Disappointing season ends at ECACs for men's hockey

With two successive losses to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday and Saturday the postseason dreams of the men's hockey team are over almost as quickly as they started. The Tigers (5-24-2 overall, 5-15-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference) found themselves two-and-out in this best-of-three first round ECAC playoff series. The Engineers (21-13-2, 13-8-1) topped Princeton, 5-4, in game one and 3-2 in overtime in game two.

The Tigers confronted daunting odds with their tough draw, facing No. 5 Rensselaer, a team that has won at least 20 games in four of the past six years.

Saturday's contest was a microcosm of the season as the Tigers simply could not put the game away. After RPI jumped out to an early lead in the first period, both goalies were outstanding. Sophomore goalie Eric Leroux and Rensselaer's Nathan Marsters stopped everything that came their way.

The second period, however, belonged to Princeton. The team rode two power play goals to a 2-1 lead at the second intermission. The first Tiger goal was created by sophomore defender Seamus Young's brisk pass to senior forward Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer, who chipped a shot over a sprawling Marsters to tie the game.

Princeton captured the lead at 15:43 of the period on another man-advantage situation. Sophomore forward Patrick Neundorfer fired a shot from the right circle that was heading wide, but sophomore forward Dustin Sproat was there for the redirection goal.

With just over two minutes remaining in regulation the fates capriciously intervened as they have so many times this season. Engineer Scott Basiuk wristed a soft shot that bounced off a Princeton skate and trickled between Leroux's legs to tie the match.

Rensselaer controlled the overtime period, peppering Leroux with a flurry of shots. On one of his diving saves, the puck rebounded to Engineer Ben Barr, who found a hole between Leroux's right skate and the post and backhanded it home for the series win. Leroux was solid all night with 41 saves.

"For 55 minutes we dominated the game in almost every aspect," sophomore forward Sebastian Borza said, "but they got a lucky shot at the end of the third and then a lucky shot in overtime, and they're moving on and we're not."

If Princeton had played those solid 55 minutes in Friday's game, the team would not have had to confront a door-die situation the next evening. After cruising to a commanding 5-2 lead at 13:23 of the third period, Rensselaer thought it had sealed the Tigers' coffin. Princeton awakened and unleashed a frantic late charge, scoring twice in just over a minute.

At 16:32 in the final frame, freshman forward Darroll Powe started the comeback attempt with a rocket shot that went five-hole on Marsters. Just over a minute later Fouladgar-Mercer scored to bring the Tigers to within one. But Marsters, who had 22 saves on the night, stood strong, denying the Princeton comeback attempt.

"We dug ourselves into a hole by not coming to play in the first two periods," Powe said. "We were undisciplined, which made it difficult to sustain any type of offensive pressure. When we decided to play in the third period, we took control of the game."

While Rensselaer goes on to face Dartmouth in the quarterfinal round of the ECAC tournament, Princeton will pack up its skates and wait until next year, hoping to snap its 17-game winless streak.