Men's ice hockey gives scare to No. 10 St. Cloud State but drops pair of games

In case you have been waiting for some sort of sign that the men's hockey team is headed in the right direction, look no further than the Tigers' recent effort against No. 10 St. Cloud State. Princeton lost a heartbreaker to the Huskies in overtime Friday night, 2-1, and fell 3-1 the following evening to complete a two game series in St. Cloud, Minn.

The Tigers (0-2 overall) gave St. Cloud State (5-0-1) all it could handle Friday evening, nearly ending the Huskies' unbeaten streak in the process. Sophomore goaltender Eric Leroux was a rock in net for Princeton, making 43 saves on 45 shots. The mystique of the National Hockey Center and its hostile crowd left Leroux unfazed, and his stellar performance in goal nearly enabled the Tigers to steal a victory from the home team.

Princeton fell behind early in Friday's contest when Ryan LaMere slid a wrist shot past Leroux at the three minute, 42 second mark. After conceding a goal, the Tigers buckled down and continued to press the Huskies in search of a game-tying score. Just when it seemed as if the first period would end with Princeton down a goal, sophomore forward Patrick Neundorfer tickled the twine at 15:57.

St. Cloud State's T.J. McElroy was too sloppy with a clearing pass from behind his own net, allowing Neundorfer to cut the puck off at the left side of the slot. Neundorfer then found himself one-on-one with the Huskies' goaltender Tim Boron and fired a wrist shot between Boron's legs to tie the game at one.

The score remained knotted at 1-1 throughout the second and third periods of play, largely due to the efforts of Leroux. He made 19 saves during the second frame and 14 in the final period of regulation to keep the score level.

"Leroux played great this weekend for us; he was awesome," senior co-captain Chris Owen said. "[The Huskies] outshot us by a pretty wide margin, but Eric kept us in both games."

While Leroux was continually frustrating the St. Cloud State attack on one end of the ice, his counterpart Boron was forced to come up with just two saves in the second period and six in the third. Despite the disparity in goal scoring opportunities, the game was destined for overtime as neither team was willing to give an inch.

The Tigers were poised to pull off a huge upset in their first game of the season heading into the extra frame. Unfortunately, Neundorfer was called for a hooking penalty late in regulation that proved to be the difference in the game.

Neundorfer started the overtime period in the penalty box, and the Tigers settled in to defend a crucial powerplay. Leroux made two saves in overtime and got some help from his defense, but the Huskies would not be denied the game-winner. As the final seconds of the hooking penalty ticked away, St. Cloud State's Billy Hengen was finally able to slide a puck past Leroux to send the home crowd away happy.

On Saturday, the Huskies again got off to a fast start as Hengen picked up from where he left off the previous night, beating Leroux with a wrist shot at 11:42 in the first period to put St. Cloud State on the scoreboard first. As the first frame came to a close, the Tigers were fortunate to be down by only a goal, as the Huskies had 18 shots on goal to Princeton's six.

Still, the Tigers responded with a goal early in the second period just when it appeared as though the game might get out of hand with St. Cloud's offensive pressure mounting. At 3:45, Princeton junior forward Neil Stevenson-Moore outmuscled St. Cloud State's Matt Gens to get off a partial shot on the Huskies' goaltender Jason Montgomery. Montgomery made the initial save, but the puck deflected off Matt Gens' skate and slid into the goal.

It did not take long for St. Cloud State to regroup as Matt Hendricks ripped a shot past Leroux at 8:39 for a power play goal, giving the Huskies the lead for good. Tim Conboy added the insurance goal at 12:15 of the third period, extending St. Cloud State's lead to 3-1.

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Though the Tigers came away winless this weekend, the trip up North was far from a total loss.

"I think it was a positive start to our season," Owen said. "It was good to go on the road for our first two games against a good team. We got a feel for what we are good at and what needs improvement."