Men's Hockey: Dartmouth snaps four-game winning streak

The Tigers (13-3-0 overall, 8-2-0 ECAC Hockey) made the most of their 26-day break from play, tuning up for late December matchups against then-No. 17 Minnesota State (9-9-3) and No. 18 Nebraska-Omaha (12-6-3), winning 5-2 and 5-1, respectively. Princeton continued its streak into 2009, defeating Harvard (4-10-2, 4-5-2) 5-1 on Friday night. The Big Green (9-5-0, 6-3-0) snapped Princeton’s streak, however, shutting the Tigers out on their own ice.

Harvard

Though the scoreboard stood at 5-1 at the end of Princeton’s game against the Crimson, the game was much closer than the score indicated. Though Princeton more than doubled the Crimson’s offensive output with 41 shots to Harvard’s 19, head coach Guy Gadowsky said he gives much of the credit for the victory to his goaltender.

“[Sophomore] Zane Kalemba really was fantastic. If Zane didn’t have such a great game, it would have never turned out to be a 5-1 win, that’s for sure,” Gadowsky said.

Princeton’s offense didn’t slack off, however. Freshman forward Marc Hagel started the Tigers off quickly, scoring the game’s first goal one minute, 21 seconds into the first frame. Senior forwards Brett Wilson and Lee Jubinville fed Hagel, who quickly netted a shot to the far post for the lead.

Harvard responded quickly and evened the score at one, but junior forward Dan Bartlett collected a pass on one side of the Crimson’s goal, skated behind the net and tucked the puck into the goal for a 2-1 lead. Wilson scored the Tigers’ next two goals: He first lit the lamp on a shorthanded breakaway 3:25 into the second period and extended Princeton’s lead to 4-1 on a power-play goal a little more than five minutes later.

Sophomore forward Sam Sabky ended the Tigers’ scoring, capitalizing on a breakaway with under 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Dartmouth

After three solid wins, Princeton faced off against the Big Green, who looked for a win after a 6-0 loss to Quinnipiac.

“We got outworked, plain and simple,” Gadowsky said. “I give full credit to Dartmouth, who played … a gritty hockey game. They definitely deserve the credit.”

Defenseman Dan Markowitz’ shot 16:50 into the game was initially stopped by Kalemba but ricocheted off a Tiger skate and bounced into the net. Dartmouth added a goal 4:38 into the second period, forcing Princeton to try to make a comeback, but the Big Green’s Jody O’Neill saved all 18 of the Tigers second-frame shots and earned a shutout with 41 saves.

With two minutes remaining in the game, Gadowsky pulled Kalemba in favor of an extra skater, but Dartmouth didn’t flinch, adding two empty-net goals in the final minutes.

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Though Gadowsky noted that Princeton was outworked, especially in the first period, he still said he thought his team worked hard on the ice.

“You can’t say we didn’t have effort,” Gadowsky said. “You can’t get 40 shots in a hockey game and not give effort.”

Minnesota State

Princeton took control of the game in the first period. Bartlett scored the first goal of the game 14:51 into the opening period. Junior defenseman Jody Pederson and freshman defenseman Derrick Pallis extended the Tigers’ lead to 3-0 in the second frame on a pair of power-play goals.

The Mavericks drew within one, however, after forward Geoff Irwin notched a shorthanded goal late in the second period and forward Mike Louwerse scored on the power play three minutes into the third. Princeton regained control of the game, though, scoring two goals 58 seconds apart and cementing a 5-2 final score.

“You always have a little bit of rust, in the sense of the things that are mentally hard to do consistently … how quickly you can move the puck,” Gadowsky said. “Our guys must have been pretty committed over the break because they didn’t seem to miss a stride.”

Nebraska-Omaha

The Tigers built on their win over the Minnesota State Mavericks with a big win over the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. The key point in the game was the second period, when Princeton killed three straight penalties. The Tigers protected a one-goal lead for 1:55 while skating two men down and followed the kill with goals by junior forward Mark Magnowski and Jubinville.

Magnowski capitalized after a wrist shot from sophomore forward Mike Kramer hit the post. Jubinville scored on a shorthanded effort on a breakaway with 11 seconds remaining in the second period. Jubinville also scored the final goal of the game, this time on a power play.

“We had … two nationally ranked teams in our building,” Gadowsky said. “I think we played six pretty good periods and came out with two wins as a result.”

The game began with a shorthanded Tiger goal from sophomore defenseman Taylor Fedun off a pass from sophomore forward Matt Arhontas. With 22 seconds remaining in the first, Nebraska-Omaha tied the score at one, but Arhontas gave Princeton the lead back early in the second. The Tigers went on to defend their lead and earn their third-straight win.