Cornell squeaks by improved m. hockey team

On paper, No. 2 Cornell should have dominated Princeton in Friday's men's hockey contest. As ESPN anchorman Kenny Mayne likes to say, however, "games aren't played on paper, they're played in television sets," or in this case, Baker Rink.

Friday the Tigers (3-24-2 overall, 2-18-2 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference) fell 2-1 to the second best team and arguably looked like the better side for most of the game. The Big Red (23-4-1, 18-2-1) expected a cakewalk, but what they got was a dog fight from start to finish.

Despite outworking Cornell for a majority of the first period and creating numerous scoring chances, Princeton surrendered a power play goal at 19 minutes, 32 seconds. The Tigers had managed to kill off the Big Red's first power play chance, but could not prevent Cornell's Doug Murray from cashing in on a slap shot from the point.

Early into the second frame, the Big Red pulled ahead, 2-0, with a goal from Daniel Pegoraro at 2:36. The score remained there until Princeton finally broke down Cornell's defense at the 17:27 mark.

The Tigers cut the deficit to 2-1 when sophomore forward Neil Stevenson-Moore intercepted a clearing pass that then rebounded to freshman defenseman Seamus Young. Young fired a shot towards Big Red goalie David LeNeveu, ringing the puck off the far post. Stevenson-Moore was in the right place at the right time as he collected the ricocheted puck and fired his shot past LeNeveu.

In the third period Princeton pressed for the tying goal, but was unable to come up with the equalizer, and both teams remained scoreless in the period.

Although the Tigers could not pull off a major upset versus Cornell, the squad was galvanized by its superb play against such a strong opponent.

"We held the No. 2 team in the country to 18 shots on goal on Friday, which was great because we had been struggling defensively," senior forward Scott Prime said. "A few bounces our way, and we could have easily won that game."

Standing tall

The momentum gained from Friday's strong showing against the Big Red carried over into Princeton's second weekend game versus Colgate.

In Saturday's game the Tigers tied the Raiders, 2-2, after falling behind early in the contest.

Colgate came out strong against Princeton and had a 2-0 lead to show for its efforts heading into the third period.

Freshman forward Sebastian Borza lit the lamp, putting Princeton back within striking distance. The Tigers were down 2-1 with 14:29 left to play in the game.

Feeding off the energy of a crowd witnessing the final game of Princeton's regular season campaign, the Tigers found themselves in an all-too familiar situation. This time, however, Princeton found the equalizer it desperately needed from an unlikely hero — freshman defenseman Brett Westgarth.

Westgarth tied the game at 14:31 with a slap shot that left Silverthorn shaking his head in disbelief. The equalizer was the first goal of Westgarth's young career, and it could not have come at a better time for the Tigers.

Perhaps the story of the night was the way senior goaltender Nate Nomeland stood tall towards the end of the game, especially when he stoned Kyle Wilson on a breakaway at the 18:00 mark.

"We got great goaltending this past weekend, especially from Nate Nomeland in the Colgate game," Prime said. "If he stays hot and we continue our strong defensive play, I think that we have a great shot at going into Providence and upsetting Brown."

The fact that Princeton did not get a win this weekend is irrelevant, for they gained something just as valuable in terms of team morale — confidence.

"We're definitely playing our best hockey of the year right now, and that gives us a lot of confidence heading into the playoffs, even though our regular season record was less than stellar," Prime said.