Princeton (13-9-1 overall, 10-6-0 ECAC Hockey) defeated Quinnipiac 2-1 last Tuesday and Yale 3-2 last Friday on home ice to take the two more difficult games. The Tigers fell short of the sweep after their 2-1 overtime loss to Brown last Saturday despite being heavily favored and outpacing Brown in almost every offensive statistic.
“[The Brown game] was one of the top three most frustrating losses of my career, like going to the dentist and getting your tooth drilled,” head coach Jeff Kampersal '92 said.
Princeton went into the week tied with Harvard for third place in the conference standings, so this week’s games had serious implications for home ice in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament in March. Because of final exams, the Tigers were coming off a 17-day break, but the team was ready to get back into action.
“Our girls prepared well during exams. Their studies come first, but they attended optional practices led only by teammates, and it bred a positive team culture,” Kampersal said. “Their conditioning coming out of exams was very good.”
Quinnipiac (3-21-4, 2-10-4) was the clear underdog in its game against Princeton
The 2-1 final score hides the fact that Princeton controlled the ice for much of the game.
The Tigers outshot Quinnipiac 13-7 in the scoreless first period, and they finally broke through in the second, scoring two quick goals in the first 10 minutes of the frame. The first was an unassisted goal scored by senior forward Christine Foster. Freshman forward Charissa Stadnyk netted the second with assists from freshman forwards Heather Landry and Julie Johnson, putting all three players at 10 points on the season and demonstrating Princeton’s depth. Quinnipiac’s goal with four minutes left to play in the third period narrowed the margin, but it proved too little, too late.
Though Yale (9-13-0, 5-10-0) was a more formidable opponent than Quinnipiac, the Tigers were favored over the Bulldogs, and again the Tigers delivered. The team was led by an impressive two-goal performance from senior defender Katherine Dineen.
The match began with a flurry of scoring, with Dineen notching her first goal five minutes, 11 seconds into the first period, with assists from Stadnyk and junior defenseman Stephanie Denino.
Yale came right back with a score of their own four minutes later. Princeton was able to regain momentum, however, when sophomore defender Laura Martindale recorded her third goal of the season before the end of the period, assisted by Johnson and Stadnyk.
That momentum was short-lived, as Yale scored just eight seconds into the second period to tie the game at two. The Tigers had some trouble when Dineen and Martindale were booked for penalties, leaving senior goalie Kristen Young with a perilous 55-second 5-on-3 Yale power play. Young defused the situation with the help of a point-blank save that would later prove to help Princeton avoid overtime. The match remained tied at two until the eighth minute of the third period, when Dineen came through in the clutch with her second goal of the game, assisted by Denino and junior forward Melanie Wallace. Princeton was able to hold on to its one-goal lead and pull out a close victory.
A win against Brown (5-16-1, 4-11-0) — statistically the weakest of Princeton’s three opponents last week — would have kept Princeton tied for third with Harvard and in a firm position for home ice in the playoffs. The Tigers, however, fell, in spite of leading the Bears in almost every statistical category.
Young recorded just 10 saves in goal, but she faced just 12 shots in the entire match. Princeton, on the other hand, took 43 shots on goal. The Tigers also led Brown in face offs by a two-to-one margin.
Though Princeton was dominant offensively, Brown goalie Nicole Stock recorded 42 saves, keeping the outmatched Bears in the game long enough so that they could steal an overtime victory from the Tigers.
Princeton, currently in fifth place in the ECAC Hockey standings, is not in position to secure a first-round bye. Still, Kampersal remains optimistic.
“With six games to go, we have as good a shot as anybody,” Kampersal said. “We still control our own destiny. We competed hard, not as well as we could have, but we are still in the mix of things.”
Next weekend the Tigers play their last two home games of the regular season, their Senior Day matchup against Colgate on Friday and their game against Cornell on Saturday. Both games have playoff implications since Colgate and Cornell respectively sit at fourth and seventh in the ECAC.
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