Men's hockey splits yet another ECAC weekend

As has been the case much of this season, this weekend's play for the men's hockey team was a tale of two teams. Friday night the Tigers (7-13 overall, 6-8 ECAC) came out rested and fired up after a 19-day layoff and lit up St. Lawrence for five goals, winning 5-2, but scored only one in the team's 3-1 loss the next night to Clarkson. Whether the Saturday night let down was the result of playing a superior Clarkson team, of the toll of playing consecutive games, or just plain nerves can't be said, though the team's inability to sweep weekends has sealed its fate in the middle of the ECAC pack.

Princeton came out of the gate strong Friday night and didn't look back, pouncing on St. Lawrence (8-16, 6-8) for five goals in what tied the team's highest scoring effort of the season. The Tigers lit up Vermont Nov. 17 for five goals, and gained the one-goal victory largely on the efforts of freshman forward Neil Stevenson-Moore, who tallied two and added an assist in that game.

Friday's hero was Stevenson-Moore's linemate, senior forward David Del Monte, whose two goals gave him a team-leading eight on the season and paved the way for victory. The senior's first goal came just a minute into the game, a shorthanded goal giving the Tigers a quick 1-0 lead. Del Monte's shorthanded tally was the team's first shorthanded goal of the season. Senior captain David Schneider, back in the lineup after getting injured Dec. 8, assisted on the goal, hitting the streaking Del Monte with a pass from the Tiger's blue line. The forward skated in alone on Saint goalie Kevin Ackley and beat the freshman.

Del Monte picked up his second of the game at the end of the first period, putting a backhander past Ackley. The goal gave Princeton a 3-1 lead—junior defenseman Neil McCann had scored four minutes earlier, his first goal of the season — and drove Ackley from the game. Del Monte missed a breakaway to begin the third period, a goal which would have given him the Tigers' first hat trick of the season. Up 4-2, however, Princeton controlled the period—junior forward George Parros' goal with under three minutes to go sealed the 5-2 victory.

"It's the type of the game I liked to see. We skated," head coach Len Quesnelle '88 said. "Dave [Del Monte] had a real good game. He was focused. You could see it in his eyes — he played like a senior."

Princeton looked good in Friday night's game, even after a nearly 3-week hiatus due to exams. The team last played Jan. 12 against Brown, suffering a 3-1 loss. A night earlier they beat Harvard, 2-1, in one of the memorable games of the season. Harvard currently stands at second in the league with 18 points.

"The break almost fragments our season," Quesenelle said. "But it also gives us a chance to refocus."

Saturday night, refocused, Princeton tried to do something it hadn't done since the second week of February of 2000—win both games in a weekend against in-conference opponents. In that weekend, Princeton beat Union and RPI. The Tigers have been able to split four weekends this season, but has swept none. The trend held true this weekend as well, as Princeton's 3-1 loss to Clarkson gave them another split. Princeton is now 5-4 in the first of back-to-back games, but a dismal 1-8 in the second game.

The Tigers got on the board first in this game. After a scoreless first period, Parros scored on a rebound midway into the second period. However, a pair of untimely Princeton penalties put the Tigers into a hole from which they couldn't recover. Twice in the game Princeton found itself having to fight 4-on-3 penalties — and both times Princeton failed. The two Clarkson goals, one a power-play goal and one which crossed the line just as the Clarkson advantage ended, combined with a late third-period goal, spoiled the Tigers' hopes to sweep.

"We showed up to play two nights in a row, we just didn't get the result that we wanted tonight," Quesnelle said. "Two points are extremely valuable in this league right now."