton rallied from two three-goal deficits to earn a 5-5 tie.
Scouting the Saints... St. Lawrence is 8-14-4 overall and 4-7-1 in the ECAC. The Saints opened the season with a 3-1 win over current No. 10 Miami (Ohio). The Saints then went winless in their next nine games, which included three ties, two with Wayne State and one at Lake Superior State. The Saints broke the slump with back-to-back league wins over Union and Colgate, but then dropped three straight before putting together a three-game winning streak, beating the likes of UMass-Lowell, No. 5 New Hampshire and Mercyhurst. St. Lawrence enters this weekend's games with two league wins in its last three games, topping Vermont and Clarkson, while falling at Dartmouth.
Looking Ahead... Following this weekend, Princeton returns home next Friday night to host ECAC-leading Brown. Earlier this season brown topped the Tigers 5-1 in Providence.
Exhibition Recap... Princeton faced off with the U.S. National Under-18 team last Sunday to play an exhibition game to help prepare for the stretch run of the season. The Tigers dressed five forward lines, six defenseman and all three goalies to get everybody a chance to get some game action in before returning to play at Clarkson. After a tight and defensive first two periods, the two teams broke through for four goals in a three minute span to begin the third period. When the dust settled Princeton earned the 5-3 victory.
Exhibition Performances of Note... Five Tigers posted multiple points in the exhibition win. Senior Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer and sophomore Dustin Sproat each posted a pair of goals; senior Dan Hursh had a shorthanded goal and an assist; and freshmen B.J. Mackasey and Grant Goeckner-Zoeller each had two assists. All three goalies saw a period of action. Sophomore Eric Leroux made the most saves, seven, and allowed no goals. Junior Trevor Clay was credited with the win.
The Scoring Touch... Princeton scored nine goals against St. Lawrence and Clarkson in its last ECAC weekend. That was the highest goal output for the Tigers in a conference weekend since putting in 10 goals against Union and Rensselaer on Feb. 11 and 12, 2000. Princeton's five goal output against St. Lawrence on Friday night was the Tigers' highest goal total in almost two seasons. Princeton last scored five goals on Feb. 1, 2002, in a 5-2 win, also against St. Lawrence.
Spreading the Wealth... Twelve of Princeton's 19 skaters during the St. Lawrence/Clarkson weekend tallied points. Eight of them tallied multiple points. Sophomore Dustin Sproat and senior Matt Maglione each posted two goals and an assist, sophomore Sebastian Borza had a goal and two assists and sophomore Mark Masters had three assists to lead the Tigers. Sophomore Patrick Neundorfer, junior Mike Patton, freshman Grant Goeckner-Zoeller and senior Chris Owen each tallied two points.
Back to Back... Both Dustin Sproat and Matt Maglione scored in both games of the St. Lawrence/Clarkson weekend. They became the first Tigers to record goals in back-to-back games this season.
Sklap Happy... Freshman goaltender B.J. Sklapsky made his second appearance in relief this season on Friday. Sklapsky entered the game with 3:34 remaining in the first period with the Tigers down 4-1. Sklapsky made 21 saves in the remaining 47:38 to seal up his first career tie. The following night, he made his first career start and made 36 saves against Clarkson in an overtime loss.
Hollywood... Los Angeles native Grant Goeckner-Zoeller took sole possession of the team scoring lead with assists in both league games. The freshman has three goals and 10 assists for 13 points in 20 games. That point total surpasses the rookie totals of sophomore Dustin Sproat (11 in 2002-03) and junior Neil Stevenson-Moore (12 in 2001-02).
Also at the Top... Junior Mike Patton is just one point behind Goeckner-Zoeller with four goals and eight assists for 12 points this season. Patton tied for the team lead in scoring last year with 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists.
In the Pipes... Sophomore goaltender Eric Leroux continues to handle the bulk of the work in the Princeton net, starting all but one game in net this season. Leroux has five wins and two shutouts in 18 starts this season. He has made over 40 saves in a game three times, against St. Cloud State twice and against Miami.
Middle Ground... Princeton's win over Harvard on Dec. 16 was Princeton's third win at home this season. Through 80 seasons at Baker Rink, Princeton is just below .500 on home ice, playing to a record of 428-431-97.
OT Struggles... The last time the Tigers won in overtime was on Nov. 20, 2001 at home against Yale. Since then Princeton has a string of 11 overtime games without a win. The Tigers are 0-5-6 in that stretch, including the tie and loss three weekends ago with St. Lawrence and Clarkson.