Sports: February 11, 1998

Sports (overview)


Coach Toot's "scoot" brings success to hockey
Don Cahoon has transformed his players into winners and Tiger fans into believers

Don "Toot" Cahoon's distinctive, hurried gait is a familiar sight around Baker Rink. He's perpetually in motion -- scooting from one task to another like an aggressive forward hustling for a loose puck.

It's been that way since the summer of 1991, when Cahoon came to Princeton after head-coaching jobs at Lehigh and Norwich and several years as an assistant to Jack Parker at Cahoon's alma mater, Boston University (BU). He assumed the reins of a Tiger program that had generated success for individual players, but that hadn't had a winning season as a team in 31 years.

Although his early squads weren't as strong as his current team is, Cahoon still expected they -- and he -- would find ways to achieve. He'd feverishly match lines against superior teams, trying to minimize the potential for mismatches. He'd install a new system in a week -- in 1992 putting in a three-defenseman, two-forward scheme, which he used to defeat a shocked Yale squad. He even played all three goaltenders for one period each in 1993, resulting in a 3-2 upset of a BU team bound for the NCAA semifinals.

"I think his biggest strength is ...the way he adapts a style to fit the team," says former Tiger radio announcer Geoff Howell. "He recognizes a team's, and a player's, strengths and weaknesses. He's not afraid to try something new, especially at a place like Princeton where players can handle the changes."

The turning point occurred during the 1994-95 season, Cahoon's fourth at Princeton. Even with three classes of Cahoon recruits filling most of the roster, the squad began the season 2-5. But then it was unbeaten in its next 10 contests, climaxed by a 3-2 upset of top-ranked Maine. The year ended in the ECAC Final at Lake Placid, the first time the Tigers had advanced beyond the quarterfinals since tourney play commenced in 1962. His cur- rent team (104-4 overall, 4-4-3 ECAC) stands fourth in the league.

"When I first came here, we spent an enormous amount of time on skill development," says Cahoon, a former left wing who still holds the ECAC tournament record for fastest goal at the start of a period -- seven seconds. "Now we're more athletic and more skilled, from top to bottom. We do more conceptually. We work on developing strategies for different teams. We'll have two or three approaches we can use, depending on game conditions."

Success has not stemmed solely from recruiting more athletic players. Cahoon fosters in his players a sense of commitment to the tenets of his program, among them unselfish puck movement and cohesively rigid defense. An intense off-ice conditioning program that uses the rink's weight room -- for which Cahoon lobbied hard in his first two years -- keeps the team working together beyond seasonal practice time. When the team travels by bus, the players all don black sweatsuits with orange trim. Cahoon creates a different rooming list for each road trip, hoping players will form stronger connections through the shared experience.

"It's no different than a family," explains Cahoon, who has two teenage children. "I know that's an overused term, and I don't use the word with the team. But you deal with in-house problems and with factions of people, and you have to make sure those relationships mesh."

The weight room and sweatsuits, even trips to Europe in 1993 and 1997, are perks at Princeton -- most other college programs deem them essential. They are the fruits of Cahoon's efforts with alumni: involvement with the Friends of Princeton Hockey has more than doubled since his arrival. "He's a dynamic personality who is positive about everything," says Ken Scassera '61, the group's president and treasurer.

"The first time I met him was at the end of the summer before his first year," recalls Howell. "My intent was to ask him for help in seeking advertisers for the games. I went away thinking, what can I do for him?"

Last summer Princeton could have lost Cahoon. When the NHL's Boston Bruins wooed BU's Parker to be its coach, BU administrators and alumni penciled in Cahoon's name atop their list of potential replacements. Fortunately for the Tigers, Parker turned down the NHL to remain at BU.

"I know my wife [Cindy, a nurse at McCosh Health Center], I know my kids, and I know how much we like living in this area and working with the student-athletes at Princeton," says Cahoon. "I also knew from talking to Jack that he wasn't going to leave BU, so I never had to deal with the 'what-if?' "

Cahoon is now pondering the chances of a team that may possess the most talent and potential of any Tiger squad he's coached. That doesn't mean his workload is any less daunting. "I'm blessed in that I have good people around me," says Cahoon. "But if I'm reluctant to test myself, we're going to be treading water as a program. We're not going to get it done all at once, but we've got to keep plugging away."
-- Mike Jackman '92

Swimmers must retain form to win titles
Collegiate swimmers face a twofold strategic challenge: they want to win every meet, but must do it without peaking too soon, since league championships loom at the end of the season. The ideal preparation for a big meet is a stretch of intense training followed by a period in which the regimen tapers off, so athletes are at their best for competition. The question is when to start tapering.

"It's a matter of how you choose to handle the dual meets," says women's coach Susan Teeter. "You don't want to hurt your training. If you rest too much, you won't swim well at the championships."

Princeton's men and women amassed several early wins, and are now preparing for their end-of-season competitions. Time will tell if they've mastered the challenging balance.

The women (5-0 overall, 4-0 Ivy) started the month of December by taking second place at the University of Virginia Invitational, sparked by Bess Frank '99, whose 55.98 time in the 100-yard backstroke eclipsed her own school record of 56.57 set last season. Other winners were three-meter diver Erin Lutz '01 and the 200-yard medley relay team.

On January 3, the Tigers destroyed Yale at DeNunzio Pool, 179-113, taking 14 of 16 possible first-place finishes. At Cornell a week later, Princeton earned a 167-127 win behind strong performances from its underclassmen.

The Tigers faced Harvard and Brown on February 7 and 8, respectively, and are now preparing for the Ivy championships, to be held from February 26 to 28 at Harvard.

Men's Swimming & Diving

The men (3-0 overall, 3-0 EISL) began December by winning the Virginia Invitational; individual victories came from Matt Vogt '99 (50 freestyle), Clayton Jones '01 (100 and 200 freestyle), Terry Meck '00 (three-meter diving), and captain Davin Quinn '98 (200 breaststroke).

Next the Tigers beat Army; their 179-113 victory on January 6 was 19-year head coach Rob Orr's 19th in a row against the Black Knights. A few days later Princeton dominated Cornell, 186-108, in Ithaca, winning all but one event.

"We're swimming well right now," says Orr. The coach remains cautious about Princeton's prospects, however, because his lineup is fairly young.

The Tigers tested themselves against a strong Harvard squad in the H-Y-P Invitational February 6 and 7, and are now looking ahead to the EISL Championships, from March 5 to 7 at West Point.
-- Rob Garver

Intensity brings wins to basketball
7:31 on the first-half clock, and forward Julie Angell '99 holds the ball on the left flank. Glimpsing an opening toward the basket, she drives to her right and around the Bruin defending her. When another Brown defender steps in to close the gap, Angell looks to pass, just as she had in endless practice drills. Lea Ann Drohan '99, Princeton's star center, is covered; so is Maggie Langlas '00, the Tigers' explosive guard.

But guard Lynn Makalusky '98 stands unmolested just outside the three-point arc, and seconds later, she buries another of her line-drive bombs, increasing Princeton's lead to 12. In the second half, Brown gets no closer than eight, and the Tigers win, 72-54.

The victory, on January 10, was the team's second in as many days; the Tigers (7-7 overall, 2-1 Ivy) had trounced Yale, 67-45, the night before.

Several players shone in the two wins: Langlas rang up a career-high 28 points against Brown (the most since Corneille Burt '92 had 31 in 1991) and had 15 against Yale. Drohan continued to shine, getting nine blocks over the two games.

However, credit for these two wins is due in large part to Angell and Makalusky, two new starters. According to coach Liz Feeley, Angell "took her game to a higher level" in the two games, with her 26 points and strong defense. Feeley says Angell "answered the call" when she saw an opportunity.

Likewise did Makalusky, who had 20 points and five steals in the games; the coach credits her "consistency of intensity" and "incredible desire to win." Together, the two helped give the team an aggressive edge on offense and defense. That edge had been absent in Princeton's first Ivy matchup, on January 3 -- a disappointing, 55-52 loss to Penn -- when the Tigers let a 12-point lead evaporate in the second half.

The team remembered that lesson a week later, closing out the wins over Yale and Brown with potent offense and unrelenting defense (its full-court press was especially effective). "They get it now," said Feeley. "They understand that talent can take you so far, but when you bust, it can take you a lot farther."

After a 16-day break for exams, Princeton faced Rider, then began its Ivy run in earnest, traveling to Cornell and Columbia and hosting Dartmouth and Harvard. The Tigers play at Brown and Yale February 13 and 14.
-- Paul Hagar '91

Scoreboard
M. basketball

(13-1 overall,2-0 Ivy)

W at Yale, 69-58

W at Brown, 69-38

W. basketball

(7-7 overall,2-1 Ivy)

L vs. Penn, 52-55

W vs. Yale, 67-45

W vs. Brown, 72-54

M. ice hockey

(10-4-4 overall,4-4-3 ECAC)

W at Dartmouth, 6-4

L at Vermont, 3-6

W. ice hockey

(88-1 overall,6-6 ECAC,
3-3 Ivy)

L at Dartmouth, 0-4

W at Boston C., 6-2

M. swimming

(3-0 overall,3-0 EISL)

W at Cornell, 186-108

W. swimming

(5-0 overall,4-0 Ivy)

W at Cornell, 167-127

M. track

(1-0 overall,0-0 Ivy)

W vs. Navy, 87-49

W. track

Delaware Invit.­1st

Wrestling

(7-1 overall,0-0 EIWA)

North South Duals
W vs. Coast Guard, 20-16
L vs. Ursinus, 12-27
W vs. MIT, 30-18
W vs. BBC, 24-6


paw@princeton.edu