In consideration of Mark Lewin's request, I am posting some comments about
Brown's 3-2 victory over Princeton Saturday afternoon.
 
As I had predicted, this was an entertaining, hotly contested affair from
the opening face-off to the final buzzer. Brown-Princeton has become an
intense rivalry, in part because the two teams have played each other so
often and been involved in so many big games in recent seasons. Since
1994-95 Brown and Princeton have met ten times (including four playoff
games). Brown has won four times, Princeton has won four times, and there
have been two ties. Four games have gone into overtime, with each team
winning one game, and two games ending in a draw. This season Brown is
1-0-1 against Princeton. Brown leads this series, which started in the
1899-1900 season, 64-44-2.
 
There is no question that this is the best Princeton team I have seen since
the days John Messuri was scoring all those goals in the late 1980s. The
Tigers play a disciplined defensive game that compensates for the lack of a
big goal scorer. They skate and pass well, and have solid goaltending.
Nevertheless they STILL clutch and grab, and, surprisingly, despite their
reputation for playing this style, still get away with it at times. When a
Princeton defenseman wasn't called for hooking down Brown's speedy Mike
Flynn in the first two minutes of last Saturday's game, I couldn't help
thinking, "here we go again." Fortunately, however, referee Mike Noeth
started calling restraining fouls on Princeton, at one point even giving
Brown a long two-man advantage. After that two-man advantage Princeton
seemed to cut back on the clutching and grabbing, and to start relying a
bit more on sound positional play and good skating. The Tigers never
completely abandoned, however, what Brown Daily Herald's Senior Staff
Writer Martin Smal has humorously, but aptly described as their "hands-on
approach to hockey." This Princeton team is skilled enough NOT to have to
clutch and grab, but I suppose this is the style that Coach Cahoon likes to
teach.
 
The victory over Princeton has given Brown some hope for a playoff spot. In
order to make the playoffs, however, Brown will  need to win at least one,
but more probably two games on the road (they are playing Cornell, Colgate,
Clarkson and St. Lawrence the next couple of weekends), and both home games
in the last weekend of the regular season (Vermont and Dartmouth). It's a
tall order, but I haven't seen any signs that the Bears are ready to pack
it in. Not making the playoffs would be disappointing for the Brown hockey
family, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. This is a fairly young
team (six freshmen are playing regularly, including three defensemen), and,
besides, help is on the way.
 
As to Princeton, the loss to Brown drops them down to the middle of the
pack, which, in my opinion, is where they belong.  But our friends from New
Jersey should still rejoice. Even  if the Tigers were to be seeded sixth
for the 1997 playoffs, it would be their highest seed ever. Hobey Baker may
have attended Princeton, but until recently the  Princeton hockey program
had experienced  little success. Princeton is the only Ivy League school
never to have won an Ivy title, the only ECAC team never to have played in
the national tournament (Union played in the national tournament when they
were a Division III school), and it has never finished higher than a tie
for sixth in the regular season or been seeded higher than seventh for the
ECAC playoffs. Although I find the style he teaches distasteful, Coach
Cahoon deserves, therefore, a lot of credit for having brought a measure of
respectability to a program with an undistinguished history.
 
The four teams currently tied for first (Cornell, RPI, Clarkson and
Vermont) are unquestionably the four best teams in the league. I
particularly like Cornell, with Clarkson a close second. Both Cornell and
Clarkson play the way the game is supposed to be played, combining a
creative, go-to-the-net offense with a  physical, no-nonsense defense.
 
Luiz F. Valente
 
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