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Princeton University Athletics
Men's Hockey Hosts Yale on Tuesday, Visits Yale on Saturday
November 22, 2004 | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 22, 2004
Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton men's hockey team (3-4-1; 3-3 ECACHL) meets its travel-partner Yale (0-8; 0-6) for its annual home-and-home series over the Thanksgiving week. Princeton hosts the Bulldogs on Tuesday night at 7 p.m., and heads to New Haven for a 7 p.m. face off on Saturday night.
Tuesday night's game is presented by the Princeton University Federal Credit Union and is Princeton University Faculty & Staff Night. On ice promotions during the game will include 'Turkey Bowling' and the 'Frozen Shirt Contest.' Tickets are available online at GoPrincetonTigers.com or by calling (609) 258-3538.
Both Tuesday and Saturday night's games will be broadcast live on GoPrincetonTigers.com. The broadcasts will begin at approximately 6:50 p.m. Links to the broadcasts can be found on the men's hockey schedule page, the multimedia page and the site's frontpage in the events box. Livestats via Gametracker will also be available for both games.
Game Notes in PDF Format
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Setting the Thanksgiving Table... The Princeton men's hockey team completes its three-game homestand tonight when Yale visits Baker Rink. Princeton then visits Yale on Saturday night to wrap up the Thanksgiving weekend.
Last Weekend... Princeton split its third consecutive league weekend, dropping Friday night's game to Union 6-4, and rebounding with a 3-2 win over Rensselaer on Saturday night.
The Series with Yale... Yale is one of schools that sponsor men's hockey that Princeton faced in its inaugural season of hockey in 1901. Since then, the teams have met 222 times, with Yale holding a 114-94-9 series advantage. Princeton leads 41-38-4 at home, including a 3-0 shutout at Baker Rink last season. Yale has won four of the last five games in the series.
Scouting the Bulldogs... Yale and Princeton have played identical schedules to this point in the season and the Bulldogs are 0-8 in those games. Yale is the only team in the country yet to win a game. Five of Yale's eight losses have come by the score of 5-2, including its last three games: against Brown, Rensselaer and Union. Yale has not scored more than two goals in a game yet this season.
Howdy Partner... Princeton and Yale became travel partners in the 1991-92 season when Army left the ECACHL and Union joined it. The two teams have centered their games around the Thanksgiving holiday for the past five seasons, but this weekend's games will be the final for these rivals as travel partners. With Vermont leaving the ECACHL and Quinnipiac joining, the travel partners will adjusted for next season with Yale joining Brown, Dartmouth joining Harvard and Quinnipiac joining Princeton.
Friday vs. Union... The first-place Dutchmen scored four goals in the third period to pull ahead and defeat the Tigers 6-4. Junior Dustin Sproat had a goal and two assists in the game, while senior Luc Paquin and junior Sebastian Borza each had a goal and two assists.
Saturday vs. Rensselaer... Junior Patrick Neundorfer broke a 2-2 at the 5:12 mark of the third to put Princeton ahead for good in a 3-2 win over Rensselaer. Neundorfer and Sproat each had a goal and an assist in the win.
Streaking... Six Tigers are carrying point-scoring streaks into tonight's game. Four of those streaks date back five games to Princeton's 3-0 win at Dartmouth on Nov. 6. Junior Dustin Sproat has scored goals in all five games and has 11 points (7G,4A) in that span. Junior Patrick Neundorfer has points in all five and has 10 points in the stretch (4G,6A). Senior Luc Paquin (2G,7A) and sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller (3G,6A) each have nine points in the span. Senior Neil Stevenson-Moore and sophomore Ian McNally began new streaks this weekend. Stevenson-Moore had a goal in each game and McNally had an assist in each game.
Atop the Scoring List... Junior Dustin Sproat has climbed to the top of the Princeton scoring charts following his five-point performance over the weekend. His seven goals and seven assists give him 14 points this season in eight games. That is three points more than the 11 he totaled as a freshman and a sophomore.
Record Seasons... Senior Luc Paquin has 11 points this season on three goals and eight assists in eight games. In the previous 46 games of his career, he had just one goal and nine assists for 10 points. Junior Patrick Neundorfer and sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller are also on pace to set record point totals early in the season. On the Offensive... After struggling to score goals for several seasons, the Princeton offense has come alive to ranks second in the ECAC Hockey League and 14th in the nation. Princeton has scored 28 goals in eight games.
28 Goals... Princeton has 28 goals in eight games this season. Last season Princeton's 28th goal came in its 12th game on Dec. 6 at Renseelaer. Princeton is on pace to score 102 goals in the regular season.
Nationally Speaking... Several Tigers are at or near the top of the national scoring charts. Junior Dustin Sproat ranks second in the nation in scoring (1.75 ppg) while junior Patrick Neundorfer and sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller sit tied for ninth (1.50). Sproat is seventh in goals (0.88 gpg). Senior Luc Paquin and Goeckner-Zoeller are tied for seventh in assists (1.00 apg). Neundorfer is tied for eighth in power play goals with five and sixth in game-winning goals with two. Paquin leads the nation in scoring by defensemen (1.38 ppg).
Power Play... Princeton went 4 for 11 this weekend on the power play to lift its efficiency to 27.5% overall and 31.2% in the ECAC Hockey League. Those numbers make Princeton's power play the top extra-man unit in the nation and the league.
First Win... Sophomore goaltender B.J. Sklapsky made 18 saves on Saturday night to pick up the first win of his collegiate career. He is now 1-2 on the season and he lowered his goals-against average to 3.40 and his save percentage to .878.
Behind the Bench... First-year Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky picked up his first win behind the Princeton bench on Nov. 6 at Dartmouth. The game was his fourth at Princeton and through eight games, he is 3-4-1. His ECAC opener at Vermont on Nov. 5 was the first time he had faced an ECAC team in his four seasons of playing college hockey at Colorado College and his five season of coaching at Alaska-Fairbanks.
Moving Forward... Princeton begins a stretch of six games away from home on Saturday night when the Tigers visit Yale. The following weekend the Tigers head to Colgate and Cornell and then play three non-conference games away from home before their next Baker Rink appearance on Jan. 4 against American International. Princeton is at Merrimack on Dec. 10-11 and at Massachusetts on Dec. 29.
Looking Around the League... There are three games tonight involving teams in the ECAC Hockey League. Princeton and Yale is the only league game of the night. In non-conference action, Harvard visits Boston University and Vermont hosts Massachusetts.
A Look at the League... Union continued its impressive start last weekend and is now at 6-0 atop the league standings. Vermont remained unbeaten in league play and is 4-0-2 in second. Colgate, Dartmouth and Princeton all split last weekend and are tied for third. Cornell could only muster a tie and sits tied for sixth with Harvard. Brown picked up a non-conference split at Minnesota-Duluth last weekend.
So, What do the Polls Mean... Through three weekends of league play, the current ECAC Hockey League standings hardly resemble the league's preseason media and coaches polls. First-place Union was picked for 10th in one and ninth in the other, while second-place Vermont was slotted in 10th and 11th. Princeton, picked 12th in both polls is tied for third.