Dec. 11, 2015
By Maria Canales, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The No. 16 Penn State men's hockey team is poised to take on the Princeton Tigers this Friday night. Head coach Guy Gadowsky finds himself, for the first time in program history, coaching against his former team.
Before taking up residence in Pegula Ice Arena, Gadowsky was the head coach of the Princeton men's hockey team from 2004-11. During his time with the Tigers, Gadowsky coached the Orange and Black to several ECAC hockey tournament appearances as well as an Ivy League Championship title in 2008. Most notably, Gadowsky coached the Tigers to two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.
Gadowsky had taken the previously struggling program and molded it into a successful name within the hockey realm, leading the Tigers to a 105-109-13 record during his time in New Jersey. The Edmonton native has since then taken his talents to Hockey Valley, which he has happily called home since 2011.
This weekend's matchup will reunite Gadowsky with some familiar faces, both on the ice and behind the scenes of Princeton's program.
"There's still players that we recruited [on Princeton's team]," said Gadowsky. "There's a lot of really good people involved in the program that we've been in touch with. Obviously we have a ton of great memories, I'm very proud to have been part of what went on at Princeton."
Although he reflects on his time in the Garden State fondly, Gadowsky emphasized that his chief focus for this weekend's game is notching another win with his Nittany Lions.
"I think this is a really important game for us and I don't care who we're playing, that's just the honest truth," said Gadowsky of the matchup. "This is just all about us playing the best game that we can, they happen to be the opponent, but that's not going to play in our minds at all."
Turning towards this weekend's matchup, the Nittany Lions will only take on the Tigers in one contest due to scheduling rules within the Ivy League. As an Ivy League member, Princeton is only allowed 29 regular season matchups on its schedule, with one contest as a stand-alone game against one opponent.
This stand-alone game against Princeton was purposefully scheduled for Friday due to finals week at Penn State starting on Monday. While Gadowsky is confident in his players' abilities to balance schoolwork and hockey, he wanted to do his best to provide them the best schedule for individual success off the ice.
The players themselves are also looking forward to finishing the first half of the season on a high note and getting another win before the break. After Friday's contest, the Nittany Lions won't see game time again until the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh on Dec. 28 and 29.
"It's not like with two games you're going to leave anything out there," said freshman forward Matt Mendelson. "With one game you have to really bear down and win it because it's not like you can bounce back on Saturday, you have to make sure you take care of business on Friday."
Penn State hosts Princeton on Friday at 7 p.m. in Pegula Ice Arena.