First win comes in toughest game

Fans of Princeton men's hockey have been treated to some thrilling finishes so far this season, with five of the first six games being decided by just one fateful goal. None of those game-winning goals, however, belonged to the Tigers (1-4-1 overall, 1-3-0 ECACHL) until Saturday afternoon, when they snapped a four-game losing streak at Clarkson (6-3-1, 2-2-0) to post their first win of the season.

"It's tough to start the season like that, losing four games by one goal," sophomore forward Brett Wilson said. "We knew we were close. We were playing well, and we knew we'd eventually win one of those."

Wilson put the Tigers ahead at six minutes, 41 seconds in the first period with his first goal of the season. He punched in a rebound off a breakaway shot by senior forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller. Then junior forward Kyle Hagel ratcheted up the lead to two only 44 seconds into the second, when sophomore forward Lee Jubinville stole the puck along the boards and fed Hagel for the goal.

The Golden Knights responded a few minutes later with a goal of their own when forward Mike Sullivan slipped a backhander past freshman goaltender Zane Kalemba, but freshman forward Tyler Beachell gave Princeton an insurance goal with his first career tally later in the second. Clarkson would add one more in the third, but Beachell's goal held up as the game-winner as the Tigers finally ended their winless streak.

"The morale of the team is definitely up," Beachell said. "We beat the best team we've played so far, which says a lot about our team."

Kalemba made 17 saves in his first career victory, earning praise from his teammates.

"He played amazingly," Beachell said of Kalemba's performance. "We were outshot in the game, and Zane stood on his head."

"He's been awesome for us all year," Wilson added.

The win came one day after Princeton dropped its road match at St. Lawrence (6-3-0, 4-0-0) in yet another one-goal loss. The Saints controlled the game from the opening faceoff, scoring on the very first shift and managed to withstand a late Tiger surge to win, 5-4.

"Any loss is tough, but it's always tougher when it's a close one," Beachell said.

Just three minutes later, on its second shot of the game, St. Lawrence followed up its initial goal with a second, prompting head coach Guy Gadowsky to yank sophomore starting goaltender Thomas Sychterz in favor of Kalemba.

Kalemba proceeded to settle down play by shutting out the Saints for the remainder of the first period, allowing Princeton to climb back into the contest early in the second when senior forward Darroll Powe finished off a two-on-one shorthanded break to cut the opponents' lead in half.

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Later in the second, senior forward Kevin Westgarth buried a breakaway chance to knot the score at two, but St. Lawrence regained the lead for good a few minutes later with a power-play goal to close out the second.

Early in the third the Saints added their fourth goal of the night when Jeremiah Cunningham stuffed home a juicy rebound in front of the Tiger cage, but on the ensuing play, freshman forward Mark Magnowski brought the Orange and Black back within one with his second goal of the season.

The scoring parade continued as St. Lawrence's Max Taylor sent the eventual game-winner, his second of the night, past Kalemba just a couple minutes later for the Saints' third two-goal lead of the game.

Jubinville notched a power-play goal at 13:33 to bring the Tigers within range again, but Princeton couldn't get anything else past St. Lawrence goaltender Alex Satizian and was sent packing to Clarkson, still winless on the year.

That would finally change the following afternoon.

Princeton faces Cornell (5-1-0, 3-1-0) and Colgate (3-6-2, 0-3-1) at home this weekend.

"We've got a big weekend coming up with Cornell and Colgate, two pretty good teams in the league," Wilson said. "It'll be a good test for us for sure."