The playoffs are still a week away for the men's hockey team, but a look at this weekend's games would seem to indicate that playoff intensity has already arrived.
With the extreme parity of the Eastern College Athletic Conference this season — a league in which third-place Rensselaer finished only two games ahead of eighth-place Dartmouth — the final weekend weighed heavily in the standings.
Princeton's first opponent, second-place Colgate, was fighting for the league title and its second foe, Cornell (13-12-2 overall, 10-9-1 ECAC), had home-ice playoff aspirations similar to those of the Tigers. Princeton expected both games to be tough and two well-played battles ensued.
"[Friday's game at Colgate] was good, playoff-quality hockey," head coach Don Cahoon said. "It was as good a hockey game as you can find at the college level."
The Tigers (10-14-4, 8-9-4) fought back from one-goal deficits on two occasions to tie the Red Raiders, 2-2, and tried to do the same the following evening but fell short against the Big Red, 5-3. The one-point weekend left Princeton in its final position — tied for sixth in the ECAC — one spot out of home ice.
"It seemed like we were coming back all weekend," freshman right wing George Parros, who netted two goals in the two games, said. "We were pretty resilient. In the end, we just couldn't pull out the tie [against Cornell]."
On the board
Parros initiated the scoring Friday night for the Tigers 16 minutes, nine seconds into the second period. Down 1-0 after a first-period power-play goal from Colgate's Andy McDonald, freshman center Scott Prime won a faceoff and got the puck to Parros. The right wing unleashed a quick shot that beat Red Raider goalkeeper Shep Harder and knotted the game, 1-1.
Colgate (21-7-2, 14-4-2) scored another power-play goal in the third period, but sophomore left wing Brad Parsons pulled the Tigers even with 6:45 remaining in the game. Parsons started in the corner and proceeded along the goal line through a mass of confusion, somehow dragging the puck the entire way and netting the tying goal.
Going into the weekend, Princeton knew it needed a win and a tie to earn home-ice advantage in the playoffs, and after completing a scoreless overtime period, the Tigers were well on their way to their goal.
"We had good momentum going into the Cornell game," Parros said. "It's good to tie a team like Colgate, who has been playing well all year."
That momentum took Princeton into Ithaca, N.Y., a difficult place to play.
"[Cornell's Lynah Rink] is a real tough environment," Cahoon said. "It is a packed, jammed arena, it was Senior Night, [Cornell] was fighting for home ice, they knew we were fighting for the Ivy League championship. It was a real duke-out."
Slings and arrows
Fate seemed to be against the Tigers. Though they did not trail by more than one goal until Cornell netted an open-net goal to go up, 5-3, with six seconds to play, the Tigers did not enjoy a lead the entire weekend.
Things were looking up after senior right wing Benoit Morin scored a shorthanded goal late in the second period and sophomore netminder Dave Stathos stopped a Big Red penalty shot. But Cornell closed out the period with another power-play goal for a 3-2 lead.
Junior center Shane Campbell evened the score again, 3-3, with a goal 6:15 into the final stanza, but the Big Red countered as they had all game. Cornell right wing Denis Ladouceur skated to a one-on-one in the Princeton end of the ice, moved to beat the Tiger defender, but fell to the ice as he did. He got back up to his knees and took a shot from there, beating Stathos with the game-winner.
Though Princeton only earned one point on the weekend and fell into the sixth-place tie, the Tigers showed that they are ready for the playoffs.
"Our team really grew from [the weekend]," Cahoon said. "We played with one of the better teams in the league and showed that when we bring our 'A' game, we can compete. We showed up ready to play and ready to compete. By all accounts, this is a group that has overachieved."
"We're not disappointed with our play," Parros said. "We can definitely build off the Cornell game [for the playoffs]."
Princeton now faces fifth-place Clarkson in Potsdam, N.Y., in the first round of the playoffs next weekend, a matchup of teams that were predicted to finish eleventh and first in the league, respectively, at the outset of the season.
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