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Princeton University Athletics
Men's Hockey Hosts North Country Pair in Final Games Before Exam break
January 08, 2004 | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 8, 2004
Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton men's hockey team plays its final two games before the exam break this weekend. On Friday night, Princeton hosts St. Lawrence at Baker Rink, and on Saturday, Princeton takes on Clarkson. The puck drops at 7 p.m., on both nights.
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Drop the Puck... The Princeton men's hockey team resumes its ECAC schedule this weekend with a pair of games at home against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The pair is the only set of ECAC travel partners that Princeton has not yet faced this season.
Last Time Out... Princeton fell to 5-13-0 after dropping a pair of games to Merrimack College. The Tigers dropped a 5-1 decision on Friday night and fell 3-0 on Saturday. Princeton is 0-4 in it's last four non-league games since a 2-1 win over Harvard on Dec. 16.
The Series with St. Lawrence... Princeton is 15-46-5 all-time against St. Lawrence and is 9-24-3 versus the Saints on home ice. 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.
Scouting the Saints... St. Lawrence is 6-12-3 overall and 2-5-0 in the ECAC. The Saints opened the season with a 3-1 win over current No. 14 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 game losers of two straight after being swept on the road by No. 5 Denver and No. 6 Colorado College last weekend. The Series with Clarkson... Princeton is 20-60-5 all-time against Clarkson and is 15-29-4 versus the Golden Knights on home ice. 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.
Scouting the Golden Knights... Clarkson enters the weekend 8-7-4 overall and 3-3-1 in the league. The Golden Knights are unbeaten in three entering play with a tie versus Harvard and a sweep of Mercyhurst. Clarkson has three league wins this season, defeating Union, Harvard, and St. Lawrence, and topped Bemidji State, Sacred Heart, and Mercyhurst in non-league action. Clarkson also has ties against two ranked teams, Cornell and Colorado College.
Looking Ahead... Following this weekend, Princeton takes off for exams and resumes ECAC action the final weekend of January, on the road at Clarkson and St. Lawrence. In between, Princeton will meet the U.S. National Under-18 Team on Sunday, January 25 at 3 p.m., at Baker Rink.
No Ties... Princeton is one of four teams in the nation that does not currently have a tie. The others are Ohio State, Alaska-Fairbanks and Yale. Last season, Princeton played 23 games before posting a 2-2 tie with Rensselaer in it's 24th game of the season.
The ECAC Picture... By the time Princeton returns to action at the end of the month, the race for the ECAC championship will be much clearer as the schools with games in hand will make them up. Currently Colgate and Cornell have played the least amount of games at six each, while Harvard, Brown, Yale and Princeton have each played at least 10 times.
League Dynamics... On Thursday Vermont officially announced that it will become a member of Hockey East beginning in the 2005-06 season. The move leaves the ECAC with 11 teams to begin the 2005-06 season.
Hexing Harvard.. Princeton continued its recent string of success against Harvard with its win on Dec. 16. With the win, Princeton swept the season series for the second time in three seasons, and is now 5-1 in its last six games against its Ivy rival.
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. Four of those opponents competed in the 2003 NCAA tournament a year ago, and two were in the Frozen Four.
Five Wins... Princeton's win over Harvard on Dec. 16 was its fifth of the season. That number surpasses the total of last season. In 2002-03, Princeton was 3-26-2.
Hollywood... Los Angeles native Grant Goeckner-Zoeller took sole possession of the team scoring lead with his assist in last Friday's loss to Merrimack. The freshman has three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 18 games. That point total equals the season total of last season's freshman scoring leader, Dustin Sproat, and is one point behind the 12 points that Neil Stevenson-Moore tallied as a rookie in the 2001-02 season.
Also at the Top... Junior Mike Patton is just one point behind Goeckner-Zoeller with three goals and seven assists for 10 points this season. Patton tied for the team lead in scoring last year with 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists.
Goal Scoring... Sophomore Dustin Sproat scored Princeton's lone goal this weekend, and in doing so, tallied his third goal of the year. He joins a group of six players that have three goals this year. Sophomore Patrick Neundorfer leads all scorers with four goals. Those with three are Goeckner-Zoeller, Patton, senior Steve Slaton, junior Neil Stevenson-Moore, sophomore Seamus Young and Sproat. All three of Sproat's and Slaton's goals have come on the power play.
In the Pipes... Sophomore goaltender Eric Leroux continues to handle the bulk of the work in the Princeton net, playing all but 20 minutes 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.