M. hockey beats Vermont, loses to Dartmouth

Men's hockey contributed to two opponents' streaks and broke one of its own this weekend at Baker Rink.

Princeton (2-6-0 overall, 2-4-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) rode a pair of first-period goals to a 2-1 win on Friday against Vermont (0-9-2, 0-5-0), during which the Tigers both prolonged the Catamount's ignominious position as one of only three winless teams in the country and snapped a personal 11-game winless run on home ice. Princeton's 6-3 loss to Dartmouth (4-0-3, 3-0-3) on Saturday, however, sustained the Big Green as the only undefeated team in the country.

At the outset of the first game of the weekend's home series, a lethargic Tiger squad played like it had forgotten which team was without a victory. Vermont bombarded sophomore goalie Eric Leroux with a fusillade of shots.

"In the first two periods, Eric was outstanding," head coach Len Quesnelle '88 said. "He really kept us in the game when Vermont was really pounding on us. He was there to keep us together."

Leroux's stalwart stance in goal bought Princeton time to reverse the tide of play, and in fact it was the Tigers who claimed the early lead. With just over four minutes spent in the first frame, junior forward Neil Stevenson-Moore exploited a sloppy Catamount line change and intercepted their clearing-pass attempt at the blue line. He skated in on goal and just missed a wraparound shot. Freshman forward Colin Koch slipped in front of the crease and was in position to redirect the caroming puck inside the far post before Vermont goalie Travis Russell could react.

Later that period, it was again the ability of Princeton players to shake the defense and establish themselves directly in the slot that set up scoring chances. While working the puck on the power play, junior forward Mike Patton rocketed a shot from the right face-off circle that Russell was barely able to deflect. Senior defenseman Steve Slaton controlled the rebound and knocked in what would be the game-winner at 18:28.

The first period was the last one in which the Catamounts would hold an edge in shots on goal, as the Tigers quickly established a rhythm and dictated play. Even a Vermont score with eight seconds remaining in the second period failed to curb Princeton's energy and intensity. The team's puck-handling was distinctively superior in the third period, and the effective Tiger forechecking and backchecking prevented the Catamounts from mounting a challenge.

"The team goal was to win the game," Leroux said. "But I think we played better than most people would have expected."

On Saturday, however, Princeton could not replicate Friday's performance. Dartmouth's four-goal offensive onslaught in the second period doomed the Tigers and proved that it is easy being green.

"I thought we played pretty well in the first and third periods," Quesnelle said. "But unfortunately, if you're going to get results at this level, you have to play the whole 60-minute game."

Although Princeton started vigorously, it was the Big Green who first found the back of the net. The Tigers, however, evened the game at 15:41 with a power-play goal scored by freshman forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller and assisted by sophomore forward Patrick Neundorfer and freshman defender Max Cousins.

Neundorfer recorded his second point on the night roughly two minutes later when he scored on a backhanded shot off an interception of a Dartmouth clearing pass.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The second period brought 20 minutes of turnabout that the Tigers would like to forget. The Big Green peppered Leroux with 22 shots, while Yacey had an easy time facing only two off-balance shots. Most of the Dartmouth goals were direct results of the inability of the Princeton defense to stop the Big Green from pitching tents in the Tiger slot.

"Dartmouth is a team that goes hard to the net, and good things happen when you go hard to the net," Quesnelle said. "They got very good body position on us. We just weren't able to block out and defend that."

Slaton added a goal at 4:05 in the third, but Princeton could not cut into that two-goal margin. Leroux finished the game with 38 saves, but they were not enough to garner the win.