Princeton bounced from playoffs by Clarkson

The men's hockey team outshot and, for the most part, outplayed Clarkson in their first game of the first-round series against the Golden Knights. It was Clarkson, though, that outlasted the Tigers, weathering Princeton's attack 2-1 in the first of the best-of-three series. The Golden Knights clinched a berth into the next round with a decisive 5-0 rout in the second and deciding game.

"We outshot them and we outchanced them and we felt like we outplayed them," sophomore defenseman Mike Moore said of his team's game one performance.

The Tigers jumped on the attack right from the start of game one. In the opening period, the Tigers outshot Clarkson(18-15-3 overall, 9-11-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League), 7-3. But as has been the case for the Tigers (10-18-3, 7-12-3) all too often this year, the scoreboard did not reflect their dominance.

Instead, it was Clarkson that got on the board first. Five minutes, 20 seconds into the second period, junior Mike Sullivan controlled his own rebound off Princeton's senior goaltender Eric Leroux and was able to get the puck past the line to put his team on top.

At this point, both teams' offenses were clicking. In the next five minutes, the Tigers got three more shots off, but to no avail. But then Princeton caught a break, and with 9:45 remaining, David Cayer of Clarkson got called for slashing, giving the Tigers a power play.

With 30 seconds left in the extra-man advantage, junior forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller won a faceoff in the Golden Knight zone and immediately fed sophomore defenseman Kyle Hagel. Hagel drifted to the middle and fired a quick shot that beat Clarkson goaltender David Leggio, tying the score at one apiece.

Princeton faced two Clarkson power plays during the remainder of the second period. The Golden Knights pressured the Tigers, but thanks to solid work from Leroux, the score remained tied heading into the third.

Though a fine position, this was probably not an ideal situation for Princeton. The Tigers have allowed a total of 39 goals in the third period so far this season, over a third higher than the next closest team's total. The defense would have to remain tight.

And it was, save for one hiccup that cost the game. That came when Sullivan, who had scored the first goal of the night for Clarkson, found the right touch again. He received a high clearing pass from teammate Tyrrell Mason and took it into the Princeton zone. Once there, Sullivan got his shot off despite being well covered by a Tiger defender. His shot beat Leroux high, and put Clarkson on top.

In the remaining 13 minutes, Princeton dominated the puck and made plenty of opportunities for themselves. But Leggio was too good and kept his team up. The Tigers' defense stayed tough, not letting the game out of hand. But in the end, Princeton had no answer and fell back in the series 1-0.

"We were confident after game one that we could come back and win the series," Moore said. "We felt like a pretty confident team that deserved to win that game."

But with game two the following night, the Tigers came out flat. Goeckner-Zoeller had the puck in an early fast break, but the puck danced around and Princeton lost control. The Golden Knights came right back the other way and David Cayer gave Clarkson an early lead that was not relinquished.

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"They caught a break early and we felt like our backs were up against the wall," Moore said. "We didn't respond as we would've liked to," Moore said.

Clarkson exploded in the second, scoring three goals. Two came from Chris D'Alvise and one was off the stick of game one hero Sullivan. With their lead extended to four, the Tigers became more aggressive and began to bring up all the defensemen on the rush.

"The defense was rushing up whenever possible to get as many guys up into the offensive zone, and it did help but their goalie played unbelievable," senior defenseman Seamus Young said. "We had our chances but just couldn't capitalize on them at all."

Mike Willemsen scored the Golden Knights' fifth goal of the game 6:27 into the third, to make the final score 5-0. Leggio made 20 saves for Clarkson in the shutout.

Leroux, whose five allowed goals do not do justice to his solid performance, made 32 saves in the loss.

"They're a good team," Moore said of Clarkson. "Once they sensed we had our backs against the wall they didn't let up and played a very good game."