Yale pulls away from struggling men's hockey in third period

There was a brief time in men's hockey's 7-1 loss to Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Yale Tues-day night when it seemed as if Princeton had a chance. It was during the 15- minute second intermission break when Princeton had the most momentum it had all night.

The Tigers (1-8-0 overall, 1-6-0 ECAC) played a commanding second period. After finding themselves down two goals after the first period they creeped back to within one goal and hit the locker room during intermission time after nearly knotting the game in the waning moments of the period.

Yet whatever momentum Princeton had quickly disappeared once the teams hit the ice after the final Zamboni cleaning of the evening. The Elis, currently tied for first in the league with 10 points, scored goal after goal in the final period, knocking freshman starter Eric Leroux from the net and leaving the Tigers wondering what exactly happened.

The Elis (5-3-0 overall, 5-2-0 ECAC) opened the scoring in the first period with two goals against the freshman Leroux.

Yale picked up its first score when Ryan Steeves, who leads his team in goals, broke in free on Leroux and lifted a wrist shot past his catching glove. The Bulldogs then went up two goals when a wrist shot from the point was deflected past Princeton's goaltender, who was moving the other way.

Yet Princeton found its groove in the second frame, initially generating sporadic opportunities in front of the net before finally putting one past Yale's goalie Peter Cohen. The absence of senior captain George Parros, the team's offensive leader, was clear, as Princeton was outplayed physically both in front of the net and by the boards.

Princeton got on the scoreboard at 16:36 of the second period. Senior defenseman Neil McCann carried the puck across Yale's blue line and, shifting the puck to his backhand to protect it, flung a shot on goal, which fooled Cohen. The puck flew under the goalie's glove-hand arm and into the back of the net, inflating a Princeton team that had few opportunities before that.

Princeton's junior defenseman Steve Slaton nearly evened the score in the final seconds of the period when he carved his way from the corner of Princeton's offensive zone into the goal crease and fired a pointblank shot on Cohen. The goalie made a save but Princeton couldn't pounce on the ensuing rebound.

The opportunity was a solid one, and for the time the Tigers seemed to be headed in the right direction.

A costly penalty in the opening minutes of the third period for the Tigers ultimately sealed their fate, however. With Yale on the power-play, Chris Higgins scored on a play similar to the one that Princeton's McCann scored on a period earlier, lifting the wrist shot past Leroux from the right-wing circle off his forehand. The goal came at 5:11 of the third period, and would mark only the beginning of Yale's scoring for the period.

Yale scored its second of the period and fourth of the game 22 seconds later, when ECAC point-leader Evan Wax picked up a loose puck sitting nicely in the slot and slid one, barely off the ice, past Leroux. A quick fifth goal minutes later by Yale's captain Denis Nam took Leroux out of the game and put the game, with 10 minutes remaining, far out of Princeton's reach.