After losing to Yale at home, men's hockey wins in New Haven

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — After Yale's Jeff Hamilton rocketed a shot past junior goalie Dave Stathos 45 seconds into the third period to cut the men's hockey team's lead to 2-1, it seemed like the momentum had shifted the Elis' way.

One minute later the crowd at Ingalls Rink was silenced as junior forward Brad Parsons drove to the net bouncing a shot off the pads of Yale goalie Dan Lombard. As the puck bounced in front of the net, Eli forward Spencer Rodgers skated in from the blue line and tried to clear the puck out of danger, but instead deflected it past an unsuspecting Lombard to give Princeton (3-2-3 overall, 2-2-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference) a 3-1 lead. It was Parsons' fifth — and easiest — goal of the season.

"That third goal was huge for us," Stathos said. "It felt like we were finally able to get a break in the third period."

After the Tigers notched that third goal, Stathos took over. In the final 18 minutes of the game, the junior made 12 of his 31 saves including a number of point-blank stops that kept Princeton in control. Stathos came back from giving up four goals in a 4-3 loss to Yale (5-3-0, 3-3-0) on Tuesday to dominate Saturday's game.

"Dave saw the puck really well tonight and stopped everything he had a chance on," head coach Len Quesnelle '88 said. "The defense kept the area in front of the net clear and Dave had a great game."

The Tiger defense was boosted by the return of junior defenseman David Schneider who scored Princeton's first goal of the game. Schneider had been out for the past three weeks with a broken bone in his chest.

The goal came only 2:45 into the game when Schneider drove a shot from the blue line through a screen past Lombard to give Princeton an early 1-0 lead. The junior also played a solid game on the defensive end of the ice, clearing a number of the rebounds that Stathos let up.

"It was great having Schneider back," Stathos said. "He's one of the most solid guys we have on the defensive end, and he gave us a big boost."

The second Princeton goal came on a power play drawn by freshman forward Marc Hounjet. The speedy freshman moved down the left side boards with the puck and drove past Yale's Jeff Dwyer before Dwyer pulled him down and was sent to the penalty box for two minutes for cross checking.

Taking advantage

The Tigers were able to capitalize 15 seconds later on the power play as senior forward Chris Corrinet stuffed home a shot from in front of the net. Parsons and senior forward Kirk Lamb picked up assists on the goal that turned out to be the game winner.

"It was a great team effort tonight," Quesnelle said. "It wasn't five individuals out there but one unit. If we can keep that up we're going to be in every game."

Princeton's dominating team outing overshadowed a good showing by Yale, which was led by Hamilton — a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey's player of the year, two years ago. Hamilton scored Yale's only goal on a one-timer that he blasted past Stathos before the Tiger netminder could set up.

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"He's a great player with an amazing shot," Stathos said. "You just have to get set and hope the puck hits you."

The speed of Yale created problems all night for Princeton as the Elis got a number of open opportunities that they either sent into Stathos' pads or wide of the net. Yale missed the net on 18 of its 41 shot attempts in the first two periods compared with only seven misses for the Tigers.

The win moved Princeton into a tie for third in the ECAC with six points, two behind league-leader Vermont. The Tigers are tied with the Elis and Union. The Dutchmen have played two fewer games than Princeton and Yale, however.

Princeton is back in action next weekend with a game Friday at Colgate, before traveling to Ithaca, N.Y., on Saturday to take on Cornell.