Princeton Men's Hockey Kicks Off 103rd Season on Friday Night

Oct. 27, 2005

Princeton, N.J. - The 10rd season of men's hockey at Princeton University begins on Friday night when the men's hockey team visits Notre Dame for the first game of a two-game set at the Joyce Center. Princeton returns 21 players from a year ago as the team looks to continue its climb towards the top of the ECAC Hockey League.

Both games can be heard live on GoPrincetonTigers.com. The links to the broadcast can be found on the men's hockey schedule page and the schedule box on the main page. Friday night's game will begin at 7:35 p.m. CST and Saturday's face-off is set for 7:05 p.m. CST. The broadcast will begin approximately five minutes prior to the opening face-off. Livestats can be found on GameTracker.

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This Week's Storylines

Back in Action
The puck drops on another exciting season of Princeton hockey with this weekend's games at Notre Dame. The Tigers first competitive action of the season came last week in an exhibition game against Waterloo.

CIII
Tonight's game kicks off the 103rd season of varsity men's hockey at Princeton. The first game was played on Nov. 30, 1900 against the Drisler School. Princeton did not compete for two seasons during World War II.

First Time Out
Tonight's game comes after only 13 days of official practice. The Tigers' first team skate of the season came on Oct. 15, roughly two weeks after most college hockey teams.

It's About Time
Ivy League rules mandate that men's hockey teams can begin practicing on Oct. 15 and can play regular season games starting the weekend of Oct. 28. Friday night's game will take place exactly three weeks after 16 teams opened their 2005-06 seasons on Oct. 7. Five schools (Air Force, Colorado College, Quinnipiac, Maine, Michigan Tech) have already played six times, compared to no games for the six Ivy League schools. A New Look
In the 2005-06 season, the Tigers will wear new jerseys for the first time in several seasons. The jerseys share the striping of the Montreal Canadiens jersey, with the Princeton shield on the chest. The home jerseys are white, while the road jerseys are black.

Last Weekend
Princeton defeated Waterloo 4-2 in exhbition action at Baker Rink. The Tigers scored all four goals on special teams and never trailed in the game.

Season Openers
Princeton is 56-42-4 all-time in season-opening games. That includes a 36-21-2 record at home, 9-12-0 on the road and 11-9-2 at neutral sites.Since Baker Rink opened as a permanent home for Princeton hockey, the team is 43-32-4 in its first home game of a season and 26-53-2 in its first road game of a season. Prior to that all games were played at neutral sites.

The Series With Notre Dame
Princeton is 9-2 all-time against Notre Dame and is 4-0 in games played at the Joyce Center. The Tigers won the first nine games in the series but were swept by the Fighting Irish the last time the teams played in the 2001-02 season. Notre Dame won those games 2-1 in Princeton and 4-2 the following night at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton.

Scouting the Irish
Notre Dame is 0-2 on the season after suffering defeats at No. 4 Colorado College and No. 9 Denver last weekend. Notre Dame began the year with a 4-0 win over Waterloo in exhibition play.

Princeton vs. the CCHA
The Tigers are 7-21-1 all-time against the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and are 3-8-1 on the road against the conference with two wins at Notre Dame and one at Bowling Green. While Princeton does have four wins at Notre Dame, two came while the Irish were not CCHA members.

The ECACHL vs. The World
The ECACHL is 15-10-2 this season in non-conference games and is 0-3-1 in games against the CCHA. Quinnipiac lost at Michigan twice, while Colgate went 0-1-1 at Lake Superior State.

In Their Second Year
Four Tigers scored goals in the Waterloo win with each goal having one assist on it. All four goals came from players beginning their second seasons at Princeton. The goals were scored by junior Christian Read, and sophomores Kyle Hagel, Mike Moore and Keith Shattenkirk.

Unlikely Scorers
The first two goals scored in Friday's win over Waterloo came from players who are still searching for their first official collegiate goal. Christian Read has appeared in 13 career games without a goal and Kyle Hagel has skated in 26.

First Time Out
Four Princeton freshman-Will Harvey, Lee Jubinville, Brandan Kushniruk and Thomas Sychterz-donned the Orange and Black for the first time in their careers last Friday against Waterloo. Jubinville and Kushniruk each recorded an assist in the game, while Sychterz made six saves and was the goalie of record. Freshman Brett Wilson missed the game with an injury.

The First Time
Last weekend's game with Waterloo marked the first time the Warriors and Tigers played. Waterloo became the 139th different opponent in the 103 years of Princeton hockey. Other first-time opponents on the 2005-06 schedule include Quinnipiac, Robert Morris and a potential meeting with Ferris State.

Then, Who is Left?
Princeton has faced 48 of the 58 possible Division I men's hockey opponents. Princeton has not faced Canisius, Connecticut, Ferris State, Mercyhurst, Minnesota State, Northern Michigan, Quinnipiac, RIT, Robert Morris and Sacred Heart.

81 Goals
Princeton scored 81 goals in 31 games last season. That number was 19 more than the total of 62 that Princeton scored in 31 games last season. Princeton managed only 62 goals in each of the past two seasons and 66 in the one prior to those.

More About Goals
After two seasons of not having a player in the top 30 in league scoring, Princeton had the league's top scorer, Dustin Sproat, and three players in the top 10 last season (Sproat, Grant Goeckner-Zoeller and Luc Paquin).

Field General
Guy Gadowsky enters his second season behind the Tiger bench. He will be joined by three new assistant coaches this season; Keith Fisher, John Riley and George Bosak. Fisher comes to Princeton from the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, Riley from the Brunswick School, and Bosak has been working with area goaltenders for several years.

A Familiar Foe
Through his first season behind the Tiger bench, Guy Gadowsky did not face a single opponent that he had seen before, either in his four years of playing at Colorado College or his five-year tenure coaching at Alaska-Fairbanks. Notre Dame is a team he has seen prior to Princeton and he has a 4-5-3 record against the team. First-year Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson saw Princeton once at his previous college stop, Lake Superior State, and is 1-0 against the Tigers.

Wearing the `C'
Senior Patrick Neundorfer will wear the captain's `C' for the second-straight season. Neundorfer enters his senior season with 44 career points after posting 22 during the 2004-05 campaign.

Returning in 2005-06
Princeton returns 21 players from its 2004-05 roster, including seven of its top 10 scorers. That group is led by junior Grant Goeckner-Zoeller whose 52 career points lead all Princeton skaters.

Preseason Polling
Princeton was picked to finish 10th by both the coaches and the media in the ECACHL preseason polls.

On the Tube
At least five of the Tigers' games in the 2005-06 season will be broadcast on television. The schedule kicks off when Patriot 8, a local cable company in the Princeton area, televises the Nov. 5 contest with Harvard. Princeton's game at Quinnipiac on the Saturday after Thanksgiving will be live on NESN, while both of Princeton's games at the Denver Cup on Dec. 30 and 31 will be on FSN Rocky Mountain. Lastly, Princeton's game at Dartmouth on Feb. 11 will be live on ESPNU. NESN, FSN-RM and ESPNU are all available on Directv. Additional Patriot games may be added as the season continues.

On the Horizon
Princeton kicks off its ECAC Hockey League schedule next weekend at home against Dartmouth and Harvard. Last season Princeton defeated Dartmouth twice, but fell twice to Harvard. The two schools are now reunited as travel partners as several of the pairing shifted once Vermont joined Hockey East and Quinnipiac joined the ECACHL.

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