Bob Prier has been named the new head coach at Princeton and will be formally introduced at a press conference on Tuesday.
Prier had been an assistant coach and associate head coach at St. Lawrence since 2002.
“It is my pleasure to announce the appointment of Bob Prier as Princeton’s new head coach of ice hockey,” Princeton director of athletics Gary Walters said in a press release. “The combination of Bob’s stellar ECAC playing career, coaching experience, and belief in Princeton’s ethos of Education Through Athletics made Bob a compelling choice of the advisory committee. Bob is genuinely enthused about taking over the reins and he will be a great ambassador for Princeton hockey.”
“I would like to thank Gary Walters and the advisory committee for giving me this opportunity,” Prier added in the same release. “I sincerely appreciate the confidence that they have shown in me to become the next head coach at Princeton. It is an unbelievable opportunity for both my family and me and we look forward to becoming reacclimated with Princeton University and its hockey program. I also would like to thank all the coaches and players that I have worked with in the past as it is their influence that brings me here today.”
The captain of St. Lawrence’s 1999 ECAC runner-up and NCAA tournament team, Prier was the recipient of the Brian P. Doyle Memorial Trophy for leadership abilities on and off the ice. Prier led that team in scoring and was a second-team All-ECAC selection. Prier played in 133 games in his college career and collected 60 goals and 56 assists for 116 points.
A 1996 draftee of the Boston Bruins, Prier signed with the Ottawa Senators after graduation, but his career was cut short after just three games in the minor leagues because of injury.
Prier then went to work as an agent for one year before taking a volunteer assistant coaching position at Denver. Prier then moved to Princeton, where he served as an assistant coach for 2001-02 season, before going to St. Lawrence as an assistant.
Former Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky left the school last month to start the brand-new program at Penn State.
