Men's Hockey: Third periods make, break

On Friday night, Princeton (18-7-0 overall, 12-6-0 ECAC Hockey) took advantage of a wild third period and put together a 5-3 victory over Clarkson (8-16-6, 6-9-3). The following afternoon, the Tigers netted only one goal on 41 shots in a 3-1 loss against St. Lawrence (16-11-3, 8-7-3).

For the second weekend in a row, one of Princeton’s games was delayed, as the discovery of a crack in the Baker Rink ice delayed the start of the game against Clarkson for more than an hour.

“The game last Saturday night in Cornell, we had a similar delay,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “So for us it was a little bit old hat. They are a pretty mentally tough group, and I think they take pride in that.”

After the delay, Clarkson was the fresher team, putting pressure on the Princeton defense and junior goalie Zane Kalemba in the opening minutes of the first period. The Golden Knights had the game’s first good scoring opportunity when forward Tim Marks attempted to get a wraparound shot past Kalemba, who made a fully extended save with his stick hand. Clarkson defenseman Tom Pizzo beat Kalemba with a wrist shot right after the ensuing face-off, giving Clarkson a 1-0 lead two minutes, 11 seconds into the first period.

The goal brought the Tigers back to life, and they began peppering the Clarkson net with shots. Princeton finally broke through with less than three minutes to play in the second period when senior forward and assistant captain Lee Jubinville banged in a rebound off a shot from senior forward Brett Wilson and tied the score at one.

“We hadn’t felt like we really hit our stride yet [in the first two periods],” Gadowsky said. “Zane obviously made some really big saves and kept us in there. In the third period, they found a way to be successful, and that was really nice. Four goals in a period was something we haven’t done a lot this season.”

Senior forward and captain Brandan Kushniruk provided a glimpse of the offensive fireworks to come in the third period when he beat Clarkson goalie Richie LaVeau for a 2-1 lead only 41 seconds in.

“On Friday, things started to click a little bit. Sometimes, that happens,” Gadowsky said. “Hockey is a different game. You can play really well and not score at all, or everything can come together, and it can seem easy.”

Three minutes later, Clarkson tied the score at two on a goal from forward Brandon DeFazio. This would prove only a momentary blip on the Tigers’ radar, as they turned to the recently formed line of Wilson, Jubinville and junior forward Dan Bartlett to regain the lead. On an odd-man rush, Bartlett made a beautiful pass across the area in front of the Clarkson net to Wilson, who quickly one-timed the puck past LaVeau and gave Princeton a 3-2 lead.

“[Wilson, Jubinville and Bartlett] are very cerebral hockey players. They are great players,” Gadowsky said. “With Bartlett, they added another element, and he has been able to make some great plays. I think [Bartlett] works really well on that line because they all speak the same offensive language.”

Junior forward Tyler Beachell iced the game for the Tigers with 4:52 left in the period when he put the puck past LaVeau for a 4-2 lead. Clarkson would put one more goal on the board, as forward Dan Freeman scored after Clarkson pulled its goalie and pushed the score to 4-3. The strategy backfired for the Golden Knights, though, when Kushniruk scored an empty-net goal, his second tally of the game, with 1:05 remaining and gave Princeton the 5-3 win.

Though St. Lawrence and Princeton only scored four goals between them in their game Saturday afternoon, the Tigers once again compiled a high shot total. The Tigers had 17 shots on goal in each of the first two periods, but they were only able to beat St. Lawrence goalie Alex Petizian once in their 3-1 loss.

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“It was a really good hockey game. It was a fast game,” Gadowsky said. “There were a lot of shots and great offensive plays. For the team that we feel that we have, I thought we played an excellent hockey game. The fact that we lost is obviously a disappointment. We had really good chances, and I liked the way we played.”

St. Lawrence opened the scoring 8:53 into the first period with a goal from forward Mark Armstrong. Seven minutes later, the Saints extended their lead to 2-0 on a goal from forward Aaron Bogosian. Though Princeton had a number of chances, it was unable to crack Petizian in the first period.

“Their goaltender obviously played great,” Gadowsky said. “So did Zane. It was a great hockey game to watch.”

The Tigers finally broke through in the second period when Jubinville beat Petizian on a wrist shot to make the score 2-1 and record his second goal of the weekend. Princeton had two breakaway opportunities — one each from sophomore forwards Kevin Lohry and Mike Kramer — following Jubinville’s goal, but Petizian stood tall in net, knocking both chances away to preserve the Saints’ lead.

“I thought we were playing well, and we were looking for something to get us going. I look at those two breakaways as good opportunities,” Gadowsky said. “Their goaltender made a great save on both of them, and he deserved the win.”

While the end result was not what Princeton was looking for, there are a number of positives the team can take away from the weekend. Junior forward Cam MacIntyre played back-to-back games for the first time since returning from an injury, and the Tigers received strong play from all four of its offensive lines.

“Even though we lost, we got our identity back and played a high tempo game,” Gadowsky said. “For those two reasons, we have optimism going into next weekend.”