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Men's hockey loses early leads, falls to eighth in ECAC

Through all the ups and downs of the men's hockey season, there has been one solid assumption: the Tigers are going to the playoffs.

That assumption is no longer sacred.

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This weekend Princeton (12-8-5 overall, 6-8-4 Eastern College Athletic Conference) had its third worst performance of the season, as the Tigers picked up just one point against St. Lawrence (6-18-2, 5-11-2) and Clarkson (16-7-3, 12-4-2) and dropped into a tie for eighth place in the ECAC.

Although the season is far from over, a less than stellar performance in the final two weekends of the season could push Princeton to the bottom of the league.

"Clearly our position in the league is a concern," head coach Don Cahoon said. "We're fighting for our lives here. We've let the regular season slip away."

It would be extremely surprising if the Tigers were to fall out of the top 10 in the ECAC.

"We're not worried about making the playoffs," sophomore right wing Benoit Morin said. "We're worried that we get a good spot. But we're pretty confident if we have to play Yale or Clarkson (the top two teams) in the playoffs."

The Tigers came into this weekend looking to reestablish themselves as one of the top five teams in the league and put themselves in position to pick up home-ice advantage for the playoffs, a hope that evaporated quickly.

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Saturday Princeton played tough against Clarkson and although it dropped the game, 5-3, the Golden Knights did not pull ahead for good until late in the third period, scoring twice in the last two-and-a-half minutes.

Playing catchup

Junior center Syl Apps started the scoring off, and Princeton held onto the lead throughout the first. The Tigers led again in the second and tied the game at three early in the third period with two goals by senior forward Robbie Sinclair.

The Tigers blanked Clarkson's power-play unit, but did not capitalize on their own opportunities, going just 1 for 6 in man-up opportunities.

"You can never be happy with a loss," Cahoon said, "but on the other hand, we played really solid as a team."

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Friday Princeton tied St. Lawrence, 4-4, in a game that the Tigers could not afford to lose.

Princeton jumped out to an early 3-1 lead after one period on two goals by junior center Jeff Halpern and one by Sinclair, but allowed St. Lawrence to slowly creep back into the game.

The Saints tied the game midway through the second period on goals by Mark McGrath and Paul DiFrancesco, but Princeton jumped ahead again on a goal by junior defenseman Steve Shirreffs. The Tigers could not hold on, however, as McGrath picked up a hat trick late in the game when sophomore defenseman Darren Yopyk lost the puck at the blue line, leading to a breakaway by DiFrancesco and a score off the rebound.

St. Lawrence's top line of McGrath, DiFrancesco and Bob Prier was dominant as the three players were involved in every goal and had nine of 11 points.

The Tigers have suffered from a string of injuries recently, but should be near full strength for next weekend. Senior right wing Casson Masters will probably return, but Cahoon cautioned that most of the Tigers' injuries remain "day-today."