Men's Hockey: Tigers dominate third-period play in 4-1 wins

Both wins displayed Princeton’s unbeatable teamwork and the Tigers’ willingness to put forth a full 60 minutes of work.

“It always is [a team effort],” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “We have scoring from everybody, and that’s really important. I don’t think you can look to one individual.”

A late-game surge allowed Princeton (5-1-0 overall, 4-1-0 ECAC Hockey) to defeat RPI (2-8-1, 1-4-0) in the final five minutes of the third period on Friday. The Engineers’ Patrick Cullen put RPI on the board one minute, 26 seconds into the second period, but sophomore forward Kevin Lohry knotted the game at one on a short-handed goal less than 10 minutes later.

The stalemate persisted deep into the third frame despite an onslaught of shots by the Tiger attack. Sophomore forward Matt Arhontas netted the game-winner on a power play with just under five minutes to go. Set up by junior forward Kevin Kaiser and sophomore defenseman Cam Ritchie, Arhontas unleashed a shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle that whizzed past Engineer goalie Mathias Lange, who faced 27 shots in the third period alone.

Three minutes later, sophomore defenseman Taylor Fedun sent the puck to junior forward Dan Bartlett. Bartlett carried it into the zone, dropping it to junior forward Tyler Beachell, who scored his first goal of the season to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead. Sophomore defenseman Matt Godlewski put the game out of reach less than a minute later when he scored an empty-netter on a breakaway. Junior forward Cam MacIntyre and senior forward Lee Jubinville were credited with the assists.

Saturday’s game in Schenectady, N.Y., didn’t come down to the wire, but the Tigers performed equally strongly against Union. Sophomore forward Sam Sabky gave the Tigers an early lead on the power play with 1:39 left in the first period, tallying his first collegiate goal. Bartlett and Beachell earned the assists.

Junior forward Mark Magnowski increased the Tigers’ lead to two about nine minutes into the second frame. Sophomore forward Mike Kramer and Arhontas assisted the eventual game-winner. Senior forward and captain Brandan Kushniruk set up the third score as he fed a pass to Fedun on the crease. Fedun’s goal was the third of the weekend to come on the man advantage.

Union (4-4-1, 1-3-0) made a last-ditch effort and reduced the deficit to two goals with 2:34 remaining on a goal from Jason Walters. Arhontas ruined any hope of a comeback for the Dutchmen, though. Princeton found itself down two men with two minutes remaining as Union pulled goalie Corey Milan and had an extra attacker due to a high-sticking call against the Tigers. After blocking a shot, Arhontas collected the puck and cashed in on an empty-netter.

Much of the Tigers’ attack this weekend came on man-advantage opportunities, but their success can be attributed more to tenacity than to perfect execution of a plan.

“The power play is like putting,” Gadowsky said. “You can do the exact same thing and the exact same routine, and sometimes putts are falling and sometimes no matter what you do, they don’t. One of the things that I did like was that we just tried to outwork our opponent on the power play both nights, and I think that’s why we [ended up with] power-play goals.”

While the Tigers are known for their offensive strength, the defensive effort put forth this weekend contributed greatly to the wins. Junior defenseman Brad Schroeder had a standout performance, making excellent defensive plays to thwart odd-man rushes and block shots. Junior goaltender Zane Kalemba made 44 saves and allowed only two goals to earn his fifth and sixth wins of the season.

The Tigers will round out their five-game away series on the road against St. Lawrence and Clarkson this weekend.