Men look to experienced defense, young offense to propel them to victory

The men's hockey team has stumbled out of the gate with two losses to Niagara, falling to the Purple Eagles, 4-2 and 7-1.

So what does a team that drops two games to open the season do to rebound before the year goes too far south?

"We need to take care of business now," junior goaltender Nate Nomeland said. "We'll improve as we get more game experience."

While Tiger hockey has been gaining some national visibility over the past few years — three Princeton players have been drafted by or are under contract with the Washington Capitals — that extra attention has not necessarily translated into success on the ice.

Last season the Tigers finished 10-16-5 overall and 9-11-4 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference under first-year head coach Len Quesnelle '88.

This winter, Princeton will look to reconstruct its offense after graduating last year's point leaders Kirk Lamb '01 and Chris Corrinet '01.

The Tigers' ability to score goals will depend on how well a few players can step into the roles vacated by Lamb and Corrinet.

The person most likely to pick up the slack in the Princeton offense is senior forward Brad Parsons. After leading the team in game-winning goals and power play goals last season — and finishing third on the team in assists and points — Parsons opened this season with a two-assist game against Niagara.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Parsons missed the second game against Niagara and remains questionable for this weekend's games at Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Junior forward Scott Prime filled in on Parsons' line.

Some of the young talent on the ice for Princeton has already started to make its presence known — at least as much as possible in two lopsided losses. Most notably, freshman forward James Fitzpatrick has seen time with the Tigers' top line.

Even with some apparent holes on offense, however, Princeton seems to be concentrating on their own zone in the short-run.

"We have to play well at home," Nomeland said. "But our real focus is going to be on team defense."

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"Those first games were rough," senior captain and defenseman Dave Schnieder said. "We need to improve day-to-day, especially our team defense."

Schneider and classmate David Bennett are the only two seniors listed as defensemen on Princeton's roster, so how well they play may determine the overall development of the defense as a whole.

In a broader sense, the team hopes to reach beyond the preseason expectations of both the media and the coaches in the ECAC.

The media has pegged the Tigers at seventh in the conference, with the coaches somewhat less optimistic — a poll of all the coaches in the conference lists Princeton just behind Ivy League rival Brown in the race to the bottom of the ECAC. The Bears were projected to finish last in both polls.

"We all want to finish in the top four in the ECAC, since those four teams get a bye in the [conference] tournament," Schneider said. "Of course, we also want to win the Ivy League."

Neither of those long-term goals will be easy for Princeton to accomplish. The team will need to pick up experience fast before they fall victim to the same problem that troubled them against the Purple Eagles.

"We really didn't play well [against Niagara], but we were facing a team that had six games under its belt before we had one," Nomeland said.

Even the more modest goal of an Ivy League title may be an uphill struggle for the Tigers. Of the league's eight teams, seven — including Princeton — compete in the ECAC. Five of these teams were ranked ahead of the Tigers in the preseason coaches' poll.

"We're certainly not doubting ourselves right now," Schneider said. "All our lines are shaping up well and everything seems to be working out great."