With Ma Back at Full Strength for PU Men’s Hockey, Tigers Bringing 6-6-1 Record into ECACH Homestretch
CREASE CONTROL: Princeton University men’s hockey player David Ma (No. 4) helps guard the crease in action earlier in his career. After having been sidelined last season due to injury, junior defenseman Ma has returned this winter with a bang, tallying four goals and two assists so far this winter. Princeton, which fell 4-3 to New Hampshire last Saturday to move to 6-6-1 overall, plays a home-and-home set against Quinnipiac this weekend, hosting the Bobcats on January 10 before facing them in Hamden, Conn. the next day. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
By Bill Alden
David Ma was determined to make a big impact for the Princeton University men’s hockey team this winter after being sidelined last season due to injury.
“It has been a work in progress, it was a long break,” said junior defenseman Ma. “It was a shoulder injury. Since it was my second one, I decided to take the year off because I would have missed a good amount of time with that. It was just getting it healed up, making sure I am 100 percent good to go and then coming back and joining a new group. I am excited to be here.”
In getting up to 100 percent physically, Ma focused on dry land work.
“I was basically training the whole year, I just wasn’t on the ice too much,” said Ma, a 5’11, 180-pound native of Yonkers, N.Y. “I wasn’t taking too much contact, it was getting into the gym and working on that. It was a huge help to my game as well. I think a good part of that is going through that training. I missed a couple summers of training, that really hurt.”
The training has paid dividends as Ma has gotten off to a solid start this season, shoring up the Tiger defensive unit and contributing four goals and two assists at the offensive end.
“It is just playing with confidence, making instinctual plays and trusting my reads and then playing within the system,” said Ma. “Once everybody got their feet wet, it becomes easier.”
Last Friday night, things didn’t click for Princeton as it hosted No. 20 New Hampshire in its first game at Hobey Baker Rink since December 7. After battling the Wildcats to a scoreless stalemate through two periods, Princeton yielded three unanswered goals in an 11-minute span in the third period on the way to a 3-0 setback.
“They are really disciplined,” said Ma. “They are skilled, they can make some plays.”
In a critical stretch of the contest, the Tigers didn’t make any scoring plays as they failed to cash in on a five-minute power play that started late in the second period and continued into the third.
“We always try to gain momentum from the power play,” said Ma. “Even if we don’t score, we want to do our best to grab some momentum and bring the energy up. We need to go and make some adjustments and come back tomorrow.”
On Saturday, in the second game of the weekend set against UNH, the Tigers displayed some energy as they rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to score three goals in the second period to knot the game at 3-3. The Wildcats, though, tallied a goal midway through the third period to pull out a 4-3 victory.
Bringing a five-game winning streak into the weekend, the Tigers, now 6-6-1, have been gaining a comfort level as they adjust to new head coach Ben Syer and his approach.
“Once everything starts to click, you don’t have to think too much about the new adjustments and those split-second decisions are much easier,” said Ma. “Playing with different guys coming in you get to learn the system.”
Princeton coach Syer credited Ma with emerging as a key guy for the Tigers.
“David has been really good, he has been solid in so many different areas,” said Syer. “He has been really good defensively here and he has created a lot of offense. He had a couple of looks here tonight as well too. He has been a real valuable component to our group.”
Being back at Hobey Baker Rink was a plus for Princeton.
“It was real exciting to get back and play in front of our fans, it was a great crowd,” said Syer. “It was great support by the youth groups, it was awesome. I thought it was a really hard-fought game.”
While Syer liked the way his players fought against UNH, he acknowledged that the Wildcats were a formidable foe.
“It just goes to show that they are a really good team,” said Syer. “They are a really mature team and it is a real challenge for us. I joke with our guys, there is a reason why punters in the NFL make a million dollars. They chipped a lot of pucks, they advanced a lot of pucks.”
The Tigers were up for the challenge most of the evening until the game got away from them in the third period.
“It was a game of playing in the neutral zone,” added Syer. “It doesn’t seem like you get a lot but you have to stay on top of detail. I thought we did a decent job defensively even in the third. It just takes one split second here of not picking up your guy quickly and allowing guys to come out of the corner. That can be the difference.”
Princeton’s failure to score on the five-minute power play ended up being a big difference in the contest.
“It is a momentum builder both ways for special teams, to kill penalties and to score on the power play,” said Syer. “We certainly had our chances. UNH did a really nice job killing here tonight.”
Looking ahead, Syer is looking for the Tigers to build momentum through getting better puck possession.
“We have to be able to get to loose pucks quicker and be able to support pucks quicker so we possess it longer and create more opportunities,” said Syer, whose team plays a home-and-home set against Quinnipiac this weekend, hosting the Bobcats on January 10 before facing them in Hamden, Conn., the next day.
Ma, for his part, believes that Princeton is heading in the right direction.
“All year I think we have been playing good hockey,” said Ma. “I think a huge part for us is just capitalizing on some of the opportunities that we have gotten, getting some bounces our way and creating our own luck. At the start we were a little shaky and we are finally figuring it out and turning it around.”