Men's hockey ready for home-coming

The men's hockey team has had just home game in its last eight outings. In that span, the Tigers have been on the wrong end of one-goal games four times. Princeton (3-9 overall, 2-8 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) will finally get a chance to take advantage of its home ice when it hosts Alabama-Hunstville (5-4-1) at Baker Rink for two games tonight and Saturday in its fourth and fifth home games of the season.

Junior defenseman Daryl Marcoux says the Tigers understand that they have been close but have not been able to get the big goal when it is really needed.

"We think they're going to start falling eventually," junior forward Darroll Powe said. "We're sticking to our system, and we're playing hard, and we're getting chances, so that's a good thing."

The lapses so far this year have been mostly small mental errors that have ended up costing Princeton big. Junior goaltender B.J. Sklapsky said that the team has been emphasizing the details, especially on defense. Executing all of the little things properly, such as winning face-offs in the black zone, will ideally turn the catastrophic mistakes into manageable ones.

While the Tigers continue to struggle in close contests this year, Alabama-Hunstville is having the opposite experience. The Charger Blue are coming off a weekend in which they produced a game-winning goal against Ohio State in the first of two match-ups and a last minute game-tying goal in the second. Steve Canter was responsible for both of those scores. The Tigers may want to keep a close eye on him if the game is close late.

Despite the apparent gap in clutch comebacks, the Tigers and Charger Blue are well-matched. Sklapsky said the two teams have similar styles of play, and the statistics reflect that. Alabama-Hunstville has put up 29 goals this season to Princeton's 28, and both have nearly identical shots on goal.

Head coach Guy Gadowsky and the Tigers do not prepare specifically for any opponent. Still, it cannot hurt that the team they have seen in practice for the past week will be very similar to the one they will face on the ice tonight and Saturday night.

Thus, the game might come down to defense and goaltending. Since defensive breakdowns are much more costly than those on offense, the Tigers must remain on their toes.

Alabama-Huntsville is by no means stellar on defense, but their goaltender, Scott Munroe, has played well recently, picking up his second College Hockey America Defensive Player of the Week award for his work against the Buckeyes. Munroe averages 3.56 goals against, compared to Princeton's primary duo of senior Eric Leroux and Sklapsky, who give up an average of 2.78 and 3.01, respectively. Sklapsky saw the majority of game time early in the season, but lately it has been Leroux minding the net for the Tigers. It will be vital for Marcoux and company not to give the Charger Blue any good looks at the net.

"They've beaten some pretty good teams in their division," Marcoux said of Alabama-Hunstville.

The teams appear on a similar level. Throw in the Tigers' first home crowd in weeks, and they might hold a slight advantage.