Team sweeps league's top two

"It's not how you start — it's how you finish."

The old sports adage neatly sums up this year's men's hockey squad, which wrapped up its regular season this weekend in fine fashion. After a 7-1 shellacking of No. 6 Clarkson Friday night, the Tigers completed the weekend sweep by defeating No. 14 St. Lawrence, 4-1. The back-to-back wins secured home-ice advantage for the Tigers in the opening round of the East College Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECACHL) playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.

"The victories were just huge," said senior defenseman Daryl Marcoux. "Not only getting the points for home ice, but also getting that momentum going into the playoffs."

The wins over the ECACHL's top-two teams demonstrate just how far the Princeton squad (13-13-3 overall, 10-10-2 ECACHL) has come since starting its season without a win in its first five games. The team now stands in the middle of the 12-team league, tied with Harvard for sixth place.

In their dominant Friday showing against Clarkson, the Tigers redeemed themselves for their 8-4 loss to Cornell the previous weekend, a game that was the most lopsided defeat the squad endured all season. Friday night marked a drastic turnaround for a Princeton team that had been fairly pedestrian since returning from Intersession.

Needing two points to secure home ice for the following weekend, the Tigers came out firing against the favored Golden Knights, the team that had knocked them out of the playoffs last season.

"It was especially gratifying given the way that they were crushing us 5-0 in the last playoff game," senior forward Kevin Westgarth said. "A couple wins against the sixth-ranked team in the nation is a huge accomplishment."

The Tigers exploded midway through the first period, scoring four goals in under nine minutes. On a night when the team set a season high for points, the first goal fittingly came from the team's leading scorer, senior captain Darroll Powe, who put back a rebound to start the game. Powe's 12th goal opened the floodgates for the Princeton offense, as junior defenseman Mike Moore, senior forward Grant Goeckner-Zoeller and junior forward Kyle Hagel each added goals before the close of the first period to put the Tigers up 4-0 heading into the first intermission.

"The lead definitely gave us a huge amount of confidence," Marcoux said. "But at the same time, we knew we couldn't let up."

Even with a four-goal advantage, the Princeton squad remained aggressive. Just over a minute into the second period, Kevin Westgarth found himself on a two-on-one breakaway along with freshman forward Cam MacIntyre. After faking a pass to his teammate, Westgarth buried the shot for his first goal and fourth point of the evening.

Before the end of the night, Westgarth added a second goal, which, along with his three assists, gave him a career-high five points for the game.

"Obviously it's nice to score points," Westgarth said. "But it was gratifying given the situation and the fact that our parents were there."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Up 5-0 midway through the second period, the Tigers coasted to a 7-1 win, following a goal by junior forward Landis Stankievech. Freshman Zane Kalemba was a force in goal, allowing just one goal in 30 shots and coming away with his team-leading eighth win of the season.

"We didn't change our game plan [after securing home ice]," Marcoux said. "Staying consistent with our plan has sort of been our motto all season."

Having already secured home ice for the playoffs, the Tigers maintained the previous night's intensity during their game against St. Lawrence Saturday afternoon. The Princeton squad showed little sign of fatigue and was able to pick up a hard-fought 4-1 victory over the league's top team.

"[Beating Clarkson] had absolutely no effect on our plan against St. Lawrence," MacIntyre said. "We wanted to prove to ourselves that we could handle the top team in the league."

The day began inauspiciously for the Tigers, as senior goaltender B.J. Sklapsky allowed a St. Lawrence goal off a redirect less than a minute into the opening period. The Tigers, however, were able to keep the game close until Moore fired a long slapshot past the St. Lawrence goalie Alex Petizian to give him his second goal in as many games.

The score stayed knotted at 1-1 through the end of the second period despite multiple chances for each team. The Tigers were dealt a blow when Powe was forced to leave the ice on a questionable misconduct call.

"The hit looked pretty clean to us," MacIntyre said. "And Darroll plays a hard, clean game, so getting that call got us a little rattled. On the other hand, we knew that with Darroll out, we were going to have to step up because he's a big part of our offense."

The call also resulted in a lengthy five-minute penalty kill, during which the Saints managed just three shots on Sklapsky.

"Any time you lose a Darroll Powe it's going to be a blow," Westgarth added. "Those are some ample skates to fill, but he was there pumping us up between periods."

Less than four minutes into the third period, the Tigers returned to the offensive. Controlling the puck behind the St. Lawrence goal, Westgarth was able to make a pass to MacIntyre, who one-timed a shot into the net. MacIntyre's goal broke the 1-1 deadlock and opened the floodgates for the Princeton offense, which was able to add two insurance goals with less than a minute remaining in the game.

"[Breaking the deadlock] was just a combination of our style and being able to force our opponents to make mistakes," MacIntyre said. "Eventually the opportunities will come."

Marcoux, who had turned in a stellar effort on defense for the evening, fed freshman forward Mark Magnowski, who knocked in his ninth goal of the season. Sophomore forward Brett Wilson added his sixth goal of the season when he scored on the Saints' open net with just six seconds remaining, putting the Tigers up 4-1.

Sklapsky also turned in a solid performance, including a few saves that drew raucous applause from the Nassau Hall faithful. In his final regular season game, he gained his fifth win of the season and 10th of his career, recording 20 saves.

The Tigers will remain at home next weekend for a best-of-three series in the first round of the ECACHL playoffs against the Brown Bears.

"We didn't really care who we ended up drawing," Marcoux said. "But we're very excited and know that if we play the way we did this weekend, the sky's the limit."