Men's hockey claims comeback victory over Colgate, endures Big Red shutout

The men's hockey team has earned eight points in the first four weeks of its Eastern College Athletic Conference schedule.

In each of those four weeks, the Tigers (4-3-3 overall, 3-3-2 ECAC) have earned two of four possible points.

In one way this shows consistency on the part of a young Princeton team. In another, it shows that everything has yet to come together.

"Except for our ties against St. Lawrence at Clarkson [Nov. 11-12], we haven't put together two strong games in a row all season," senior forward and captain Kirk Lamb said. "To pick up four points, you have to put together six strong periods."

The Tigers picked up those two points on the road this weekend, beating Colgate, 7-4, Friday before being shutout, 3-0, by Cornell Saturday.

Princeton started out slowly against the Red Raiders (3-9-2, 2-4-0) on Friday. After Colgate's Bob Vandersluis and Rob Brown scored goals in a two-minute span in the second period to give the Red Raiders a 4-2 lead, the Tigers could have folded. They did not, however, as senior forward Ethan Doyle responded less than a minute later by poking home a shot from close range to get Princeton within one.

Comeback kids

The Tiger onslaught continued as senior forward Shane Campbell took a pass from junior forward Brad Parsons at the top of the crease and stuffed in his own rebound for his second goal of the game. Princeton was then able to take its first lead of the game with 5:06 remaining in the second as senior forward Chris Corrinet and freshman defenseman Steve Slayton made a couple of nice passes on the power play to free Parsons in front of the net for his sixth goal of the year.

"It's a good sign for a young team to be able to come back from a two-goal deficit," Lamb said. "There's a reason that we fell behind two goals though, and we can't let that happen."

Corrinet then scored his seventh and eighth goals of the year in the third period to give the Tigers a three-goal margin.

Sophomore goaltender Nate Nomeland upped his record to a perfect 2-0-1 on the season with 26 saves, including a perfect 10-for-10 in the third period.

While Princeton was able to overcome a sub-par performance against Colgate, it would not be so lucky against a tough, defensive-minded Cornell squad.

Shutout

The Big Red (5-3-2, 4-1-1) controlled the action from the drop of the puck, outplaying the Tigers in every way. Princeton was able to stay even in the early parts of the game, however, on the strength of junior Dave Stathos in net.

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"Cornell is one of the toughest home teams in the league," Lamb said. "We had no excuse for not playing a better game though."

Stathos was able to keep Cornell scoreless for the first 34:56 of the game, making 11 saves in the first period and 10 in the second. Eventually, the Big Red were able to break through as Ryan Vesce took the rebound off the boards and fired a shot past Stathos to give Cornell a 1-0 lead.

That was all that Big Red goalie Ian Burt would need as he stopped 20 shots to shutout the Tigers. It was the first time Princeton had been held without a score in ECAC competition in the last 119 games.

"Our offense was just not very good at all Saturday," Lamb said. "With a game like this, you just have to look back and learn from your mistakes."

Since the Tigers have played more games than most other ECAC teams, their eight points leave them in third place in the league. In terms of winning percentage, however, Princeton sits in sixth.

The Tigers return to Baker Rink next weekend with games Friday against Union and Saturday with Rensselaer.

"Playing at home in front of the fans gives you a little extra emotion," Lamb said. "But in this league, every game is tough.""Playing at home in front of the fans gives you a little extra emotion," Lamb said. "But in this league every game is tough."