Women's Hockey Meets Two-Time Defending Champion Minnesota on Friday Night

March 14, 2006

PRINCETON - The sixth-ranked Princeton women's hockey team will make its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday when it takes the ice against two-time defending National Champion Minnesota. Princeton and fourth-ranked Minnesota have not faced each other in seven seasons and will renew their rivalry when the puck drops on the NCAA Quarterfinal game at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

Friday night's game will be broadcast live on Moneytalk 1350 AM WHWH in the Princeton area, as well as on the internet at GoPrincetonTigers.com. The pregame show will go on the air at 7:55 p.m. Eastern. Livestats will also be available for the game. Links to the broadcast and the livestats can be found on the women's hockey schedule page.

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This Week's Storylines

NCAA Appearance
The Princeton women's hockey team makes its first NCAA Tournament appearance this Friday night when the Tigers visit Minnesota in the quarterfinal round.

How We Got Here
Princeton received an at-large bid to the tournament and was one of three teams from the ECAC Hockey League to qualify for the tournament.

ECACHL Tournament Recap
Princeton dropped its last game, 1-0, in the second semifinal of the ECAC Hockey League Tournament. Princeton dominated the game territorially, but could not crack Brown goaltender O'Hara Shipe, whose 42 saves blanked the Tigers. Princeton, the second seed in the ECACHL, advanced to the semifinals with a sweep of Colgate in the semifinal round. Uncharted Territory
Princeton will take the ice for its 33rd game of the season on Friday at Minnesota. Princeton has never played that many games in a season and has never finished its season in the NCAA Tournament. In 1983, Princeton advanced to the EAIAW tournament, one of the predecessors to the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA officially started crowning a women's hockey champion in 2001.

All-Time High
Princeton's 5-4 win in the ECACHL quarterfinals in the second game of the Colgate series was the Tigers' 21st win of the 2005-06 season, one more than the 20 wins Princeton recorded in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Princeton's .719 winning percentage is also a program record.

Second Place
Princeton's second-place finish in the ECACHL regular season standings marked an all-time high for the Tigers. Princeton highest previous finish was third in 1994-95 and 2002-03.

Princeton vs. Minnesota
Princeton is 1-3-1 all-time against Minnesota, but has not faced the Golden Gophers in seven seasons. Princeton won the first-ever meeting between the schools in 1995 at Minnesota while Minnesota was still a club program, but the Golden Gophers are unbeaten in the last four meetings since turning varsity, including a 3-1 win in Princeton the last time the team played on Nov. 28, 1998. Princeton is 1-1-1 in Minneapolis with the win in 1995 and a loss and tie in December of 1997.

Scouting The Golden Gophers
Minnesota is the two-time defending National Champion and enters the 2006 NCAA Tournament looking to become the second-team to three-peat in NCAA women's hockey tournament history. Minnesota is 27-10-1 overall and 19-8-1 in the WCHA to place second. The Gophers dropped their last game to second-ranked Wisconsin in the WCHA Championship game, which snapped a seven-game win streak.

Coaches Corner
Minnesota head coach Laura Halldorson played college hockey and began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Princeton. Halldorson graduated from Princeton in 1985 and ranks sixth all-time on the Princeton scoring charts with 75 goals and 83 assists for 158 points.

Travelling West
The Tigers' trip to the Midwest will be Princeton's first trip west of the state of Ohio since Princeton visited St. Cloud in early December of the 2000-01 season.

Princeton vs. the WCHA
Princeton faced one WCHA opponent, Ohio State, this season and split a weekend series in Columbus. Princeton won 4-1 and lost 2-1. Minnesota split four games with Ohio State this season, going 1-1 at home and on the road.

Minnesota vs. the ECACHL
Minnesota played two ECACHL opponents this season, Brown and St. Lawrence. Minnesota swept the Bears in an early season series at home by scores of 5-1 and 3-0. The Gophers also fell 3-1 to St. Lawrence in the opening weekend of the season. Princeton went 1-2 this year against Brown in three one-goal games. Princeton won 3-2 at home, lost 4-3 in Providence, and 1-0 at a neutral site last weekend. Princeton was 0-1-1 against St. Lawrence.

Other Common Opponents
The only other common opponent between Princeton and Minnesota this season was Mercyhurst. Minnesota topped the Lakers twice in Erie, Pa., while the Tigers and Lakers traded one-goal games in Princeton.

Playing the Field
Princeton went 2-3-1 against the field of the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The Tigers have wins against Mercyhurst and Harvard, losses to those two and St. Lawrence, as well as a tie with the Saints. Minnesota is 6-7 against the field with one win against Wisconsin, three against Minnesota-Duluth and two against Mercyhurst. The Gophers have losses to Wisconsin (4), St. Lawrence and Minnesota-Duluth (2).

Minnesota Homecoming
Friday's game at Minnesota will be the first college contests played in Minnesota for two members of the Tigers who hail from the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." Senior Chrissie Norwich, who has played in 111 games will make her first home state appearance, while freshman Katherine Dineen has appeared in 32 games.

Coach of the Year
Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal was named the ECAC Hockey League's Coach of the Year last weekend for the second time in his career. Kampersal guided a Tiger team picked to finish seventh in the preseason coaches poll to a second-place league finish and the NCAA Tournament.

Rookie of the Year
Freshman Annie Greenwood shared the ECAC Hockey League's Rookie of the Year award with St. Lawrence's Carson Duggan. Greenwood tied for third in league scoring with 26 points, was first in goals scored with 20, and led all freshman scorers.

Turfer Trophy
Princeton was awarded the first-ever ECACHL-Turfer Athletic Trophy. A new award that the league's coaches voted on, it is awarded to the team they felt best represented the following ideas Sportsmanship, Tenacity, Commitment and Innovation.

All-League Teams
Princeton placed a pair of players on all three league teams named last weekend. Kim Pearce and Laura Watt were chosen to the first team, Annie Greenwood and Dina McCumber to the second team, and Marykate Oakley and Roxanne Gaudiel to the third team.

All-Rookie Teams
A pair of Princeton freshmen, Annie Greenwood and Katherine Dineen, were named to the ECACHL's all-rookie team. It is the first time that Princeton has placed two players on the all-rookie team.

Ivy Champions
Princeton's 7-2-1 record in the Ivy subset of games led the Tigers to their first Ivy League title since 1995, and their first outright title since 1992. Overall it was the sixth Ivy title for the Princeton women's hockey program. Princeton's other titles came in 1982, 1983 and 1984.

Ivy Honors
Kim Pearce and Annie Greenwood swept the major Ivy League awards as Pearce was named the league's Player of the Year and Greenwood the league's top rookie. Pearce joined Syrena Carlbom (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984) and Gina Pietrangelo (1987) as Princeton league Players of the Year. Greenwood becomes Princeton's fifth league Rookie of the Year and its first since Pearce in 2004. Pearce joins Pietrangelo as Princeton's only two players to be named league Rookie and Player of the Year in their careers.

All-Ivy
In addition to the two major Ivy awards, Princeton placed three players on both the Ivy League's first and second teams. Joining Pearce on the first team were Laura Watt, the only unanimous selection to the squad, and Roxanne Gaudiel, a first-team All-Ivy goaltender for the second-straight season. Greenwood, Marykate Oakley and Dina McCumber were second-team All-Ivy selections.

Academic Honors
The Princeton women's hockey team placed 11 of its student-athletes on the 2006 ECAC Hockey League All-Academic Team. The squad was led by three-time honorees Sarah Butsch, Tarah Clark and Chrissie Norwich. Other members were: Roxanne Gaudiel, Kate Hession, Micol Martinelli, Dina McCumber, Sonja Novak, Kim Pearce, Allison Ralph and Brittany Salmon. Players must have a cumulative GPA above 3.00 and have appeared in at least half of the team's games.

Kazmaier Candidate
Kim Pearce was named one of the 10 candidates for the 2006 Patty Kazmaier Award. Pearce becomes the fourth Princetonian to be a candidate for the award, which is named for the former Tiger player. Ali Coughlin (1998, 1999), Andrea Kilbourne (2001, 2003) and Gretchen Anderson (2004) were also candidates for the award.

Winning Nine Straight
Princeton's nine-game winning streak was snapped by Brown in the ECACHL semifinals. The streak is the longest in Princeton women's hockey history, surpassing eight-game win streaks in 1982-83 and 1994-95.

Staying Healthy and Contributing
Fourteen Tigers have appeared in all 31 games this season and all 14 have made important offensive contributions.

Playing the Top Opponents
Princeton has faced 11 ranked opponents this season and is 6-4-1 in those games. Princeton has wins against Dartmouth, Harvard, Ohio State, Mercyhurst and Clarkson (2). The highest-ranked team Princeton has played is St. Lawrence. The Saints were ranked No. 1 when the teams skated to a 1-1 tie in November and were ranked third when they won 3-1 in Canton in February. Princeton has been ranked much of the season and is currently fifth in one poll and sixth in the other.

In The Extra Session
Princeton is 3-0-4 in overtime this season with wins against Vermont, Mercyhurst and Clarkson. Princeton last lost in overtime in the 2005 league playoffs at Yale. The Tigers are 6-1-9 in their last 16 overtime games through the 2004-05 season.

Jumping in Front
Princeton has scored the first goal in 21 games this season and is 16-3-2 when it does so. The Tigers are 13-0-1 when leading after one period and are 17-0-1 when leading after two periods. Princeton has outscored its opponents 31-6 in the first period.

On Target
Princeton has outshot its opponents in 28 of 32 games this season and has only been outshot by two opponents - Mercyhurst and St. Lawrence. Princeton is 1-2-1 in those four games.

Defense First
Princeton has held its opponents to three goals or less in 29 of 32 games and it has held its opponents to two or less goals on 25 occasions. The Tigers have allowed 53 goals thus far this season, the lowest number since 44 in the 1994-95 campaign.

Double Up
Princeton has scored 104 goals this season and allowed one more than half, 53. This marks the sixth-straight season that Princeton has scored more goals than it has allowed. Princeton's 104 goals scored ranks fourth in program history. The high of 135 was recorded in 1983-84.

Non-Conference Wrap
Princeton completed its non-conference schedule with a 2-1 loss to Providence on Jan. 2. That completed Princeton's non-league slate with a 4-3-2 record. Princeton defeated Vermont, Ohio State, Mercyhurst and Wayne State, lost to Ohio State, Mercyhurst and Providence, and tied Boston College and Wayne State.

What Do They Know?
Princeton, the league's second-place finisher, was picked by both the league's coaches and media to finish in the bottom half of the league standings in the preseason polls. The coaches chose Princeton seventh while the media had the Tigers fifth.

On the Horizon
The winner of today's quarterfinal game will advance to face the winner of the New Hampshire-Harvard quarterfinal game at the Frozen Four next weekend.

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