After being eliminated from the battle for playoff home-ice advantage, the men's hockey team entered their final regular-season road trip battling only for league position. After a 5-2 win over Rensselaer (13-20-2 overall, 5-15-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) and a scoreless tie with Union (12-20-2, 8-13-1), Princeton secured tenth place in the ECACHL.
Senior forward Neil Stevenson-Moore led Princeton (8-18-3, 6-14-2) on Friday night against the Engineers, scoring twice as the Tigers picked up their eighth win of the season and a season sweep of Rensselaer. Sophomore forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller added two assists in the win.
The two teams played a scoreless first period in which the Engineers outshot Princeton 11-4. The Tigers' best scoring chance in the period came on a power play when junior defender Seamus Young found fellow junior forward Mark Masters with a pass in front of the net. But Masters lost control the puck, and it slid harmlessly into the boards.
Rensselaer opened the scoring at the 5:38 mark in the second period, however, as defenseman Brad Farynuk took advantage of a screen in front of the net and slid the puck by Leroux. That goal served as a wakeup call for the Tigers. Princeton bounced back with its best statistical showing of the season, scoring five goals in nine minutes, 41 seconds on only 12 shots.
The first Tiger goal came just 46 seconds later off the stick of the league's scoring leader, junior forward Dustin Sproat. He recovered his own rebound and dumped it into the net for his 16th goal of the season.
Princeton took the lead for good 1:46 later when Masters found the net on a two-on-one. Junior forward Patrick Neundorfer started the play when he forced a turnover at center-ice and passed it up ice.
Stevenson-Moore scored his first goal of the night at 8:10 in the second period. Sophomore Daroll Powe skated towards the net and got off a shot that was initially blocked by Engineer goaltender Andrew Martin, but Stevenson-Moore collected the rebound and quickly put a shot through Martin's five-hole.
Senior Luc Paquin got in on the scoring action off a face-off at the 11:40 mark, increasing Princeton's lead to 4-1. Paquin shot the puck through a bunch of screens and beat Martin for his sixth goal of the season.
Stevenson-Moore capped the scoring with his fifth goal of the season with just under five minutes to play in the period. Stevenson-Moore deflected freshman Mike Moore's shot from the point past Rensselaer's relief goaltender.
The Engineers added a second goal in the third period, but the Tigers easily skated to victory. Leroux made 25 saves in the win, and Rensselaer's goaltenders combined for 17 saves in the loss.
How does one follow up a five-goal period the night before? With a scoreless game on Saturday, of course. The game showcased Leroux's abilities in net as he stopped all 38 Union shots he faced, earning his second shutout of the season.
Despite a combined nine shots on net, neither team could put one past the goaltenders in the first period, a trend that was going to continue throughout the game.
The Dutchmen outshot the Tigers in the second, 10-5, but Princeton's attempts came closest to hitting the mark, as Masters and Powe each had chances from close range. Freshman Landis Stankievech also narrowly missed scoring the game's only goal — his shorthanded shot hit the post.
The third period featured more of the same from both teams. Union fired 18 shots at Leroux in the period, while Princeton managed just 10 on Dutchman goalie Justin Mrazek. Leroux preserved the tie at the end of regulation, recording two key saves with 1:15 to play.
"Leroux was the difference-maker," Goeckner-Zoeller said. "He stepped up to every challenge and made up for all of our mistakes."
It was men's hockey's first-ever scoreless tie since the team's creation in 1900.
With Friday's goals, Sproat clinched a share of the league's scoring title with Dartmouth's Lee Stempniak. Both players have 27 points on the year.
With the weekend's results, the Tigers secured the No. 10 seed for the ECACHL playoffs. Princeton will travel to No. 7-seeded St. Lawrence next weekend for the first round.
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