Men's hockey, Stathos peaking in time for ECAC playoff games with Cornell

After dealing with adversity all year, the men's hockey team has finally righted the ship in time for the conference tournament. Princeton suffered through an eight-game losing streak, which lasted almost two months, capped by a loss to league doormat Brown Jan. 13 at Baker Rink.

Although the Tigers managed to break that streak, they were plagued by inconsistency, failing to pick up more than two points during a conference weekend for sometime thereafter.

Then something changed.

The team points to the resurgence of junior goalie Dave Stathos, who has been nothing short of spectacular since being burned for seven goals against Colgate Feb. 10 at home. Since that loss to the Red Raiders, Stathos has given up eight goals in six games, good for a 1.33 goals against average. The junior has made 177 saves over the same period, stopping 95.7 percent of the shots he has faced.

"Dave Stathos has made a tremendous impact over the last three weeks," senior assistant captain and forward Shane Campbell said.

Princeton (10-14-5 overall, 9-9-5 Eastern College Athletic Conference) picked up eight critical points in the ECAC standings since that game, boosting what had been a playoff-bubble team to a solid seventh seed for the league tournament. The Tigers, undefeated in their last five games, head to Ithaca, N.Y. tonight to take on fourth-seeded Cornell (13-11-5, 11-8-3) in the quarterfinals of the ECAC tourney. The teams will play a best-of-three-game series, with games scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight and tomorrow. If they split the pair, the tiebreaker will be held Sunday at 7 p.m.

"We know we're going to be the underdogs," Stathos said, "but we know how to get it done."

Princeton did get it done against the Big Red earlier this season at Baker Rink. Cornell came to New Jersey on Feb. 9 as the ECAC leader and ranked tenth nationally, but the Tigers dominated the game and won 4-1. Stathos was the difference in the contest, playing what might have been his best game of the season to outduel Cornell goaltender Matt Underhill, one of the nation's best in net.

The Big Red triumphed over Princeton in the teams' first meeting in Ithaca Dec. 2, as Underhill's backup, Ian Burt, blanked the Tigers 3-0. It was the first time in 118 ECAC games that the Tigers were shutout.

"They're physical and strong, and if we want to win, we have to match that," Campbell said. "In the second game, we forechecked better and didn't play into their trap."

Cornell makes its living on stingy defensive play and winning close games. Although the Big Red are three games over .500 in the conference, they have scored exactly as many goals as they have given up. Underhill is second in the league with a 1.80 GAA and boasts a .926 save percentage. The team's penalty killers are just as good, denying 92.2 percent of power play chances, easily the best in the ECAC. As a team, the Big Red lead the conference in scoring defense, giving up 44 goals in conference play — exactly two goals a game.

Cornell has some problems putting the puck in the cage, however — it has scored only 44 goals this season in league games, a total only better only than Brown. The Big Red do not have a player among the ECAC's top 30 scorers.

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Princeton, on the other hand, has four forwards among the conference's top 30, led by senior captain Kirk Lamb. In ECAC games, Lamb is tied for second in the league with 22 assists and his 27 points are good for eighth.

But for all the scoring, Princeton's recent run is based on Stathos, who was having a tough season until he managed to get his bearings in net.

"I was as low as I've been maybe in my hockey career," the goalie said. "I turned back the clock and took it one game at a time. Every weekend I grew stronger."