Men's Hockey: Chance to rebound vs. Robert Morris

“We were absolutely tired [during the last two games against Union and Rensselaer],” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “Some of it was beyond our control in the fact that we don’t have enough healthy bodies to put out a full long. There were a lot of guys double-shifting, and, to play the way we play, double-shifting is difficult.”

In fact, the Tigers have not had enough forwards to make four offensive lines for the last two games. Still, following the losses to Union and RPI, the team has almost two weeks off to focus on exams and return to full health. The upcoming game against Robert Morris will be the Tigers’ only chance to show that they have regained their early-season form before the last series of conference games kicks off the following weekend.

“I think this is an important game for us, just to get your mind back in game mode,” Gadowsky said. “You can practice as much as you want, but unless you actually get in game mode, it’s hard to get your mind in that level. The position we’re in, non-conference games are very important for us. We are going to jump in with both feet and try to get a valuable win.”

Though physical recovery has been the prime objective, the Tigers have worked to stay sharp during their time off.

“We have a good group of guys, and I think everyone is working hard to stay in shape over break,” senior forward and assistant captain Lee Jubinville said. “This is something that we would rather go through right now rather than late in February.”

A few key indicators will demonstrate if the team has returned to its early-season form: skating aggressively, blocking pucks and taking hits to make plays.

“The indicators that we look at to see if we’re back in that mode are the habits that you try to create for yourselves that are not natural,” Gadowsky said. “When you’re in game mode, you are blocking shots, which is not a natural thing to do. Beating guys to the puck even though you are going to have to take a hit to make a play. Those things are more natural during the season than when you are coming back from some time off.”

Princeton also needs to shore up the inconsistent play it displayed in its past three games. Early in the season, the Tigers played almost flawless hockey, using constant pressure to keep the puck deep in their offensive zone. During its recent losing streak, Princeton has exacerbated the problem of its short bench by making unnecessary turnovers on both ends of the ice.

“I think we put ourselves in bad situations,” Gadowsky said. “We turned the puck over in our zone and the offensive zone. When you are playing short-handed, mistakes magnify the problem. We have to play smarter at both ends of the ice: This is something that we did not do well in either game [last week].”

Playing smart hockey is a team effort. This season, the Tigers have fared best when the team played as a cohesive unit. As a result, almost every player on the team has been on the stat sheet at some point during the year.

If Princeton needs a spark during the game, it will look to Jubinville, last year’s ECAC and Ivy League Player of the Year and Princeton’s first Hobey Baker Award finalist. It can also depend on junior forward Mark Magnowski, the team’s leading scorer, to provide some offensive fireworks.

“We played Robert Morris the last three years after exam break, coming off a two-week break,” Jubinville said. “It’s a way to get back into game situations before the all-important conference games.”

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The game will help the Tigers return to the aggressive and consistent hockey necessary for the team to make another run at the ECAC title.

“We just want to get back to playing our system,” senior forward and captain Brandan Kushniruk said, “making sure we do the little things like getting the puck out of our zone and getting the puck past the defense when we get into their zone.”

If Princeton can do these things, it may add substance to the argument that having final exams in January is not such a bad idea after all.