Men's Hockey: NCAA bid earned on draw

Behind two goals from junior forward Dan Bartlett, the Tigers (22-11-1 overall, 14-8-0 ECAC Hockey) gutted out a 2-2 tie — their first since the 2006-07 season — against St. Lawrence (21-12-5, 11-7-4) to punch their ticket to the postseason for the second straight season.

“That’s a lot of hockey in less than 24 hours,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “They worked extremely hard and played great under the circumstances. All they could think about after last night was what we had to do to get to the tournament. I think the players knew exactly what was up, and I think they did a great job.”

Entering the ECAC Tournament consolation game, the Tigers were ranked No. 13 in the uscho.com Pairwise Rankings, a system used to predict which 16 teams will get spots in the NCAA Tournament. With a tie enough to keep Princeton’s season alive, according to these rankings, Bartlett, who was named to the ECAC All-Tournament team, made sure that the team’s season would not end.

First, the junior forward took a pass from sophomore forward Sam Sabky and ripped a wrist shot between the legs of St. Lawrence goaltender Alex Petizian to give Princeton a 1-0 lead at 4 minutes, 59 seconds in the first period. Then, with the scored knotte at one, Bartlett took a pass from junior center Mark Magnowski and flipped the puck above Petizian’s right shoulder and under the near post to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead 1:16 into the second period.

The two goals were Bartlett’s seventh and eighth in Princeton’s last six games.

Bartlett’s second goal also ended an inauspicious streak for the Tigers. Coming into the consolation game against St. Lawrence, Princeton had gone zero-for-21 on the power play in the ECAC Tournament, including last weekend’s three-game series against Union. Bartlett’s wrist shot came on a two-man advantage and ended the Tigers’ power-play futility.

“We generated a lot of offense after [the five-on-three goal],” Gadowsky said. “I hope that with that first one going in, next weekend many more will follow.”

Though Princeton never trailed against St. Lawrence, it had to compete with a high-octane Saints offense that put pressure on junior goalie Zane Kalemba throughout the game. St. Lawrence was at its best early in the third period, peppering the Princeton net with shot after shot. Defenseman Derek Keller banged home a shot from defenseman Shawn Fensel at 5:48 in the third to tie the score at two. From there, Princeton hung tough, shutting down the St. Lawrence attack and not allowing a single shot on goal in the five-minute overtime period.

“One of the things our team prides itself on is being mentally tough. I think that was a pretty good example of it today,” Bartlett said. “We played a pretty solid game and didn’t make many mistakes.”

Princeton’s mental fortitude was put to the test following its gut-wrenching 4-3 second-overtime loss to Cornell (21-9-4, 13-6-3) on Friday night. The Tigers led 3-1 with only 2:52 remaining in the third period before Cornell mounted a last-minute comeback.

Big Red forward Evan Barlow brought his team to within one when he streaked across the ice and flipped a puck past Kalemba to make the score 3-2. Then it was Cornell’s star forward, Riley Nash, who sent the game to overtime by slamming home a pass from forward Colin Greening with only 25 seconds remaining in regulation. On the tying goal, a Cornell player fell on Kalemba, and the Princeton goalie was powerless to block Nash’s point-blank shot.

“I would like to have covered that last one in the third,” Kalemba said. “They tied it up. Give them credit; they didn’t let down. From my perspective, I thought I had it covered, but obviously I didn’t.”

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With the teams playing until a goal was scored in extra time, it took 31 more minutes of hockey before Greening snapped a wrist shot from the center of the ice past Kalemba to give the Big Red the 4-3 win.

Princeton’s three goals came from a common source: the recently reunited line of junior forward Cam MacIntyre, Bartlett and Sabky. It was Sabky who opened the scoring in the first period, knocking a rebound past Cornell goalie Ben Scrivens to give Princeton a 1-0 lead in the first period. Next, Bartlett added another clip to his nightly highlight reel, flipping a wrist shot over Scrivens’ shoulder to make the score 2-1 at 14:03 in the second period.

MacIntyre appeared to ice the game for Princeton when he scored his first goal since the 2008 NCAA Tournament. He streaked in from the right side of the net and chipped the puck into the goal on the short side to give Princeton a 3-1 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the third period.

Though the Big Red ultimately pulled off the comeback, MacIntyre’s solid performance throughout the weekend showed that after an injury-plagued junior-year campaign, Princeton’s front-line enforcer is returning to top form.

“[MacIntyre is] a guy that doesn’t want to let his team down,” Gadowsky said. “With what he’s had to go through this year, for him to be playing is a tremendous credit to his character and how he feels about his team. He’s a tremendous athlete with tremendous heart and spirit to be able to do what he did.”

After the ups and downs of a chaotic weekend of competition, the Tigers are headed to the NCAA Tournament for the second season in a row. They hope to add a new page to the Princeton hockey record book.

“Princeton has never won a game in the tournament, so we have a chance to do something that Princeton has never done before,” Bartlett said.

The Tigers — seeded third in the West Regional — will square off against the second-seeded University of Minnesota Duluth (21-12-8) on Friday night in Minneapolis. UMD is one of the hottest teams in the nation, and it enters the tournament on a five-game winning streak. Though the Orange and Black will enter the game as an underdog, Princeton is used to the adversity that position entails.

“This team has been pretty surprising all year every time they’ve faced a challenge,” Gadowsky said. “Whether it’s a bus breaking down or a crack in the ice, they’ve always thrived in tough situations.”

With one more challenge looming in the near future, the Tigers appear ready for whatever obstacles come their way.