Struggles continue for men's hockey in tough road losses

The uniform script that has governed men's hockey recently has become a little tedious: each weekend they face difficult competition and have the opportunity to reassert themselves in league play. And, each weekend, they find themselves on the wrong end of the box score. This weekend's games against Cornell (12-7-6 overall, 10-5-3 Eastern College Athletic Conference) and Colgate (16-9-5, 11-5-2) yielded no surprising twist or happy ending for Princeton (5-19-1, 5-12-1) as they extended their winless streak to 11 games.

The road series commenced in dismal fashion as the Tigers gave up the only two goals that the Big Red would need within the first eight minutes of the game. They had no response for Cornell's balanced attack, which scored two goals in each of the three periods on their way to a 6-1 victory.

Freshman forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller's goal at 4:25 in the third frame spoiled Big Red star goalie David McKee's bid for his sixth shutout. Sophomore forward Dustin Sproat collected a pass from senior defenseman Steve Slaton at the blue line and drew the Big Red defense over to the right faceoff circle before slipping a cross-ice pass to Goeckner-Zoeller. Before McKee had a chance to cover the exposed corner of the net, Goeckner-Zoeller one-timed the pass for his team-leading 15th point of the year.

"It wasn't like it was an uneven game at all," Goeckner-Zoeller said. "They were just getting the bounces and getting goals in while we weren't. It was kind of a weight off our shoulders to put one in, but I guess it turned out to be too little too late."

That was the last offensive opening that Princeton would enjoy, as they were unable to pull themselves back from that three-goal deficit. They managed only 15 total shots on McKee, one less than Cornell had in the second period alone. Sophomore goalie Eric Leroux finished with 18 saves and four goals allowed in his two periods of play. Freshman B.J. Sklapsky came in for the third and finished with six saves and two goals allowed.

The next night brought no change in fortune for the Tigers, as they fell to No. 14 Colgate by a 4-2 margin. The key period was the second, in which Princeton squandered a one-goal lead and gave up three goals.

After an extremely well-matched and well-played first period, the Tigers captured the early lead off sophomore forward Mark Masters' goal at 19:30. He was camped out in the slot just as a Princeton power play expired and was in perfect position to redirect a shot from sophomore defender Brett Westgarth.

However, the Raiders came out strong in the second and scored twice in the first two and a half minutes. The game-winning goal came with just three seconds remaining in the period on a shot that took a lucky Colgate bounce off the end boards and landed right on the stick of a member of the Raider attack.

"They came out hard in the second, capitalized on their opportunities, and managed to get ahead," Goeckner-Zoeller said. "We were really pushing to get back, and maybe that took us away from our original game plan."

The Tigers were further deflated in the third. They managed only an infinitesimal two shots in the period, not nearly enough if they were to effectively challenge Colgate's hold on the game.

Princeton did capitalize on that second shot, however. After Raider goalie Steve Silverthorn stopped an initial power play shot by freshman defender Max Cousins, he was unable to control the rebound. Freshman forward Kevin Westgarth knocked in the follow-up shot.

"We played well for large periods of the games in each case," Goeckner-Zoeller said. "But right now we're just having trouble putting together an entire game of solid play."