M. hockey loses thirteenth game of season to Cahoon's UMass

With three minutes, 19 seconds left in the third period, three Massachusetts skaters came down the center of the Princeton defensive zone, taking a shot on senior goaltender Nate Nomeland. After Nomeland blocked the shot, he was knocked over by all three defenders, causing a near-fight to break out which sent two Minutemen to the penalty box and one Tiger, junior defender Steve Slaton.

This play caused a Princeton power play, which the Tigers utilized fully. The goal which they scored on that man-advantage sent last night's game into overtime, while the tussle itself epitomized the Tigers efforts — they never stopped fighting.

Yet the fight was not enough. The University of Massachusett's head coach Don Cahoon made his first trip back to Baker Rink last night since leaving the coaching job at Princeton in 2000, and his Minutemen beat a struggling Tigers squad in overtime, 4-3.

UMass took the lead in the first period, and furthered it with a Tim Turner breakaway goal with 15:50 left in the second period. Then head coach Len Quesnelle took a timeout where he fired up his team. Princeton was a different team from then out, fighting back to tie the game after freshman defender Seamus Young pushed a pass by Minuteman goalie Gabe Winer.

With the start of the third period, the Tigers continued to skate hard, but wore down as the period continued. This wear down allowed Massachusetts' Matt Anderson to split two Princeton defenders and surprise Nomeland through the five-hole to give the Minutemen the lead again. They attempted to put the game away by driving three men at Nomeland, but only resulted in the near-fight. Princeton capitalized on the power play, and sophomore center Mike Patton came from the right wing to the center and was tripped — but still managed to put the puck past Winer to send the game into overtime.

In OT, the Tigers continued to skate and hit hard, giving them several opportunities to put the game away. But not being able to clear the puck from the defensive zone caused the death of Princeton. Minuteman Thomas Pock skated around the zone, and with 2:23 left tossed one by Nomeland off a deflection.

Once again, the Tigers lost the shot battle. They only took 24 shots on goal, while UMass took 37. Nomeland came up with 33 saves, but with the Tigers being out shot, they were hard pressed to win.