Men's Hockey: UMass Lowell visits in battle of young teams

After a home split last weekend against conference opponents Clarkson and St. Lawrence, the men’s hockey team will play host to University of Massachusetts Lowell (2-12-2) on Friday and Saturday at Baker Rink. The Tigers (6-5 overall, 6-3 ECAC Hockey) have played Lowell five times over the last couple of years, losing their first four matchups against the River Hawks but earning a 3-2 victory in their most recent competition. Sophomore Eric Meland carried the team in that effort, scoring two goals for the Tigers.

Last weekend left Princeton with a lone win, but the team emerged from a set in which it outshot its opponents 89-46 with a positive outlook.

“We actually felt very good about last week’s performance,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “We played pretty well against Clarkson but happened to end up on the wrong end of the stick in results.”

Heading into this weekend, the team sought to address some of its issues.

“There were three habits that we identified that we could do a better job at,” Gadowsky said. “Some of it is physical talent and some of it is mental decisions, so throughout the week every practice that we’ve had and every drill is addressed to three habits that we feel we had to do a better job at.”

One area where the Tigers certainly showed skill was the ability to score regardless of what line was on the ice. A total of 14 different Tigers recorded points last weekend and six of their eight goals were scored on power plays.

“We like to play a high tempo game with all lines, so when that happens you would expect the scoring to be spread out,” Gadowsky said.

Freshman forward and team points leader Andrew Calof had a relatively quiet weekend, relinquishing the freshman spotlight to forward Matt Farris, who scored the first two goals of his collegiate career against St. Lawrence.

“It’s fitting because he’s worked very hard at changing his game to suit Princeton’s style and he’s really taken it to heart,” Gadowsky said. “Often when players play for the team and work hard for the team in aspects that don’t necessarily show up on the score sheet that’s when they get the goals, and I think in Matt Farris’ case that’s exactly what happened.”

Meanwhile, with 10 points on the season, senior Mike Kramer has marched into Princeton’s top 100 in career points. Kramer currently ties for 43rd place with 64 points in his career.

The River Hawks compiled a 19-16-4 season last winter and were often nationally ranked, but the graduation of 10 seniors has left them with a young and somewhat untested squad. The team has won just one of its last 12 contests, getting outscored 44-21 in those games. The young team’s points leader is Riley Wetmore, who has recorded seven goals and six assists.

UMass Lowell has struggled on both sides of the puck, giving up eight goals on two occasions and scoring more than three times on just two occasions as well. UMass Lowell ranks second to last in scoring offense and last in scoring defense in their Hockey East conference.

Nevertheless, Princeton will be on the lookout for areas in which the River Hawks have burned the team in the past.

“They like to move the puck quickly,” Gadowsky said. “Their power play breakout is something that caused us some fits, so we’ll have to be aware of that.”

As another young team, though, Princeton’s focus is primarily on bettering itself from week to week.

“We’re a team with 11 new faces and we’re trying to get better and work on ourselves every day,” Gadowsky said.

UMass Lowell is the last non-conference foe the Tigers will face at home for over a month, as the squad will go on the road at the end of the month to play in the University of Connecticut Hockey Classic before resuming ECAC play in January.