Men's Hockey Resumes Schedule Tuesday Against Bentley

Jan. 24, 2005

Princeton, N.J. - The Princeton men's hockey team returns to action Tuesday night following a 16-day hiatus for first-semester final exams and intercession to meet Bentley tonight in each team's final non-conference game of the season. The game is the first of three home games for the Tigers this week as they host Ivy-rivals Harvard and Brown at the end of the week.

Face-off is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday night. For ticket information, visit GoPrincetonTigers.com or call the ticket office at (609) 258-3538. Tickets will also be available at the box office prior to the game.

For those unable to join in person, 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 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 returns to action Tuesday night following a 16-day hiatus for first-semester final exams and intercession to meet Bentley tonight in each team's final non-conference game of the season.

Last Time Out... Princeton dropped both ends of a weekend home series with Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The Tigers fell 3-2 to the Golden Knights on Friday and 6-4 to the Saints on Saturday.

A New Opponent... Bentley will become the 135th different opponent in the history of Princeton hockey and the second new opponent for the Tigers this season. The first was Alabama-Huntsville, which Princeton tied 5-5 in the second game of the season at Baker Rink. Princeton has now faced 49 of the 57 teams (58 including Princeton) that currently play hockey at the Division I level. The eight teams Princeton has never faced are Canisius, Connecticut, Ferris State, Mercyhurst, Northern Michigan, Quinnipiac, Robert Morris and Sacred Heart.

Scouting the Falcons... Bentley has had an up-and-down season but enters the weekend on a 3-2-1 streak in its last six games. The Falcons have two wins over American International, a win over Sacred Heart and a tie at Mercyhurst in that span. Bentley is 5-11-4 overall and 4-6-3 in Atlantic Hockey, which ranks them tied for sixth with Connecticut. Bentley also has a win this season against Holy Cross, the first-place team in Atlantic Hockey and an NCAA Tournament team from a season ago.

Princeton vs. Atlantic Hockey... Princeton has played several of the teams that currently comprise Atlantic Hockey, but only one of those games has come since the league was formed in 1998-99 as the MAAC, and then as Atlantic Hockey. That lone game came earlier this season when Princeton defeated American International 4-2 at Baker Rink. The nine teams that comprise the league are: American International, Army, Bentley, Canisius, Connecticut, Holy Cross, Mercyhurst, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart. Next season Quinnipiac will leave Atlantic Hockey to join the ECAC Hockey League to fill the spot of Vermont, which is joining Hockey East next season.

Very Little in Common... Princeton and Bentley only share one common opponent this season and both have fared well against it. The opponent was American International, which Princeton defeated 4-2 in its only meeting, while Bentley topped the Yellow Jackets twice, by scores of 5-2 and 4-1.

Princeton Out of Conference... Princeton is 1-4-1 this season in non-conference games. Overall, the ECAC Hockey League is 49-46-11 against other conferences this season and is 17-3-1 against teams from Atlantic Hockey. The ECAC Hockey League also won the inaugural Commissioner's Cup Series with a 6-1-0 record in selected games to second-place Hockey East's 5-2-0 record in its selected games.

Non-Conference Struggles... Princeton's 4-2 win over American International snapped a 19-game winless streak in non-conference games for the Tigers dating back to a 4-2 win at Bowling Green on Jan. 4, 2002. In that stretch Princeton had won a non-league game, but that came against league-foe Rensselaer in an in-season tournament. The Tigers will look to begin a new streak with a win over Bentley.

In the Middle of the Week... Princeton is 2-1 in mid-week games this season, defeating Yale 6-3 on a Tuesday night, falling at UMass 4-0 on a Wednesday and defeating American International on a Tuesday. Over the past two seasons, Princeton is 4-1 in mid-week games, defeating Yale twice and Harvard and AIC once.

Last Time Out in More Detail... (Clarkson) Clarkson jumped out a 3-0 lead before the Tigers began to battle back. Senior Luc Paquin scored in the final minute of the second period to put the Tigers on the board and junior Brian Carthas scored midway through the third to make it 3-2. But from there, the Golden Knights held off the Tiger attack and held on for the 3-2 win. (St. Lawrence) Saturday's game was an exciting one to watch, as play went back-and-forth all game long, but unfortunately for the Tigers, finished in St. Lawrence's favor. Sophomore Kevin Westgarth gave Princeton a 1-0 lead, only to have the Saints score two goals in the first to take a 2-1 lead after one period. Goals from junior Dustin Sproat and senior Jesse Masear made it 3-2 Princeton after two. The Saints tied it up at three early in the third. Princeton went up 4-3 on Sproat's second goal with 5:14 remaining only to have St. Lawrence scored three goals in the final 2:05 to take the win.

Reaching Five... Princeton's win over American International was its fifth of the season which equalled its win total from a season ago.

Nice to be at Home... Princeton has three more games left on its current homestand before a trip to the North Country of New York to face St. Lawrence and Clarkson. Seven of Princeton's final 11 games will take place at Baker Rink.

Balanced Attack... Twelve of Princeton's 19 skaters over the AIC/Clarkson/St. Lawrence weekend tallied points. Junior Dustin Sproat led the way with points in all three games (3-3-6). Senior Luc Paquin, juniors Brian Carthas and Patrick Neundorfer and sophomores Grant Goeckner-Zoeller and Kevin Westgarth had points in two of the three games.

Atop the Scoring Chart... With six points over his past three games, junior Dustin Sproat has climbed to the top of Princeton's scoring charts. He now has 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points. Numbers which not only lead the team, but also the league. Prior to this season, Sproat had 22 career points in 61 games. This year he has 26 points in 18 games.

Second on the List... Sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller tallied three assists over the last three games and ranks second on the team in scoring with five goals and 18 assists for 23 points, three more than his total of 20 from a season ago.

Game In-Game Out... Princeton's top two scorers have been contributors almost every time they take the ice. Goeckner-Zoeller has points in 14 of Princeton's 18 games and Sproat has points in 13 of 18.

Forward on D... Junior forward Brian Carthas has transitioned to defenseman over the past few games to fill the holes left by injuries. Carthas made his defensive debut at UMass and returned to the blueline again versus American International. He had an assist in the AIC game and scored a goal in the next outing against Clarkson and became Princeton's first defenseman to take a faceoff all season.

More Defensive Scoring... Three of Princeton's goals last time out were scored by defensemen. One from Luc Paquin, one from Brian Carthas and one from senior Jesse Masear. Paquin has a career-high 18 points this season, while Carthas is on pace for a career season. Masear has three goals this season, compared to only one in his previous three seasons of action.

On the Offensive... After struggling to score goals for several seasons, the Princeton offense has improved to rank tied for second in the ECAC Hockey League and 22nd in the nation. Princeton has scored 55 goals in 18 games for an average of 3.06 goals per game and the Tigers are on pace to score 89 goals in the regular season.

55 Goals... Princeton has 55 goals in 18 games this season. Last season Princeton's 55th goal came in its 29th game, as the first goal in a 3-2 overtime loss to Union on Feb. 28 in the final game of the regular season.

Four in the Top Five... Princeton has four players currently in the top five of scoring in the ECAC Hockey League. Dustin Sproat, Luc Paquin, Grant Goeckner-Zoeller, Patrick Neundorfer and Harvard's Tom Cavanagh make up the top five. Princeton has not had a player finish in the top 10 in league scoring since the 2001-02 season when David Del Monte ranked eighth. Princeton's highest finisher in the rankings in the past two season ranked in the 30s.

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 18 games, he is 5-12-1. 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 continues its homestand this coming weekend when it hosts Harvard and Brown. The following week the Tigers visit Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results