Coming off an upset, men's hockey looks for more success

After knocking off the Eastern College Athletic Conference leader last Friday, the men's hockey team has a chance to repeat the feat tonight at Baker Rink.

The Tigers beat St. Lawrence, 6-4, last week, and face the new conference leader, Cornell (11-6-4 overall, 9-3-2 ECAC) at 7 p.m. tonight. Princeton takes on conference rival Colgate (6-16-4, 4-9-1) in the same venue tomorrow, also at 7 p.m.

The Big Red beat the Tigers 3-0 Dec. 2 — the first time Princeton (6-12-3, 5-7-2) was shut out in 118 ECAC games. After two periods, solid play by junior goalie Dave Stathos had kept the Tigers within one score, but Cornell pulled away late.

The Big Red boast one of the nation's best defenses and held Princeton to just 20 shots on goal in the teams' first meeting. Cornell's Ian Burt — the team's second-string goalie — earned the shutout. Burt's numbers are impressive — a 2.24 goals against average and a save percentage of .903.

However, his teammate, Matt Underhill, has even better stats. The goalie has a miniscule 1.93 GAA and a .923 save percentage, helping him to a record of 8-2-2.

Cornell has played well recently, winning four of its last five games, with its last two being a pair of 2-1 victories over Harvard and Brown. Another key element of the Big Red's success is the play of its special teams. Cornell converts on 22.8 percent of its power play chances, while holding opponents to just 10.8 percent.

"Cornell's big and strong," head coach Len Quesnelle '88 said. "They play a lot like Clarkson."

Clarkson beat Princeton 6-1 in the Tigers' most recent game, which was last Saturday. The Golden Knights' physical style of play gave Princeton some problems, and the Big Red will try to do the same on the Tigers' home ice.

On the offensive end, Cornell lacks a dominant goal scorer. Leading the team in goals with six are Stephen Baby and Mark McRae. Baby also leads the Big Red in overall scoring with 22 points, followed by freshman Ryan Vescer, who has 20.

A lack of experience may be the reason that Cornell has struggled with scoring. The team's top five scorers are four sophomores and Vescer.

Cornell is playing well at the moment, but St. Lawrence led the ECAC when Princeton pulled off an upset, so the Tigers are confident in their abilities.

"We can play with anyone in this league," Quesnelle said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The other conference opponent Princeton takes on this weekend is Colgate— a team the Tigers beat 7-4 on the road Dec. 1. Senior forwards Chris Corrinet and Shane Campbell both had two goals, as the Tigers rallied from a 4-2 deficit midway through the second period.

The Tigers started slowly against the Red Raiders, just as they have in a number of games this year. Princeton will try to avoid digging itself a hole against both teams this weekend.

Colgate's scoring comes largely from the stick of Sean Nolan. Nolan has 18 goals — twice as many as anyone else on the team — and 9 assists. Cory Murphy has 20 assists and a total of 25 points, good for second on the team.

Colgate beat Brown, 4-1, Feb. 3 in its last game to snap out of a four-game losing streak. The Red Raiders head into Baker Rink fighting for their playoff lives.

Hoping to strike a blow to Colgate's postseason hopes are a group of Tigers who have played well in recent games. Campbell scored four points — two goals and two assists — against the Saints, and junior defenseman David Schneider has at least one point in each of his last four games (three goals, two assists.)

Two forwards — senior Ethan Doyle and junior Josh Roberts — each scored three points against St. Lawrence. Roberts also had three assists at Colgate earlier this season.

If the Tigers are to knock off the ECAC leader for the second week in a row, they must find a way to get these scorers involved against Cornell and its stout defense.