Reading period is kind of an awkward, in-between time at Princeton. While the theory is sound — a time after winter break to prepare for Dean's Date and exams — the practice usually involves a lot of wasted time. For each hour spent making headway on papers, another two are lost to study breaks.
So maybe it shouldn't come as a surprise that the men's hockey team, after gaining some ground in their conference, gave that ground right back the following night.
After knocking off Eastern College Athletic Conference leader Harvard (9-6-3 overall, 8-3-2 ECAC) in Cambridge, Mass., on Friday night, 2-1, the Tigers (6-13-0, 5-7) fell to Brown (5-8-2, 4-6-2) in Providence, R.I., Saturday, 3-1, before returning home.
The weekend got off to a rocky start for Princeton, as Harvard came out firing. The Crimson outshot the Tigers, 8-1, in the first five minutes of the first period and 38-18 for the game.
With Harvard holding such an advantage in their offensive zone, the clear star of the game for Princeton was senior goaltender David Stathos. In the first period alone, Stathos recorded 16 saves, just three shy of his season high; Stathos finished the night with 37 total saves.
Even with all the Crimson scoring chances in the opening minutes, the game remained scoreless until Princeton's freshman forward James Fitzpatrick took control of a deflected shot by classmate and fellow forward Neil Stevenson-Moore. Fitzpatrick pushed the puck past Harvard goalie Dov Grumet-Morris at 17 minutes, 20 seconds in the second to give Princeton the lead.
The Tigers would push their lead to two goals at 10:27 in the third period. Senior forward Brad Parsons scored on a rebound from a shot by senior forward David Del Monte. Del Monte currently shares the team lead in points (13) with junior forward George Parros.
Harvard scored just once, on a power play, at 12:41 in the third. Tim Petitt fired the only shot to pass Stathos on the night from the right circle.
"I was glad we were able to pick up a win," head coach Len Quesnelle '88 said. "[Stathos] turned in a great performance for us."
Unfortunately for Princeton, they could not keep the second game close enough to pull out a win.
As in the previous game, the Tigers were outshot by a wide margin early in the game — the Bears opened the game with a 16-shot barrage, outshooting Princeton by 10 in the first period.
Unlike in Friday's game, however, Brown was able to take advantage of the shooting mismatch, taking a 1-0 lead at 10:21 in the first.
Princeton, thanks in large part to another strong performance by Stathos, was able to keep the game close going into the final period. The Bears snuck in a second goal in the middle period to take a 2-0 lead into the third.
The Tigers mounted a small, and ultimately futile comeback, with sophomore forward Dan Hursh assisting on a wrap-around goal by class and linemate Chris Owen. 2-1 was as close as Princeton would get, however; Brown scored an empty net goal late in the period when Stathos was pulled for an extra attacker.
"[Stathos] has had some great games so far this season and we have not always come away with a win," Quesnelle said. "I was glad that we were able to do that [against Harvard]."
Princeton hockey has an extended break for exams and will resume play at Baker Rink on Feb. 1 against St. Lawrence.
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