Rarely is a hockey team's fate sealed before it steps out onto the ice. It might have looked that way to some Saturday as the men's hockey team took on Rensselaer at Baker Rink.
RPI came into Saturday's game ready to play.
Princeton did not.
"You've got to be ready to play," senior captain Kirk Lamb said. "Twenty guys, three periods, 60 minutes."
The Engineers continued their hot play that began in the third period of their Friday night matchup with Yale — a stretch where Rensselaer came back with four goals in the third period to beat the Elis, 5-4. The Engineers' streak continued the next day as they came out fast and lit the lamp four times against the Tigers in the first period to jump out to a 4-1 lead, en route to a 6-2 win over Princeton.
Split personality
The loss gave the Tigers a split on the weekend, as they knocked off No. 11 Union, 3-2, on Friday in a hard-fought game. It was the fifth-straight week Princeton (5-4-3, 4-4-2) has earned two points out of a possible four.
Princeton started the scoring just 31 seconds into the game when sophomore forward George Parros beat RPI goalie Nathan Marsters with a shot that came from Marsters' right and ended in the opposite corner of the goal. But the initial score may have given the Tigers a false sense of security.
RPI struck back quickly with four unanswered goals in the remainder of the first period. Junior goalie Dave Stathos eventually got the hook, and his replacement — sophomore Nate Nomeland — seemed to play slightly better.
Princeton got its offense going in the second period when Lamb blasted a shot by Marsters, with assists going to senior center Shane Campbell and freshman defenseman Steve Slaton. The Tigers also created better opportunities for scores, but for whatever reason were unable to capitalize — repeatedly hitting posts, being stopped by quality saves or missing the net by inches.
"I thought we played better in the second and third periods," head coach Len Quesnelle '88 said. "But we have to play 60 minutes of hockey as this level. This is unacceptable."
The game, already very physical, ended with a brawl with just 5:25 left to play in front of the RPI goal which saw five Tigers and four Engineers receive penalty minutes. Princeton totaled 62 minutes and RPI 48 as the frustrated Tigers turned to pushing and punching. RPI was only too happy to oblige with retaliatory roughhousing.
Quick hit
Friday, Princeton jumped out to a fast start against Union as senior forward Chris Corrinet took a pass from Campbell for a breakaway only 43 seconds into the game. Corrinet raced up the right side with the puck before snapping a wrist shot over the shoulder of Dutchman goalie Brandon Snee.
Princeton extended that lead five minutes later when Lamb slid a perfect pass in front of the net to junior forward Brad Parsons who was streaking toward the net. As Parsons knocked the shot past Snee, the Tigers had jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before the crowd had even settled into its seats.
"This is our barn, and we wanted to make a statement playing at home," Quesnelle said. "We needed to skate and we needed to bump them and I think we did that in the first period."
Union struck back with two goals to tie the game at two 5:39 into the second period. Both goals were scored on defensive breakdowns for the Tigers, who were working without injured junior defenseman David Schneider.
Lamb was able to break the tie and put Princeton on top for good at
7:39 in the second period. The senior captain tried to snap another pass across the crease to Parsons, however, the puck never got there as it hit off a Union defenseman's skate and slid past an unsuspecting Snee.
After the Tigers scored their third goal, the pace of the game slid to a crawl as neither team was able to string together any offense and seemed content just to dump the puck down ice.
"They like to muck it up and play sort of a slow game," Corrinet said.
In fact, the third period involved very little offense for either team as Princeton and Union combined for only 13 shots on goal.
The Tigers travel to New Hampshire on Saturday to take on UNH.
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