Men's hockey to face Harvard, Minnesota over eventful break

Compared to most students, whose holiday break means a return to home cooking and, for lucky ones, mistletoe, the members of the men's hockey team get Harvard and Minnesota. They eventually travel home for the holidays, but the 4-8-0 (4-6-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) Princeton skaters must first navigate a few icy speed bumps.

The Tigers begin their busy holiday break this Saturday in Boston as they take on Northeastern (1-9-2). Although the Huskies' record is not imposing, they did tie Colgate, a team against whom Princeton lost earlier in the season. Also, while the Tigers characteristically begin games softly and finish strong, Northeastern manifests a diametrically opposite game approach. Therefore, the two teams will need to counter the other's offensive pushes and play entire games in order to emerge with a victory.

Next, Princeton hosts Harvard on Tuesday, Dec. 16. A Tiger victory would demonstrate the advances the team has made, prove that their earlier 4-2 win at Cambridge was not a fluke and provide an opportunity to sweep the series with the Crimson for the first time since the 1996-97 season. For Harvard, a win would help stifle the critics who have described the talented team as underachieving.

In their first meeting, Princeton relied heavily on sophomore goalie Eric Leroux. He responded, as he has all season during the team's routine stretches of lethargic play, by holding the line and turning away a flurry of shots until his team could settle down. The Tigers' persistence in the third period reversed an offensive slump and created four unanswered goals for the win.

"Our game has come a long way since we last played Harvard," sophomore forward Dustin Sproat said. "Although we won the game, our goaltending was a huge factor in the outcome, and I don't think any of us would say we outplayed them."

The Crimson (5-4-1, 4-4-1), the most heavily touted team in the pre-season, have failed to consistently display on ice the skill and strength that they present on paper.

The first order of business for the Princeton defense is to muzzle Harvard's snipers: center Tom Cavanagh and forwards Dennis Packard and Tyler Kolarik. The three have combined for 29 of the Crimson's 67 points on the year and are equally as adept at rocketing shots as at setting up scoring opportunities. No matter how well the Tiger defense plays, however, Princeton will still be faced with the daunting task of slipping a puck past the almost impenetrable blockade imposed by goalie Dov Grumet-Morris. With a .944 save percentage and a 1.5 goals allowed per game average, Grumet-Morris has earned the honor of reigning ECAC Goaltender of the Week. A key for the Tigers is to break through Grumet-Morris's shield early and prevent him from settling into a rhythm.

After the Harvard game, Princeton travels to Minneapolis to compete in the Dodge Holiday Classic, a tournament populated with skilled and physical, top-ranked teams. In the tournament's opener on Dec. 20, the Tigers face off against the Golden Gophers of Minnesota (7-8-1). Against the perennially powerful Minnesota team, Princeton will require particular focus on its special teams. The Gophers have holed 21 of their 59 goals on the power play.

"Our special teams have improved drastically over the last couple of weeks," Sproat remarked, "and for the most part, our results have banked on the success or failure of our power play and penalty killing. Staying out of the penalty box will be important."

The Tiger road trip gets no easier the next day, as the team faces either Miami of Ohio (10-6-2), nationally ranked No. 14, or New Hampshire (10-4-1), ranked fifth. Both teams consistently outshoot and outscore their opponents, racking up 3.4 and 4.3 goals per game averages, respectively. Both play extremely physical games, and therefore Princeton will need to establish its own consistent physical presence in order to compete effectively. Foreand back-checking, which have been great contributors to the team's recent success, will need to be employed vigorously.

Finally, the Tigers end the break by hosting Merrimack (4-8-2) in back-to-back games. Although the Warriors fell to Union, a team that Princeton recently defeated, Tiger skaters recognize that game comparisons are not always the best indication of a team's playing ability. Averaging only 22.6 shots per game, Merrimack defers to forwards Bryan Schmidt and Marco Rosa to make a high percentage of the team's limited shots. If the Princeton defense can contain these two threats, the Tigers should be able to control the game.