Strong weekend bolsters m. hockey's postseason hopes

As the Olympics draw to a close, a comparison can be drawn between the men's hockey team and a certain Olympic sport. While the obvious one would be ice hockey, after watching the Eastern College Athletic Conference season from start to near finish, short track speed skating appears to be more appropriate.

The skaters all start in one big pack, usually with one skater taking an early lead. Throughout the rest of the race, the skaters continue to move in one big pack, constantly shifting positions.

It is this constant position change that characterizes Princeton's race to its final road-trip weekend. The Tigers (9-16-2 overall, 8-10-2 ECAC) tied Dartmouth Friday, 1-1, and finished the weekend with a 4-2 victory over Vermont.

With 11 teams vying for the ten-team playoffs, the three points Princeton picked up this weekend helped it move up in the pack as it nears the final week of the season.

In the team's first game of the weekend, the hero was senior goaltender Dave Stathos. While he has been the anchor of the Tiger defense all season, Stathos' performance this weekend emphasized that role. He had a total of 44 saves against the Big Green in a career-high game.

"I was very calm before, during and after the game," Stathos said. "The defense was great at blocking shots late in the game, and we got our offensive chances. It was an emotional win for us."

Dartmouth (12-10-5, 9-6-5) pelted Stathos with the puck, taking 45 total shots in three periods and one in overtime. But Stathos was nothing short of a brick wall, allowing only one shot to get past him early in the second period.

It was junior George Parros who ended the Big Green's hopes of shutting out Princeton, as he tied the game early in the third period. Dartmouth netminder Nick Boucher lost the puck behind a screen, and Parros put the puck in the net.

"Our team continues to play more consistent and smarter hockey," senior forward David Del Monte said. "Against Dartmouth, we really shut them down in the neutral zone as the game got going. That was effective against their speedy forwards."

Good passing was the name of the game on Saturday. With the Tigers' momentum dying early in the first period against Vermont (3-24-2, 3-16-1), the Catamounts struck first. Stathos blocked two initial shots, but Brady Leiserling picked up the rebound and put the puck in the net.

Vermont continued to keep pressure on Stathos, but his other teammates came through, forcing the Catamounts to take the defensive. Schneider took a rebound off a shot on goal by sophomore forward Scott Prime and beat Vermont goalie Tim Peters late in the first period.

Parros gave the Tigers the lead off a cross-ice pass from Del Monte at the end of the first. That lead was furthered in the second when senior forward Josh Roberts took a pass from Schneider in the Princeton defensive zone and beat Peters from the right wing for the Tigers' second shorthanded goal of the season. After another great pass from Del Monte to Parros, freshman forward Neil Stevenson-Moore took a pass from Parros to punch in Princeton's final goal. While the Catamounts threatened to come back, scoring another goal, the Tiger defense proved too much — earning Princeton two points in the playoff race.

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"The three points this weekend were huge," Del Monte said. "The playoff race is always close in this league and this year is no exception. It is nice to get some momentum going into this final weekend."

With the victory and the tie on the weekend, the Tigers moved into eighth place, bumping Union and St. Lawrence down to ninth and tenth, respectively. By defeating Vermont, Princeton has officially knocked them out of the playoff race, with Vermont only accruing seven points on the season. The last team to get bumped, however, is still in the air, with only two points differentiating Princeton from Yale, which is tied for tenth place.

Much like a speed skating race, the qualifiers for the playoff race will not be decided until the last leg of the race—the final weekend of the season.