Men's hockey splits with Union, RPI

It came down to one bad period. That 20-minute lapse is all it took to prevent the Princeton men's hockey team from netting its first weekend sweep of the year.

A four-goal third period gave Union (6-5 overall, 5-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) a 6-4 win Friday night before the Tigers (3-4-1, 3-3) rebounded for a 3-2 win over Rensselaer (6-6-1, 2-4) on Saturday.

Everything was going well for the Tigers against the Dutchmen on Friday. They entered the final period up 3-2, not having been down yet that night.

Penalties hurt Princeton's momentum, however, and Union (6-5; 5-0) capitalized on a two-man advantage to tie the score just 23 seconds into the third when Scott Seney punched home his third score of the night.

"Once they scored they had some momentum going," junior forward Patrick Neundorfer said. "It's always tough to start a third period five-on-three."

Union exploded for three more goals in the period. Josh Coyle put Union on top for the first time of the night with 15 minutes, 34 seconds remaining. Olivier Bouchard then pushed the lead to 5-3 with 5:41 remaining.

A power play score by Princeton junior forward Dustin Sproat with just over four minutes remaining trimmed the Union lead to one, but it was too little, too late.

Bouchard sealed the win with an empty net goal in the final minute.

Princeton jumped to an early lead 11:38 into the game when Luc Paquin scored his third goal of the season.

Seney netted his first goal of the night with 4:56 remaining, knotting the score at one. Seney would go on to light up the Tigers for three goals and four points on the night.

The score went back and forth after that. Princeton's Sebastian Borza scored in the second to restore the one-goal lead, but it took only 25 seconds for Union's Seney to respond and level the contest again at two. Senior Neil Stevenson-Moore put the Tigers up again with 4:45 remaining in the period on his first goal of the year.

"After Friday night's loss we were feeling good about ourselves," Neundorfer said. "We made a few mistakes, but they're mistakes we can easily fix."

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On Saturday night, the Tigers proved they could indeed fix those errors, topping Rensselaer 3-2. This time, there were no game-breaking mistakes in the third.

After the loss to Union, the Tigers jumped off to a 2-0 lead on goals from Sproat and sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller. The Tigers outshot RPI 13-3 in the opening period.

Rensselaer cut the lead to one in the second on a goal from Keith McWilliams 4:09 in. They added their second of the night early in the third, just before Neundorfer put the Tigers ahead for good on the power play goal.

Strong play from both sides led to a 2-1 Princeton advantage at the end of the second. Just over three minutes into the third, McWilliams knotted the game for Rensselaer.

With 14:38 remaining in the third, the Tigers took advantage of a power play when Neundorfer put the Tigers back in the lead.

Placed in a nearly identical situation as they had been in the night before — up 3-2 early in the third — the Tigers this time responded. The skating was crisp and the defensive pressure was intense.

Sophomore goalie B.J. Sklapsky's recorded 18 saves on his way to his first career win.

Altogether, the Tigers felt satisfied after the weekend's games.

"We're optimistic. All three of our losses were against good teams," Neundorfer said.