The Brown hockey family has been looking forward to Princeton's only visit
to Meehan Auditorium tomorrow at 2:00pm for quite some time. The
Brown-Princeton rivalry has been one of the most interesting in Eastern
college hockey for the past few seasons. Recent games between the Bears and
the Tigers have been very entertaining, hotly contested affairs. Tomorrow's
game, the tenth between these two teams over the past three seasons, should
be no different. Over the past three seasons (which have included four
playoff games) Brownhas won three games, Princeton has won four games, and
there have been two ties. Three games have gone into overtime, including
the memorable double-overtime win by Princeton in the third game of the
1995 ECAC quaterfinals.
 
For a preview of the game, let's hear from Brown Daily Herald's Senior
Staff Writer and Hockey Fan Extraordinaire Martin "I can do the macarena
but you can't" Small:
 
"Time is certainly running out for the struggling men's ice hockey team
(5-15-2 Overall, 2-12-1 ECAC, 1-5-1 Ivy). [...] Over the course of
February, the squad must
pump, pump, pump it up, in order to avoid an early finish. The perfect
opportunity to generate some winning attitudes will occur this Saturday
afternoon when the [Bears] face-off against the clutch-and-grab
[third]-ranked Princeton Tigers.
 
Over the past three years, the Tigers have become a tough squad to beat. At
the conclusion of the 1994-95 season, the Tigers eliminated one of Brown's
most impressive [...] squads in double-overtime at Meehan
Auditorium. The loss dealt a tremendous blow to Head Coach Bob Gaudet and
his hockey family. Bruno's season ended much earlier than all had
anticipated, and the trip to Lake Placid for the ECAC Tournament was denied.
 
The following season, the icers returned the favor when Marty Clapton '97
tore the mesh with just three minutes left in the final stanza to lift his
team to victory. Brown subsequently lost to Clarkson in [...] the
ECAC quarterfinals and missed another trip to Lake Placid.
 
A Different Philosophy
 
Tensions always run incredibly high between Brown and Princeton. The feud
that has thrived on the ice results from the clash of two radically
different styles of defensive hockey. On one hand, Brown has traditionally
played the "trap" and "left-wing lock" systems that attempt to keep teams
locked at center ice and out of the defensive zone. Sometimes these systems
have worked and sometimes they have not. Brown also relies on a tough
physical presence coupled with speed. Gaudet has had few finesse players to
work with and most of the [Bears]' offense comes from hard work. [...]
 
Princeton relies on a tight man-to-man defensive scheme coupled with all-out
backchecking. Tiger forwards play both ends of the ice, consistently
covering their checks at every possible moment.  [...]  Princeton
has also been privileged to have such finesse hockey players as Casson
Masters, Mike Bois and Matt Brush. Strong offensive leadership from these
forwards have provided scoring punch on a team that adheres to the idea that
the best offense is a good defense. Some statistics may indicate otherwise,
but what stands out most about the past and present Princeton teams is their
sticks. The Tiger squads play a "hands-on game," clutching, grabbing,
holding and pinning whenever possible.
 
[...] The debate has raged, however. Clutch-and-grab hockey has killed the
game in
terms of speed and open end-to-end action. Some feel that too much
clutch-and-grab is just bad officiating. As the rationale goes, penalties
such as holding, tripping, hooking, slashing and spearing exist for a reason
-- to keep hockey sticks on the ice and not around players' bodies. The
problem has been that stick penalties are very much a matter of referee's
discretion.
 
Brown and Princeton have battled each other over the past three years for
more than just league titles. The contest has at its roots a moral battle
over the nature of hockey."
 
[From Martin Small's article in The Brown Daily Herald, February 6, 1997,
quoted with permission from the author.]
 
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