Playing in front of a standing-room-only crowd, the No. 10 Tigers (20-7-0 overall, 14-6-0 ECAC Hockey) rode the stellar play of junior goalie Zane Kalemba to a thrilling 2-0 shutout win against No. 7 Yale (19-6-2, 14-4-2). The win over the Bulldogs came a day after Princeton cruised to a 4-1 victory over ECAC cellar-dweller Brown (3-20-4, 3-14-3). Taken together, the wins gave the Tigers 20 victories on the season and secured them a first-round bye in the ECAC conference tournament.
In addition to the enormous postseason implications of the Yale game, it was the final regular-season home game for the team’s three seniors: forward and co-captain Lee Jubinville, forward and captain Brandan Kushniruk and forward Brett Wilson.
“It was definitely a special night, especially for the seniors,” Wilson said. “Having the support that we did was pretty special. It shows how far we’ve come over the last four years.”
The teams came out of the gate at full throttle, trading scoring chances throughout the first period. Late in the period, junior forward Mark Magnowski had an excellent chance with Princeton playing a delayed-penalty advantage. But, as would be the case throughout the night, Yale goalie Alec Richards came up with the big save.
Following the whistle, a scuffle developed in front of the Yale net, one of several that occurred during the game. On the ensuing Tiger power play, forward Broc Little — who has tallied a school record of five shorthanded goals this season — manufactured a decent shorthanded chance out of a neutral-zone takeaway, but could not convert.
After 20 minutes of play, there was no perceptible advantage for either team. Both teams had mustered exactly 10 shots, with a few solid scoring chances for each. But both goalies had responded with 10 saves, and the game remained tied.
In the second period, the scoring chances kept coming. Midway through the period, Jubinville had an excellent close-in opportunity rejected by Richards. Sophomore forward Mike Kramer collected the rebound and fired it on net, but again Richards was there for the save.
Less than a minute later, Yale had a chance of its own as Little, standing a few feet from Kalemba’s left post, put the puck on net. After Kalemba made the initial save, the puck started to trickle across the goal line, but Kalemba was able to reach out the tip of his skate to clear it away.
Late in the second, impressive neutral-zone play by Yale set up forward Brian O’Neill wide open on Kalemba’s stick side. O’Neill fired the puck toward the far post, but Kalemba flashed his glove, and the crowd erupted.
As the period came to a close, tempers flared again: Junior forward Kevin Kaiser and Yale defenseman Ryan Donald received coincident penalties for hitting after the whistle.
After two periods of exceptionally even play, Princeton began to drive the tempo in the third period.
“We knew going into the third period that one goal was all we were going to need to win the way Zane was playing,” Wilson said.
Then, 5 minutes, 43 seconds into the third, Princeton finally outsmarted Richards. Wilson pushed the puck to sophomore defenseman Taylor Fedun, who found fellow blueliner junior Jody Pederson coming to the center of the ice. Pederson, who had already seen four of his shots saved by Richards, one-timed his fifth slapshot from straightaway at the blue line. This time, it sailed cleanly to the back of the cage for Pederson’s fourth goal of the season.
“We’ve had a few games this year — both Cornell games — where goals have been hard to come by,” Wilson said. “[It was] definitely nice to see that one go one. In the playoffs, we’re going to be running against some hot goalies.”
For the rest of the game, Princeton held off the tenacious Yale attack as Kalemba made 11 of his 31 saves in the final frame. Kaiser added an empty net tally with under a minute to play to seal the pivotal victory for Princeton.
Friday night, Princeton handily defeated Brown, despite being periodically sloppy around its own blue line. The Tigers put the pressure on the Bears early, outshooting Brown 19-6 in the first period and jumping to a 1-0 lead.
Wilson led the team on Friday, notching two goals and an assist in the win. With the three-point performance, Wilson reached 100 points for his career.
Wilson felt satisfied with his efforts in the important weekend matchups.
“It makes me feel like I’ve been able to help contribute,” Wilson said. “I’ve been lucky enough to play with some really great players.”
Kalemba also played well on Friday, saving 25 of the 26 shots that Brown fired at him.
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