As much as the men's hockey team has improved under new head coach Guy Gadowsky this season, the Tigers still have a long way to go before they can count themselves amongst the elite teams of the Ivy League.
Harvard and Brown drove that point home this weekend, visiting Baker Rink and handing Princeton (6-14-1 overall, 4-10-0 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) a pair of tough losses.
Friday night the Crimson (12-5-2, 9-4-1) unleashed a scoring blitzkrieg, embarrassing the Tigers 7-0. The next night wasn't quite as bad, but the Bears (11-6-3, 5-5-2) still went home with a 4-2 victory.
Princeton did pick up one win over break, defeating non-conference foe Bentley (6-13-4) on Jan. 25. The 16-day layoff for reading period and exams seemed to be a moot point as the Tigers dominated play. The rust was evident, but the ice quickly wore it away. Sophomore Kevin Westgarth was the first to score, putting Princeton on top, 1-0, with two minutes remaining in the first period.
Bentley was able to even the score 6:08 into the second on a Bryan Goodwin goal. But junior forward Sebastian Borza gave the Tigers the lead once again 10 minutes later.
In the third, Princeton extended its lead to 4-1 on goals from freshman forwards Erik Pridham and Landis Stankievich. The goals were both players' second of the season.
Goodwin netted his second goal of the night with less than two minutes remaining in the game, but Princeton's defense would allow no more on the night.
Sophomore goalie B.J. Sklapsky, who has seen limited time on the ice this season, made 26 saves to garner his second win of the season.
The Princeton offense seemed to be in good form, outshooting Bentley, 28-23, for the game, despite being outshot, 12-6, in the final period. The Tigers, who at the beginning of the season were the top power play unit in the country, were only able to convert on one-of-eight chances.
Fresh off the convincing win, the Tigers readied themselves for Harvard and Brown and the start of the final 10 conference games leading up to the ECACHL playoffs.
But Harvard had other ideas. The Crimson, fourth in the ECACHL, quickly got to work on Princeton and never eased the pressure. Just 38 seconds into the contest, Steve Mandes put Harvard on top. Six different players would go on to score six more goals, completing a 7-0 rout of the Tigers.
Sklapsky made 13 saves in his 26:49 in goal. Freshman goaltender Jeff Mansfield relieved Sklapsky midway through and recorded eight saves in his 33 minutes. Princeton's offensive woes seemed to reemerge. In addition to being held scoreless by the Crimson, Princeton managed only three shots on goal in its twelve power-play minutes.

The Tigers returned to life the following night against Brown. Junior forward Patrick Neundorfer helped Princeton jump to a 1-0 lead when he redirected a shot from senior defenseman Luc Paquin. The power play goal was Neundorfer's eight of the season.
Despite leading for most of the opening period, the Tigers headed to the locker room down 2-1 thanks to two late goals, one by Antonin Roux with 4:15 remaining and another by Mike Meech with just 2:51 left.
The Tigers jumped right back on the offensive wagon early in the second period, tying the game at two. Senior forward Neil Stevenson-Moore fed sophomore forward Daroll Powe in the neutral zone, who took the puck into a Brown's end and sent a wrist shot flying past Brown goalie Adam D'Alba. Powe's fourth of the season put Princeton in a prime position for the victory.
But a Tiger win was not to be. A Brown goal midway through the second put them on top, and 14 Tiger shots on goal in the third netted nothing but an interesting statistic.
Junior goaltender Eric Leroux was back in action for the first time since the break. He made 27 saves in the loss.
Princeton next travels to St. Lawrence on Friday for its first road game in five weeks.