Men's Hockey: Win over No. 4 no blessing

The men’s hockey team (9-2-0 overall, 7-1-0 ECAC Hockey) was riding high on Friday evening. It had followed its 2-1 victory over Quinnipiac (6-5-1, 4-3-1) on Wednesday with a statement to the nation: a 5-3 thrashing of No. 4 Northeastern (10-3-2) in the semifinals of the 58th Annual Rensselaer Tournament that proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Tigers could skate with, and more importantly, score often on the country’s best teams.

But in the tournament finals against unranked Mercyhurst (5-8-1) the following afternoon, the team surrendered four first-period goals en route to an ugly 6-4 defeat.

The team opened its three-game run at home against ECAC Hockey rival Quinnipiac. The Tigers wasted no time getting on the board — sophomore forward Sam Sabky slammed home a rebound from junior defender Brad Schroeder just four minutes into the game — and kept consistent pressure in the Bobcats’ zone for most of the first two frames.

After firing 22 first-period shots, the Tigers doubled their lead in the second on a beautiful goal from junior forward Kevin Kaiser. Kaiser started the play in his own zone with a rink-wide pass to sophomore forward Kevin Lohry. Lohry brought the puck up the left side and into the Quinnipiac zone, where he dropped the puck to sophomore defenseman Matt Godlewski. Godlewski then fired a cross-ice pass to Kaiser in front of the net for an easy tap-in.

The Bobcats pulled to within one goal early in the third period — the ECAC’s best power play was just 1-6 on the evening — but junior goalie Zane Kalemba preserved the Tigers’ lead. Kalemba finished the game with 24 saves to record his eighth win of the season.

The Tigers traveled to Troy, N.Y., the following day to prepare for Northeastern, an offensive team whose impressive early-season victory over then-No. 1 Boston College earned it a spot in the top five in the national poll.

Much like they did in the Quinnipiac game two days earlier, the Tigers came out hot. Freshman Marc Hagel scored just one minute, 36 seconds into the game when he intercepted a clearing attempt from the Northeastern goaltender. Hagel’s shot hit the post but rolled off the goaltender’s sprawling body. He added his second goal of the game — and of his career — just four minutes later, when he one-timed a beautiful pass from senior forward Lee Jubinville.

“The first goal wasn’t the nicest, but it was great to see Hagel get his first goal,” senior forward Brett Wilson said. “Plus, it gave us some confidence heading into the rest of the game.”

The Huskies tied the game at two with a pair of goals just four minutes into the second period, but the Tigers were undeterred. Senior forward and captain Brandan Kushniruk regained the lead with a power-play goal 1:34 later, and freshman defenseman Derrick Pallis added a shorthanded tally, the first goal of his career.

In the third period, the Huskies pulled to within one, but junior forward Dan Bartlett iced the game with an empty-net goal with 0:53 remaining. Kalemba made 18 saves in the victory, which put the Tigers in the finals on Saturday afternoon against Mercyhurst, who beat host RPI 4-1 in the other semifinal game.

“It was a big Friday, but we still wanted to win the tournament,” Wilson said. “We knew they had a good offensive team and knew they had been playing well, so we definitely prepared hard for them.”

There was no fast start from the Tigers on Saturday, however. Instead, Princeton was on the receiving end of a flurry of first-period goals that left the team in an enormous early hole. Mercyhurst scored four times on 11 shots to open the game, chasing Kalemba and setting the Tigers back on their heels.

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Princeton played better in the scoreless second period and came out in the third with the intensity that it needed from the start.

“Even though we were down four, we stayed pretty confident and didn’t get frustrated after going scoreless in the second,” Wilson said. “We wanted to get that first one to open it up.

Junior defenseman Jody Pederson scored his first goal of the season on a rifle 5:13 into the third period, and Princeton capitalized on its momentum to chip away at Mercyhurst’s lead. Midway through the period, Godlewski made it 4-2 with a nice shot through a screen, and Sakby pulled the Tigers to within one with his third goal of the season, assisted by Jubinville and senior forward Brett Wilson. The comeback continued just 38 seconds later when Lohry redirected a shot from sophomore defenseman Taylor Fedun to tie the score at four.

But the Tigers were unable to maintain their onslaught. Forty seconds later, with 1:11 left in the game, Mercyhurst scored to regain the lead. From behind the net a Laker forward banked a shot off a Princeton skate and behind senior goaltender Thomas Sychterz, who made 14 saves in relief of Kalemba. Mercyhurst added an empty-net goal late in the game to finish the scoring.

“After scoring those four goals, we felt like we had momentum and all the guys were fired up on the bench,” Wilson said. “So it was pretty deflating when they came back with a goal like that.”

There is a lot to be learned from this trio of games for Princeton: good, great and ugly. First, this team is good. The Tigers have an impressive conference sweep of Quinnipiac, and their performance against Northeastern will put them on the radar as a national title contender.

But with that label comes a responsibility not to look past teams like Mercyhurst. Princeton played one bad period all weekend, but those 20 minutes were enough to give the Tigers their second loss of the season. For Princeton, it is time to learn from this weekend’s mistake and, as the season wears on, make sure it does not happen again.