The men's hockey team made no headway this weekend in its quest to gain home-ice advantage in the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League playoffs. The Tigers (6-17-2 overall, 4-13-1 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League) were swept at Baker Rink by No. 5 Cornell (17-4-3, 13-2-2), 5-0, and No. 12 Colgate (20-8-2, 12-4-2), 3-1. Princeton's weekend power-play record was a dismal 0-for-14, and the Tigers will likely drop from their No. 10 league ranking.
"We weren't successful because we couldn't find the net and because both teams capitalized on their chances when we had a breakdown," junior forward Dustin Sproat said. "Saturday night we had a lot of chances where we ended up missing the net, which eliminates any chance of a rebound."
Five different Cornell players scored for their team, leading the Big Red to a victory on Friday night at Baker Rink in front of a sellout crowd of nearly 3,000. Cornell, the hottest team in the nation, improved its unbeaten streak to 8-0-1.
Cornell's power-play unit scored halfway into the opening period when the puck hit a Princeton defender's skate and hopped up over the body of junior goaltender Eric Leroux. After drawing first blood, the Big Red did not look back.
In the second period, the Tigers unraveled. At 12 minutes, three seconds, Cornell's Topher Scott scored on a backhander inside the far post, giving the Big Red a two-goal lead. Just under a minute later, Cornell padded its lead on another power play as Charlie Cook fired a shot that found the back of the net.
The third period featured more of the same. The Big Red scored its final two goals 58 seconds apart — one on a shorthanded breakaway and the other on an odd-man rush. Despite Cornell's scoring barrage, Princeton should have had plenty of opportunities to score in the final period. The team had three power plays in the third period and seven throughout the game. The Tigers, however, could only muster seven shots.
Leroux made 16 saves in the losing effort and dropped to 4-9-2 on the season. Princeton fired 19 shots at Cornell's David McKee, but none got through.
In perhaps the lone highlight for the Tigers, freshman forward Landis Stankievech won 11 face-offs.
The following evening, Colgate scored three times in the first two periods en route to a 3-1 win over Princeton. Sproat scored the Tigers' lone goal, his league-leading 15th of the season.
2:21 into the first period, Colgate scored on its first shot of the game, when Tony Massoto skated the length of the ice with the puck before firing a slap shot that beat sophomore goaltender B.J. Sklapsky.
The rest of the first and most of the second period featured great defensive play, as both teams limited the other's scoring chances. The Raiders eventually broke through the Princeton defense though, scoring again at the 17:04 mark in the second period when Jon Smyth shot the puck into the far upper corner of the net off of a face-off win. Just over a minute later, Darryl McKinnon scooped up his own rebound and redirected it for the score. Princeton entered the third period down, 3-0.
The Tigers came alive in the last period of play of the weekend, but it was too little, too late. Princeton had six shots on goal in the period and finally put one past Colgate's Steve Silverthorn to avoid its second shutout of the weekend.
With less than two minutes to go in the game and with an extra attacker on the ice, Sproat slid a shot past the Raider goaltender. Senior defenseman Luc Paquin and junior defenseman Seamus Young picked up the assists on the goal.
Leroux, who replaced Sklapsky after the first goal was scored, made 29 saves in the loss. The Tigers continued their power-play slump, going 0-for-7 against Colgate.
"Our power play hasn't been clicking for a couple weeks now," Sproat said. "Some credit is due to Colgate's and Cornell's penalty kill — they were very good. We just haven't been getting the bounces we were earlier in the year on the power play."
The Tigers will look to bounce back next weekend when Dartmouth and Vermont visit Baker Rink. Both teams rank in the top five in the league.
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