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Princeton University Athletics
Puck Drops on Men's Hockey Season Friday Night
October 28, 2004 | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 28, 2004
Princeton, N.J. - Has the NHL lockout left you hungry for hockey? Well, then do not miss the Princeton men's hockey season-opening weekend as the Tigers welcome non-conference opponents St. Cloud State and Alabama-Huntsville to Baker Rink on Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Friday night is "School Days Night" at Baker Rink with $4 tickets for all students and educators, while Saturday is "Stick or Treat" Night, with candy giveaways to those attending the game in costume and a costume parade during the first intermission. Tickets are still available in advance for both games, either by calling (609) 258-3538 or visiting the tickets section of GoPrincetonTigers.com. Tickets will also be available at the box office on game days.
For those of you not able to make it to Baker Rink this weekend, both games will be broadcasted live on the internet on GoPrincetonTigers.com. Links to the broadcasts are available on the front page of GoPrincetonTigers.com in the schedules box, on the multimedia page, and on the men's hockey schedule page. Ed Benkin will have the call on Friday night, with Tadd Kozeniewski handling things on Saturday night. A complete list of men's hockey broadcasts will be available shortly. In addition, GoPrincetonTigers.com will feature Gametracker for all home contests this year, which will allow fans to follow the action and stats as they listen to the broadcast.
Game Notes in PDF Format
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Friday, Oct. 29 • 7 p.m.
St. Cloud State (2-3-1; 0-2-0 WCHA)
at Princeton (0-0-0; 0-0-0 ECACHL)
Hobey Baker Rink • Princeton, N.J.
Saturday, Oct. 30 • 7 p.m.
Ala.-Huntsville (1-1-0; 0-0-0 CHA)
at Princeton (0-0-0; 0-0-0 ECACHL)
Hobey Baker Rink • Princeton, N.J.
Drop the Puck... The Princeton men's hockey team opens the 2004-05 campaign this weekend at home with non-conferencegames at home against St. Cloud State and Alabama-Huntsville.
Last Time Out... Last Friday Princeton defeated Windsor 9-2 in an exhibition game. The Tigers broke open a 1-0 game in the second period with six goals to pull away from the Lancers. Eight Tigers picked up two points in the win, while a total of 15 players tallied at least a point. Sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller scored twice in the win.
Did You Say Nine... Princeton's nine-goal output on Friday night was the highest goal total that Princeton has scored on an opponent since the Tigers defeated Army 9-3 on Nov. 27, 1998.
Coaching Debut... This weekend marks the first regular season games for first-year Princeton head coach Guy Gadowsky, who enters the game with a career record of 68-89-22 following five years as the head coach at Alaska-Fairbanks.
A Little Help From A Friend... Philadelphia Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock made his collegiate coaching debut last week when he joined the Princeton men's hockey team for a pair of practices. Hitchcock came to Princeton to work with the team as the NHL Lockout continues. Hitchcock came to Princeton through his relationship with Tiger coach Guy Gadowsky, which began several years ago in Edmonton.
The Series with St. Cloud State... Princeton and St. Cloud have met just three times prior to Friday night's game. The first meeting came on Dec. 2, 1987, a 4-3 Princeton win at home, and the next two came last season at St. Cloud. The Huskies won both of those meetings, 2-1 in overtime and 3-1. Senior Neil Stevenson-Moore and junior Patrick Neundorfer scored the Princeton goals in that series and junior goaltender Eric Leroux made more than 40 saves in both games.
Scouting the Huskies... St. Cloud is 2-3-1 overall and 0-2 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play. The Huskies opened the season at the Ice Breaker Tournament and tied St. Lawrence in the opener. St. Cloud has wins this season over Ohio State and Northern Michigan, but enters the weekend on a three-game skid after dropping the second meeting with Northern Michigan and a pair at defending national champion Denver.
Princeton vs. the WCHA... Princeton's Friday night game against St. Cloud will be the Tigers 35th game against a WCHA opponent. Princeton has an all-time record of 7-25-1 in those games and is 2-3-1 in games against WCHA teams at home. The wins came against Colorado College and St. Cloud State with the tie coming against Michigan Tech. Princeton last game against a WCHA team at home was the 2002-03 season-opener against North Dakota. Princeton head coach Guy Gadowsky is 9-10-1 all-time against the WCHA, with all 20 games coming against Alaska-Anchorage.
The Series with Alabama-Huntsville... Saturday night's game between Princeton and Alabama-Huntsville will be the first meeting between the two schools. UAH will become the 134th different opponent in the history of Princeton hockey. The last time Princeton faced an opponent for the first time came on Dec. 28, 2002, when the Tigers faced Wayne State.
Scouting the Chargers... Alabama-Huntsville is 1-1 on the season after splitting its season-opening series last weekend with Holy Cross as the teams exchanged 4-2 wins. The Chargers also split a pair of exhibition games with Western Ontario a week earlier.
Princeton vs. College Hockey America... Saturday's game against Alabama-Hunstville will be the ninth game between Princeton and a team from College Hockey America since the league was formed prior to the 199 season. Princeton is 1-6-1 in those games, with the lone win and tie coming on home ice against Niagara to open the 2000 season. Princeton's last meeting with a CHA team was a 7-0 loss to Wayne State in the 2002-03 season. Princeotn head coach Guy Gadowsky is 5-0-1 all-time against the CHA, playing to a 2-0 record against Air Force and a 3-0-1 record against Wayne State.
Season Openers... Princeton is 51-33-3 all-time in season openers. The Tigers have lost three consecutive season openers since a 3-1 win over Niagara to begin the 2000-01 season.
Early Start... Friday's date of Oct. 29 marks the earliest start to a Princeton season. The previous earliest start came a season ago when Princeton met St. Cloud State on Oct. 30.
Back to the Exhibition Game... Six of the 15 Tigers to register points in the exhibition win tallied two points. Sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller had two goals, sophomores Ian McNally and Kevin Westgarth had a goal and an assist, while juniors Sebastian Borza and Dustin Sproat, along with senior Luc Paquin each posted two assists.
Early Impact... Three of Princeton's freshmen made an immediate impact with points in Princeton's exhibition win. Landis Stankievech and Mike Moore both scored goals in the game, while Erik Pridham added an assist. Freshman goaltender Jeff Mansfield made nine saves in one period of play.