M. hockey drops a pair in never-ending season

As of late, the men's hockey team has had little problem scoring goals against its opponents. Ordinarily, scoring would translate into victories for a hockey team. Yet for the ailing Tigers (3-23-1, 2-17-1), a string of de-fensive lapses in recent weeks has buried them in the cellar of the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

The Tigers were on the receiving end of two rather lopsided losses this weekend, the worst being a 9-4 defeat in a rematch with St. Lawrence (9-18-4 overall, 6-11-2 ECAC) Friday night.

On most nights, four goals would be more than enough to secure a victory but this certainly was not the case when Princeton traveled to Appleton Arena to face the Saints. St. Lawrence quickly raced out to a 2-0 lead after 13 minutes and 47 seconds of play.

Just when it looked like the floodgates were getting ready to open, Princeton managed to get on the scoreboard with an unassisted goal by sophomore forward Mike Patton. Patton's goal came at 14:04, a mere 17 seconds after St. Lawrence's second goal.

Patton stripped a Saints' defenseman of the puck at the top of the zone and took off on a breakaway, eventually beating St. Lawrence goalie Kevin Ackley like a rented mule for the goal.

However, the Saints were unfazed by conceding a breakaway goal so easily and scored again at 15:34 to go up 3-1.

Four minutes into the second period, St. Lawrence increased its lead to 4-1 when an unmarked Jim Lorentz hammered one past sophomore goalie Trevor Clay.

At 6:11 of the same period the Tigers showed their resolve by closing the deficit to 4-2 with a goal by junior forward Dan Hursh. Hursh found the back of the net with a wrist shot from the wing that was too precise for Ackley to stop.

The Saints answered Princeton's charge by scoring a power-play goal at 9:39, taking a 5-2 lead over the Tigers.

St. Lawrence looked as though it was ready to pull away from Princeton until Patton struck again at 11:05. Patton's second goal brought the Tigers within two scores of the Saints, but St. Lawrence added another power-play goal before the end of the second period to go ahead 6-3. Princeton got a goal from freshman forward Sebastian Borza 8:36 into the third, but only after they had surrendered a shorthanded goal less than a minute earlier. Borza redirected a shot by Hursh past Ackley to make the score 7-4.

The Saints matched Borza's goal 18 seconds later and tallied once more on their way to a 9-4 victory.

Not to-Knight

Saturday versus the Golden Knights of Clarkson (12-8-1, 9-10-1), the Tigers' defense continued to resemble a ship taking on water as Princeton was downed 5-2.

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After a scoreless first period, Clarkson broke the game open with three unanswered goals 15 minutes into the second frame.

Princeton was able to patch a couple of its leaks with a pair of goals by its recent scoring ace, junior forward Chris Owen. An unmarked Owen rotated towards the far post at 16:38 where he received a pass from sophomore defenseman Jesse Masear that set him up for a one-timer past the Golden Knights Mike Walsh.

Walsh was tested again 23 seconds later when senior forward George Parros fed Owen for his team-high 16th goal of the year, cutting the deficit to 3-2. What had looked like a rout in progress suddenly became a game again in the blink of an eye courtesy of some heroics by Owen and his line mates.

In the third period, however, the Tigers' defense failed to keep Clarkson's offense in check, surrendering goals at 2:50 and 16:47.

It was fitting that the Golden Knights fifth and final goal came on a breakaway, a lapse which is perhaps the ultimate sign of a team's defensive woes. What was even more telling was that Clarkson out shot Princeton, 31-5, in the final two periods of play.

As Princeton's defensive struggles continue to mount, there appears to be no end in sight to the Tigers current seven game winless streak, unless some sort of balance between offense and defense is reached.