Ready to skate up a storm

Last year, the men's ice hockey team's season ended with a close 3-2 loss to Dartmouth in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECACHL) Quarterfinals. Reaching the quarterfinals was a big step for the Tigers, but this year, equipped with a new defensive squad and a new team credo, Princeton is looking for more.

"Last year was a great step for us, and we are looking to build off of it," senior forward Kyle Hagel said.

To reach that goal, however, the Tigers — who open their season Nov. 2 at Cornell — will need to outperform last year's squad, which graduated nine seniors, seven of whom currently play professional hockey either in America or Europe.

Such a task may appear unattainable, but with this year's class of strong, talented freshmen, the Tigers may be able to offset the losses.

"The freshmen, especially those on defense, are going to be big for us this year," Hagel said. "We did lose a bunch of guys last year, but I'm not worried about the team responding."

In addition to the seven new faces, head coach Guy Gadowsky has supplied the team with a new mantra, "protect our house," which emphasizes physical play in front of the Princeton net.

"Protecting our house means good, tough defense," Hagel said. "We are going to be blocking shots, back-checking with speed and sticking with our men [on defense]."

The phrase also carries with it the belief that Baker Rink, Princeton's 86-year-old home, is sacred territory.

"We want other teams to know that when they come to Baker Rink, they're not going to have an easy time," Hagel said. "We want to take pride in our speed and physicality in the defensive zone and the trouble that causes opposing teams."

In the past two weeks, the Tigers have already played an intrasquad scrimmage and an exhibition game against Quebec-Trois Rivieres, two games that exhibited this intensity and have helped form an identity centered around speed, physicality and depth.

"We have four good lines of forwards and three solid defensive pairings," Hagel said. "And we are definitely going to spread the puck around and use that depth to our advantage."

At the top of that list of forwards is junior Lee Jubinville, who led the Tigers with 29 points last season. Considered the team's fastest player, Jubinville uses his speed to get behind defenses and is a mainstay on both the Tiger power play and penalty kill. Senior forward Brett Wilson and sophomore forward Mark Magnowski, both of whom recorded 23 points last season, will also play big roles on offense this season.

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Last year's graduating class undoubtedly affected the defense more than the offense. This season, Princeton will turn to senior Mike Moore—the only Tiger blueliner with more than a year of collegiate experience—to lead a young corps of defensemen. Moore led the Tigers in plus/minus and penalty minutes last season and will be aided by Jody Pederson and Brad Schroeder, two sophomores with hulking frames and commanding on-ice presence.

Between the pipes, the Tigers are returning junior Thomas Sychterz and sophomore Zane Kalemba, both of whom saw significant action last season. No official starter has been named, and it seems likely that Gadowsky will return to his system of last year, when he varied goalies based on who was the hottest. Freshman Alan Reynolds will likely see limited time as well.

There is a downside to the Tigers' new all-out mentality. Moore is currently nursing a groin injury, freshman forward Kevin Lohry has a knee injury and senior forward Landis Stankievech is recovering from a broken thumb. Luckily for Princeton, none of the injuries are expected to prevent anyone from being back on the ice by the season opener.

"We're currently pretty banged up, but none of the injuries are longterm problems," Hagel said. "Right now we're just looking to get healthy and keep working hard in practice. If we can do those things, we know that we'll be ready."

Along with their traditional ECAC opponents, the Tigers have a challenging non-conference schedule, which includes two home games against Notre Dame in January and contests at Minnesota State and Nebraska-Omaha.

Clarkson, who won the ECAC last season, finished the year ranked No. 11 in the country and will once again be the conference's team to beat. The Tigers, however, are taking this season one step at a time.

"Obviously I would love to go to the national tournament, and I know that we have the talent," Hagel said. "But we need to keep things in perspective. Last year we hosted a first-round playoff series, this year we want to host, or at least win, a second-round series. After that, who knows what can happen."

For now, the focus is on recovering from injuries and ironing out the kinks before the season's official opener, a Friday night showdown with Cornell in Ithaca on Nov. 2. The home opener will be Friday, Nov. 9 against St. Lawrence.

"The team looks good and we are itching to play," Hagel said. "It's going to be an exciting season."