Men's Hockey Closes 2004 With Non-Conference Game at Massachusetts

Dec. 27, 2004

Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton men's hockey team (4-9-1; 4-6 ECACHL) plays its final game of 2004 on Wednesday night at Massachusetts (8-10-1; 4-5-1 Hockey East). It is the final game of a six-game stretch on the road as Princeton will spend the month of January on home ice with six games at Baker Rink.

The game will be broadcast live on the internet at GoPrincetonTigers.com. The broadcast will begin approximately 10 minutes prior to the opening face-off and a link to the broadcast can be found here, on the hockey schedule page, the athletics front page, and the multimedia page. Additionally, live stats will be available through GameTracker.

Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Setting the Table... The Princeton men's hockey team plays its final game of 2004 Wednesday night at Massachusetts. It is also Princeton's final non-conference road game of the 2004-05 season.

Last Time Out... Princeton was swept at Merrimack on Dec. 10 and 11 to fall to 0-3-1 in non-league games this season. Sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller was the only Tiger to tally points in both games.

The Series with Massachusetts... Princeton leads the all-time series against UMass with a record of 5-3-0. The series between the schools dates back to 1915 when the Tigers posted a 3-2 win but was more recently renewed in the late 90s. The teams played games in four consecutive years from 1994-1997, then met again twice in the 2002-03 season. The Minutemen won both those meetings, winning 5-3 on home ice and 4-3 in overtime at Baker Rink.

Scouting the Minutemen... Massachusetts is 8-10-1 overall and 4-5-1 in the Hockey East to sit in fifth place in the Hockey East standings. The Minutemen enter the weekend having won just two of their last eight games dating back to the middle of November. The two wins during that span have come over Providence and Sacred Heart. UMass is 7-2 at home this season with losses to Connecticut and Boston University.

And Individually... Nine Tigers have appeared against UMass in their careers and three have tallied points. Junior Sebastian Borza has a goal, junior Brian Carthas has an assist, and junior Seamus Young has a goal and two assists.

Common Opponents... Massachusetts and Princeton have had two common opponents thus far this season. UMass has played one league home-and-home series with Merrimack, which the two teams split, while the Tigers dropped two games at Merrimack. Each team has also visited Vermont. Princeton fell to the Catamounts 2-0 while the Minutemen dropped a 5-2 decision. Massachusetts opened the season with a 6-4 win over ECACHL-member Clarkson on home ice, but Princeton has not yet played Clarkson and will the first weekend in January.

Princeton vs. Hockey East... Princeton enters the weekend having dropped its last 12 games against Hockey East Opponents. The Tigers last defeated a Hockey East team on Dec. 28, 1998, when Princeton shut out Boston University 3-0 at the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis, Minn. Since Hockey East was established in the summer of 1983, Princeton is 12-31-3 overall against Hockey East teams and is 5-20 against Hockey East teams on the road. This season Princeton has dropped a pair of games at Merrimack. Those games at Merrimack marked the first time that head coach Guy Gadowsky had ever coached against a Hockey East team.

Princeton Out of Conference... Princeton is 0-3-1 this season in non-conference games. The ECAC Hockey League is 37-39-9 overall against other conferences this season and is 9-20-2 against Hockey East.

The Merrimack Games (Friday)... Friday looked like it would be the Tigers night, as they outshot and outchanced the Warriors, but found themselves having to play catch up all night. Junior Mark Masters scored in the third to knot the game up at 3-3 and the game looked destined for overtime, but with just 8.6 seconds remaining Bryan Schmidt scored to lift Merrimack to the win. (Saturday) Saturday started similarly to Friday with Merrimack jumping ahead and Princeton forced to play catch-up. After falling behind 2-0, Princeton fought back to tie it midway through the second, but Merrimack answered right back and added some insurance in the third for the 4-2 victory.

In the Middle of the Week... Princeton is 1-0 in mid-week games this season, defeating Yale 6-3 on a Tuesday night. Over the past two season, Princeton is 3-0 in mid-week games, defeating Yale twice and Harvard once.

One Away... Princeton is one win away from equalling its win total from a season ago.

Streaking... Sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller is the only Tiger that carries an active point-scoring streak into the UMass game. He has five assists in his last four games. The season's longest point scoring streak is shared by four players, who tallied points in six straight games. They were Goeckner-Zoeller, juniors Patrick Neundorfer and Dustin Sproat, and senior Luc Paquin.

Atop the Scoring List... With his three points at Merrimack, sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller moved into a tie with junior Dustin Sproat atop the Princeton scoring charts. Goeckner-Zoeller has five goals and 15 assists for 20 points in 14 games. Last season he had those same exact totals following 31 games.

Game In-Game Out... Princeton's top four scorers have been contributors almost every time they take the ice. Goeckner-Zoeller has points in 12 of Princeton's 14 games, Neundorfer and Sproat have points in 10 of 14, while Paquin has points in nine of 14. Sproat has scored goals in eight different games and those have all come in the last 11 outings.

Record Seasons... Senior Luc Paquin has 16 points this season on four goals and 12 assists in 12 games. In the previous 46 games of his career, he had just one goal and nine assists for 10 points. Junior Dustin Sproat has eclipsed his previous high of 11 points, while junior Patrick Neundorfer has set a new high of 16 points.

On the Offensive... After struggling to score goals for several seasons, the Princeton offense has come alive to rank third in the ECAC Hockey League and 19th in the nation. Princeton has scored 45 goals in 14 games for an average of 3.21 goals per game and the Tigers are on pace to score 93 goals in the regular season.

45 Goals... Princeton has 45 goals in 14 games this season. Last season Princeton's 45th goal came in its 21st game, as the second goal in a 3-2 loss at Clarkson on Jan. 30.

Nationally Speaking... Several Tigers are near the top of the national scoring charts. Dustin Sproat and Grant Goeckner-Zoeller are tied for 10th in the nation in scoring. Goeckner-Zoeller is second in assists. Neundorfer is tied for ninth in power play goals with six. Paquin leads the nation in scoring by defensemen.

Power Play... Princeton struggled on the power-play at Merrimack for the first time in several weeks. Princeton went 1 for 13 last weekend on the power play, which lowered its efficiency to 25% overall. It remains at 30.8% in the ECAC Hockey League. Those numbers make Princeton's power play the second best extra-man unit in the league and the nation, percentage points behind UMass-Lowell.

In Goal... Sophomore B.J. Sklapsky and junior Eric Leroux continued to split time in the Princeton net. Leroux was in net for Saturday's game, while freshman Jeff Mansfield played on Friday night, making only his second career start.

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 12 games, he is 4-9-1. 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 seasons of coaching at Alaska-Fairbanks.

Moving Forward... Princeton ushers in 2005 with six home games in January. The Tigers host American International on Jan. 4 to open the stretch and host Clarkson and St. Lawrence the following weekend. Princeton plays 10 of its final 14 games of the season at home.

Looking Around the League... The league standings will remain unchanged until the Jan. 7-8 weekend. There are, however, non-league games featuring 11 of the ECAC Hockey League teams over the next week.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results