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PRINCETON: Prier returns with prior experience

New PU men’s hockey coach wants to keep program rolling

By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
   Bob Prier knows the kind of person he is following as head coach of the Princeton University men’s ice hockey program.
   ”I had the opportunity to go into the office today and I was looking around the office,” Prier said at his introductory press conference on Tuesday. “I opened up a cabinet with a white board behind it and Guy (Gadowsky) had left me a wonderful note of congratulations and under that note on the white board there were a few ties.
   ”That is the kind of guy he is, thinking of other individuals. I’m actually wearing one of the ties he left me. There was a watch there as well and I’m hoping he meant to leave it and didn’t just forget it.”
   Prier, who has spent the last nine years as an assistant coach at St. Lawrence University, takes over for Gadowsky, who departed two weeks ago to become the head coach at Penn State University. The former player at St. Lawrence spent one year as an assistant coach at Princeton before returning to his alma mater to coach under Joe Marsh.
   ”What really stood out through the interview process was his passion and enthusiasm for the job,” Princeton Director of Athletics Gary Walters said of Prier. “Princeton doesn’t expect Bob to be another Guy, pun intended, because he is comfortable in his own skin and will put his own stamp on this program.”
   Prier played at St. Lawrence, where he was captain of the 1999 team that reached the NCAA tournament. He spent a year as a volunteer assistant at the University of Denver before coaching for a year at Princeton under Len Quesnelle. It was while at Princeton that he met his wife, Lorenda, a former goalie coach for the PU women’s program.
   ”This is an incredible opportunity,” Prier said. “I want to thank Gary and the committee for having the confidence in me to select me to run their hockey program. It’s an incredible event that has happened in my life.
   ”It’s come full circle. Princeton was my first college coaching job outside of working at Denver as a volunteer. The experience was incredible. I had such a tremendous amount of respect for the student-athletes I was able to work with that year. Their time management skills were incredible. They were inspiring and I am grateful for the opportunity Lenny gave me and Gary gave me nine years ago.”
   Now he is back at Princeton, where he takes over a program that Gadowsky has left as one of the best in the ECAC. The Tigers finished 17-13-2 this past season and hosted a first-round playoff series against St. Lawrence.
   ”They are a great looking group of guys,” Prier said of his first meeting with the team. “I look forward to forming a relationship with them in the next week or two. I very much look forward to working with all of them.
   ”I have an incredible respect for what they can do and what they have done. They have been an incredible team over the last several years. I felt like this past season they were the toughest draw we could get in the tournament and I felt like we were fortunate to get by them in the third game.”
   Like Gadowsky, Prier figures to have a team that will play an attacking style of hockey.
   ”I want the guys to have fun,” said Prier, who was the leading scorer for St. Lawrence as a senior with 20 goals and 26 assists for 46 points. “That’s my main objective. I enjoy watching my players do spectacular things. So that is the type of game we are going to play. It’s not going to be much different than what the fans have seen over the last several years, but there will be differences.”