Kelsey Koelzer established herself as a solid offensive player last winter for the Princeton University women’s hockey team.
The 5’9 native of Horsham, Pa, scored 10 points in six goals and four assists in her debut campaign, highlighted by 3-point performances in wins over UConn and Brown.
But with Princeton a little thin along the blue line coming into this season, Koelzer was moved to defenseman.
“Wherever they feel I am going to help the team, that is where I am going to go,” said Koelzer, noting that she previously played defenseman through the age of 12 or 13. “If that is what it takes, I am going to go with it.”
It has taken a little extra effort for Koelzer to get used to her new spot on the ice.
“One of the main challenges for me is the one-on-one battles,” said Koelzer. “Cara (PU assistant coach Cara Morey) has really taken me under her wing and helped me work on that. The transitions and the things like that that are slightly different. They have really helped me and worked on it with me. I think now I am confident to go in there and make plays all the time.”
Last Saturday against visiting Harvard, Koelzer made big plays at both ends of the ice, assisting on a Princeton first period goal and then helping to spearhead a stifling defensive effort as the Tigers edged the No. 4 Crimson 1-0.
Coming off a 2-2 tie with Dartmouth on Friday which saw Princeton rally from an early 2-0 deficit, Koelzer and her teammates were ready to battle nemesis Harvard.
“It was physical, it was fast, we came out hard,” said Koelzer. “Last night was a very fast game so we were expecting just as fast of a game today. We battled and we stuck with them. We capitalized on our opportunities. We limited their opportunities and that was huge.”
Koelzer had a huge role in the lone goal of the contest, setting up sophomore star Molly Contini for the tally.
“Molly Contini started the play, she chipped the puck to the middle to Hilary (Lloyd),” said Koelzer.
“Hilary battled her way to the middle and took three players with her and then, lucky enough, I recognized we could have the opportunity if I stepped up. She dropped the puck and I had people in front of me so I didn’t just want to take a shot. I just dished it off to the side and luckily Molly was there and ready to shoot and she ripped it.”
Koelzer’s offensive background has helped her recognize scoring opportunities when she comes up from the blue line.
“I think that using my previous knowledge at forward helps a little bit in making the right decision to jump into the play,” explained Koelzer. “Making the right decision once you are up there is key.”
Currently tied with Contini for the team lead in points at 24, Koelzer is clearly making a lot of good decisions in the offensive zone.
“I am surprised although this is something I expect from myself all the time,” said Koelzer, who now has seven goals and 17 assists this season.
“As long as you are making the right plays and keeping strong on your defense, that’s first and foremost for me. You have to play good defense and then if you are working hard and making smart decisions, the points are going to come.”
It was good defense that made the difference in the win over Harvard. “It was huge, ultimately we have to give it to Kimberly,” said Koelzer, referring to junior goalie Kimberly Newell, who made 32 saves in earning the shutout.
“There were saves that I could never imagine making that she made that were extremely timely and kept us in it emotionally, morally, and physically. We were battling in the corners. We were trying to make our pins. We were trying to move the puck up as soon as possible. It was just our hard work to get it over the red and get it deep when we needed to. It was great.”
Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal credited his players with giving great work across the board against Harvard.
“Everybody had a good solid effort and did the little things to help us win,” said Kampersal. “The Hilary Lloyd block late in the game was humongous, that just pumps up the bench and gets us going. Those are the little things that help you win.”
The Tigers did a lot of good things defensively in stifling a Crimson team that came into the day averaging 3.7 goals a game. “The defense was great, they kept Harvard to the outside for the most part,” said Kampersal.
“The team defense did a great job, the defensemen did a great job, Kimberly was awesome.”
Koelzer has proven to be an awesome addition to the Tiger defensive corps.
“She moved back to defense this year and she has been an absolute stud from day one,” asserted Kampersal. “She pretty much averages a point a game.”
As Princeton heads into the homestretch of regular season play, Kampersal wants his players to keep showing the fire they brought to Saturday’s game.
“Our last six regular season games will all be tough and I just hope our approach is the same,” said Kampersal, whose team hosts Colgate (7-19-1 overall, 4-10-1 ECACH) on February 6 and Cornell (12-7-3 overall, 10-3-2 ECACH) on February 7.
“I know they are going to get up for Harvard but they better get up for the other teams. It is weird, we had a 3-2 loss to Clarkson, 2-1 to Minnesota, close losses to Boston College, and Quinnipiac. They played solid of most of it and we let down for 10 minutes. There was no letdown today, they played great.”
Koelzer, for her part, believes the Tigers can build on their great effort against Harvard.
“This was absolutely huge, the last five games for us have been pretty big,” said Koelzer, noting that Princeton swept Yale and Brown before going on exam break in early January and then returned with a big effort in a 4-2 loss to top-ranked Boston College on January 26.
“For us to come in here and play two really good teams this weekend, especially Ivy League teams, and battle and get as many points as we could, that was huge.”