Men's Hockey Hosts Rensselaer and Union in Final Home Regular-Season Weekend

Feb. 16, 2006

PRINCETON - The Princeton men's hockey team will play its final home games of the 2005-06 regular season this weekend when Rensselaer and Union visit Baker Rink. The games will mark the final regular-season home appearances for six members of Princeton's Class of 2006, and the group will be recognized following Saturday night's game.

Both games this weekend will begin at 7 p.m., and can be heard live on GoPrincetonTigers.com. Links to the broadcasts can be found on men's hockey schedule page. There will also be Gametracker live stats for both games.

Friday, Feb. 17, 2006 vs. Rensselaer - 7 p.m.
In-Game Promos: Frozen T-Shirt Contest, Crazy Chair Contest

Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006 vs. Union - 7 p.m.
Senior Night
Ticket Promotion: Free Admission for Tiger Cub Club members
In-Game Promos: Tiger Timeout Intermission Game, Slap Shot Shootout Following the Game: Senior Class Recognition

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Game Notes in PDF Format

This Week's Storylines

Last Home Weekend
The Princeton men's hockey team plays its final regular-season home games this weekend as Rensselaer and Union visit Baker Rink. Princeton enters the games having won its last four games on home ice.

Last Weekend
Princeton pushed both of its opponents to overtime last weekend, but was unable to escape with a point on either night, as both Harvard and Dartmouth posted victories in the extra-session. Princeton lost 5-4 on Friday at Harvard and 2-1 on Saturday at Dartmouth.

Race to the Postseason
With just four games remaining before the start of the ECACHL postseason, the Tigers sit 10th in the league standings, a point behind ninth-place Yale. Princeton is three points behind eighth-place Clarkson, which currently holds down the last home-ice playoff spot. Rensselaer sits seventh, five points up on Princeton. Final Appearances
This weekend will mark the final regular season appearances at Baker Rink for the six members of Princeton's Class of 2006. The group, which consists of Sebastian Borza, Brian Carthas, Eric Leroux, Mark Masters, Patrick Neundorfer and Seamus Young, will be recognized following Saturday's game.

Princeton vs. Rensselaer
Rensselaer leads the all-time series against Princeton 55-24-8 and is 21-12-3 in games played at Baker Rink. The Engineers won the teams' meeting earlier this season 4-1 in Troy, N.Y., while Princeton swept both games in the series a season ago. Princeton has won two of the last three games in the series at home, including a 3-2 win last November.

Scouting The Engineers
Rensselaer is currently 13-14-4 overall and 7-7-4 in the ECACHL, which ranks it seventh in the standings. The team enters this weekend's games at Princeton and Quinnipiac following last weekend's sweep of Yale and Brown at home. Add a tie at home versus Union to that and RPI is unbeaten in its last three games. The Engineers were 3-8 in the 11 games prior to the recent streak.

November in the Troy
Rensselaer completed its first weekend sweep of the season with a 4-1 win over Princeton on Nov. 12 at Houston Fieldhouse. Princeton freshman Brett Wilson scored his first career goals 1:06 into the third period to tie that game at 1-1, but Jonathan Ornelas' first of two goals at 7:45 of the third proved to be the game winner in a 4-1 RPI win. Senior Eric Leroux made 31 saves in the loss, while Mathias Lange made 28 for the win.

Princeton vs. Union
Princeton leads its all-time series against Union 17-13-4 overall and 10-6-1 at Baker Rink. The Dutchmen have a four-game unbeaten-streak in the series (3-0-1), dating back to a 4-0 Princeton win in December of 2003. Union has won three-straight in the series at Princeton. The Dutchmen posted a 6-2 win earlier this season.

Scouting The Dutchmen
Union is currently 15-11-6 overall and 8-6-4 in the ECACHL. Union is one of the league's hottest teams, carrying a five-game unbeaten-streak (4-0-1) into the Princeton/Quinnipiac weekend. In that span, Union has defeated Harvard, Rensselaer, Brown and Yale, and has a tie with Rensselaer.

November in the Schenectady
After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, Princeton scored two goals 1:29 apart midway through the second period to tie the game at 2-2, but Union answered right back with the game winner 2:14 later and pulled away for a 6-2 win. Freshman Lee Jubinville scored his first career goal in the game and junior Kevin Westgarth notched his first of the season. Union's Josh Coyle and Augie DiMarzo each had three points. Kris Mayotte made 28 saves for Union, while junior B.J. Sklapsky made 24 for Princeton.

Good To Be At Home
The Tigers will play their final two home games this weekend. Princeton is unbeaten in five at home and is 5-1-1 in its last seven at Baker Rink. Princeton is 6-4-1 at home this season, as opposed to a 3-10-0 record on the road.

Overtime Trials
Princeton played back-to-back overtime games last weekend for the first time since January of 2004 when the Tigers had a tie and loss to St. Lawrence and Clarkson. Princeton last played three overtime games in a row at the very beginning of the 2000-01 season when the team played three-straight ties. Princeton is 0-3-1 in four trips to overtime this season.

Save the Puck
Junior Christian Read scored his first career goal in Saturday's 2-1 loss at Dartmouth. The goal came in his 21st as a Tiger.

52 Saves
Senior goaltender Eric Leroux stopped 52 of 57 shots in Friday's 5-4 overtime loss at Harvard to equal a career-high set last season in the ECACHL playoffs at St. Lawrence. Leroux's performance was recognized by the league as he was named to the ECACHL Honor Roll.

Leading Scorer
Junior Grant Goeckner-Zoeller, a two-time ECAC Hockey League Player of the Week Award winner this season, extended his season-long point-scoring streak to eight games with a goal and an assist on Friday against Harvard, but had his streak snapped on Saturday at Dartmouth.

Freshman Scoring
Freshman Brett Wilson scored his 10th goal of the season on Friday at Harvard. The goal was his third in as many games and has him third on the team in scoring with 15 points.

Offensive Support From the Defensemen
Senior Seamus Young had a goal and an assist at Harvard. The two-point game, coupled with a three-assist performance in the previous game, against Clarkson, gave Young five points in a two-game span..

Westgarth - B
Junior Brett Westgarth was the only Tiger to tally points in both games last weekend. Westgarth scored Princeton's first goal at Harvard, his third of the season, then assisted on Christian Read's first career goal the following day at Dartmouth.

Balanced Effort
Princeton's 61 goals this season have come from 16 scorers, led by Grant Goeckner-Zoeller's 13 goals and Brett Wilson's 10. Patrick Neundorfer comes next with seven goals scored.

Defense First
Princeton has held its opponents to three goals or less, not counting empty-net goals, in 19 of 25 games.

The PP
Just one of Princeton's five goals last week came with the man advantage. Princeton has scored 21 of its last 44 goals on the power play. The Dartmouth game snapped a streak of seven games in which Princeton had scored a power-play goal.

Against Ranked Teams
Princeton has faced 10 ranked opponents this season and is 4-6 for the season against them with recent wins over Denver, Colgate, Cornell and St. Lawrence. Four of the six losses have come by a single goal, including last night's loss at No. 17 Harvard in overtime.

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 has 65 goals through 25 games this season and is on pace to score 81 again this year.

On the Horizon
Princeton will close out the regular season next weekend at Brown and Yale.

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