M. hockey loses opener to St. Cloud State, ties Ala.-Huntsville

In its first two non-league games of the season, the men's hockey team (0-1-1) lived and died by the power play. After losing its season opener to St. Cloud State, 7-2, in a game marked by Princeton's inability to kill the power play, the team rallied the following night. The Tigers went to overtime against the University of Alabama-Huntsville (2-1-1) but could only come away with a 5-5 tie.

St. Cloud State (3-3-1 overall, 0-2-0 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) scored early and often Friday night in front of 1,038 fans at Baker Rink. The Huskies capitalized on two power plays in the first period. Andrew Gordon scored after 13 minutes, 37 seconds had elapsed and Mike Doyle added another at 17:16.

Princeton struck back in the first minute of play in the second period when sophomore forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller was blocked on a shot, retrieved his own rebound and found the back of the net, cutting the deficit to one goal.

But this was as close as the game would get. Just over a minute later, Gordon scored his second power-play goal of the night, and St. Cloud stole three more goals early in the second period to increase its lead to 6-1.

In the losing effort, sophomore forward Kevin Westgarth did manage to tack on one more goal in the second period. It came on a shot through the five-hole of Huskie goaltender Jason Montgomery, assisted by freshmen forwards Landis Stankievech and Erik Pridham, who registered their first collegiate points on goal.

St. Cloud was four-of-10 on the night on power play opportunities, and Montgomery made 16 saves in the win. The Tigers' goaltender, freshman Jeff Mansfield, allowed six goals and was replaced midway through the contest by sophomore B.J. Sklapsky, who stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced.

The following night, Princeton's offense came alive as junior forward Patrick Neundorfer tallied a hat trick in the tie against Alabama-Huntsville. The hat trick was the first in Princeton hockey history since Feb. 12, 2000.

"I was in the right place at the right time," Neundorfer said.

Neundorfer scored his first goal, a power play goal, just over two minutes into the game. The junior one-timed the puck past Charger goaltender Marc Narduzzi to open scoring in the game.

Neundorfer scored the next Princeton goal, again on the power play, at 11:26. This one was assisted by Goeckner-Zoeller and junior defender Seamus Young.

The Tigers were not able to hold the lead, however, as Alabama-Huntsville tied the game at 2-2 before the end of the first period on goals from Craig Bushey at 13:21 and Chris Martini at 18:36.

But it did not take Neundorfer long to break the tie and complete his hat trick. Early in the second period, he added his third goal of the night, assisted by junior forward Dustin Sproat.

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After the Chargers evened the score at 3-3, courtesy of captain Jared Ross' power-play goal, Princeton struck back to recapture the lead when sophomore defender Daryl Marcoux blasted a slap shot from the point, and senior defender Jesse Masear scored on a power play early in the third period, bringing the score to 5-3.

The lead would not last. The Chargers once again came back from a two-goal deficit, netting two goals in the final 7:30 of the game to force overtime.

The overtime session was dominated by Alabama-Huntsville, but thanks to a save by junior goalie Eric Leroux on a Charger breakaway — one of 38 saves he made in the game — Princeton escaped with the tie.

Princeton scored four of its five goals Saturday on the power play, despite not scoring any power play goals the night before.

"This year the refs are calling a lot more obstruction penalties," Neundorfer said, "which means more penalty kills and more power plays. Our special team's definitely going to be a big part of a winning season. We saw that we had to be tougher on our penalty kills."

Four Tigers registered at least one point against Alabama-Huntsville.