The M.O. stood for missed opportunities, and the victim was the men's hockey team, as it dropped a pair of games at Baker Rink this weekend to rivals Clarkson (7-13-3 overall, 2-6-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) and St. Lawrence (11-9-1, 2-6-1). The game against high-powered St. Lawrence developed into a shootout, as expected. Sophomore forward Kevin Westgarth got the Tigers (5-12-1, 4-8-0) on the board first with a goal three minutes, 16 seconds into the game. St. Lawrence's T.J. Trevelyan leveled it up at one with 5:30 remaining in the first. The back and forth action continued the rest of the game, with no team experiencing greater than a one-goal advantage. With 5:14 left in the third period and the score knotted at three, junior forward Patrick Neundorfer sent the puck to a streaking Dustin Sproat. The puck was ahead of the junior forward and as he charged forward, the Saint's goalie Mike McKenna raced out of the net to clear the slowing puck. Sproat won the sprint, getting to the puck in time to punch it past McKenna and put the Tigers up 4-3. Princeton was in position to hold off the Saints, but with 2:05 remaining the game fell apart. Adam Hogg tied the game for St. Lawrence, then a minute and a half later Stace Page secured a rebound and shot it past junior goaltender Eric Leroux to put the Saints up 5-4. Suddenly desperate, the Tigers pulled Leroux, but St. Lawrence added an empty net goal with one second left to clinch the 6-4 win. Sproat finished with two goals and an assist. Leroux made 33 saves. Head coach Guy Gadowsky was optimistic following the loss. "There are a lot of positives to take from tonight," he said, referring to the team's aggressive play and solid back-checking. The previous night, the Tigers created many opportunities to get the W, but were never able to close the deal. Down 3-2 to Clarkson with just under two minutes remaining in the third period and blessed with a power-play opportunity, Princeton seemed to have the right pieces in place to complete their best comeback of the season. Falling behind 3-0 early on, the Tigers scored a goal late in the second and another halfway through the third to bring them within one against a Golden Knights team which has not lost to Princeton in the last 14 games. The contest began ominously for the Tigers when freshman forward Eric Pridham received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking in the back less than two minutes into the first period. Princeton killed that power play, but gave up another penalty just after the first expired. Clarkson's Mike Sullivan redirected a shot heading wide of the net and past Leroux to put the Golden Knights up 1-0. Clarkson increased its lead to three on goals from Mac Faulkner and Sullivan. Senior defenseman Luc Paquin was the first to crack Clarkson's goaltender, Kyle McNulty. After receiving the puck at the point from Sproat, Paquin skated unopposed to McNulty's right, hesitated, then switched to the backhand and gently slid the puck home. It seemed as though such a spectacular play was the only way that Princeton would get the puck past McNulty. The Tigers found the correct formula again, however, 9:11 into the third when Neundorfer fed junior forward Brian Carthas on a breakaway. Carthas found the back of the net to the high stick side. Just like that, the Tigers were back in the contest. That was the end of Princeton's offense, though. Despite a penalty against Clarkson late in the third for too many men on the ice, the Tigers were unable to tie it up. "Right now the puck just doesn't seem to be going in," Gadowsky said. Princeton was 0-6 on power plays on the night, including the crucial one with 1:24 remaining in the game.
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