It is said that good things come in twos, but don't tell that to the men's hockey team. Having yet to win two games in a row in a weekend series and on the heels of a two-loss weekend to two nationally ranked teams, Princeton travels to Massachusetts this weekend for two games in two days against Merrimack of Hockey East.
The Tiger team, ranked seventh in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League, looks to get back to its winning ways this Friday and Saturday night after being swept by No. 13 Colgate, 4-2, and No. 12 Cornell, 5-3, last weekend. These games marked the first time Princeton did not register a point in a weekend series all season.
Princeton (4-7-1, 4-6-0 ECACHL), plays out of the ECAC Hockey League this weekend for the first time in 10 games. The Warriors (4-10-2, 1-8-1 Hockey East) come into this game with a record of 2-1-1 in its last four games, but are second-to-last in their conference.
Merrimack and Princeton have had two common opponents in Rensselaer and Union this season. Merrimack beat Rensselaer and tied Union early this season. Princeton split its two games against those teams, defeating Rensselaer but losing to Union.
The Tigers, however, are not focusing on their opponent this weekend.
"We are always more concerned with ourselves than with the opponent," coach Guy Gadowsky said. "We are focusing on positioning after the back check, protecting the middle in the defensive zone after puck battle and staying in shooting lanes without the puck."
The Princeton offense ranks third in the ECACHL and 17th in the nation. Princeton has scored an average of 3.33 goals per game, led by its leading scorer, junior Dustin Sproat, who is tied for fourth in the nation in goals scored. Sproat also leads the team in scoring with 18 points, three of them coming last weekend in upstate New York. Sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller is second in scoring on the team with 16 points and is tied for fourth in assists nationally with teammate Luc Paquin. Paquin leads the nation in defensemen scoring. Junior forward Patrick Neundorfer is tied for 14th in the nation for power-play goals and 15th for game-winning goals.
Princeton went 3-for-10 on the power play last weekend to raise its percentage to just over 28 overall. This makes Princeton's power-play unit second-best in the nation, trailing only UMass-Lowell.
Historically, Princeton has struggled versus the Hockey East conference with an overall record of 12-29-3. The Tigers have lost its last 10 games against Hockey East opponents and last defeated a Hockey East team in 1998. Princeton is 0-1-1 in non-conference games thus far this season and is on a 16-game losing streak when playing non-conference opponents.
Last season, Princeton dropped both games it played against Merrimack in the same weekend, scoring only one goal in the process. The Tigers and Merrimack have met eight times before with Princeton leading 4-2-2 in the series. The teams first met in 1977 in Baker Rink.
The team does not plan to change its approach because it is playing the same squad two nights in a row.
"If [our approach] changes, it shouldn't," Gadowsky said. "Again, we must concentrate on how to get better at our game."
Princeton returns to Baker Rink to host American International on Jan. 4 and hosts its first ECAC hockey league contest of 2005 the following weekend against Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
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