Friday night, the then-No. 6 Tigers (20-9-0, 14-8-0) traveled to Hanover, N.H., to face the Big Green, which kept its first-round bye hopes alive with a 2-0 victory.
Late in the first period, Dartmouth forward Scott Fleming took advantage of the team’s first power-play opportunity to put his team up 1-0. Fleming’s goal was set up by forward Adam Estoclet, who picked off a failed Princeton clearing attempt. The Tigers have been periodically sloppy in clearing the puck over the last few games.
After allowing the first-period goal, the Tigers led the Big Green in every major statistical category except goals. Princeton outshot Dartmouth 24-16 in the final two frames, but Dartmouth goalie Jody O’Neill was there for every Tiger shot, posting 33 saves in the win. The game was O’Neill’s second shutout against Princeton this season: He made 41 saves in a 4-0 Dartmouth victory on Jan. 4 at Baker Rink.
“He’s played well against us,” junior forward Dan Bartlett said. “Friday night, we didn’t do a great job of making him work. If we face him again, we should have a little more success. We just need to get a little more traffic in front.”
Princeton certainly had opportunities down the stretch. The Orange and Black spent nearly 12 minutes on the power play in the game, sending nine power-play shots O’Neill’s way. Junior forward Cam MacIntyre led the team with six shots, but he was unable to crack the Dartmouth goalie.
Junior goalie Zane Kalemba played well, stopping 22 of 23 shots before being pulled for an extra skater late in the game. With Kalemba out of the net, Dartmouth senior Rob Pritchard iced the game with an empty-net goal that gave the Big Green a 2-0 lead.
In Saturday’s game against Harvard, the Tigers came out of the gate much stronger, but it eventually fell by a 3-2 score. After six minutes, 21 seconds of play, Bartlett and sophomore forward Matt Arhontas set up junior defenseman Jody Pederson on a power-play goal that put Princeton on the board.
Power plays dominated the rest of the first period, as seven minor penalties were called on the two teams over the course of the frame. Halfway through the period, with MacIntyre in the box for roughing after the whistle, Crimson forward Doug Rogers knotted the score at one.
“It’s tough to get into a rhythm when there are so many penalties,” Bartlett said. “It definitely had an effect on us not getting on track early on.”
The teams traded even-strength goals in the second period, with forward Joe Smith scoring for Harvard and Bartlett scoring an impressive equalizer for Princeton with assists from Pederson and freshman forward Marc Hagel.
With less than 10 minutes to play in the third period, the Tigers once again fell victim to the Harvard power play. Just six seconds after senior forward and captain Brandan Kushniruk was called for goalie interference, Rogers scored his second goal of the game. Harvard defenseman Alex Biega knocked down a clearing attempt and sent the puck down low to forward Matt McCollem, who fed Rogers for the eventual game-winner.
Princeton went on the power play almost immediately after the Harvard goal, but it did not convert. The Tigers controlled play for the remainder of the game, reaching a total of 40 shots for the game, but Crimson goalie Ryan Carroll responded to the pressure to preserve the Harvard victory.
With the losses this weekend, Princeton fell to third in the final ECAC Hockey regular-season standings, falling behind Cornell. The Tigers still get a first-round bye in the conference tournament, but they will have to face a tougher opponent when they host a three-game quarterfinal series at Baker Rink beginning March 13.
“It’s nice having the week off,” Bartlett said. “Everyone gets some time to get caught up with school and rest up. Last year, we had the week off, and we did well, so we’re hoping for the same results this year.”
Princeton also fell from No. 6 to No. 12 in the all-important uscho.com PairWise Rankings, which mimic the system used by the NCAA to select at-large teams for the national tournament. The Tigers, however, said they are not concerned about the NCAA tournament right now, as they are set on trying to repeat as ECAC Hockey champions.
“We definitely need to focus on our first round in the playoffs,” Bartlett said. “We need to have a good showing in this tournament to make NCAAs. But it’s one round at a time. One of our goals is always to win the ECAC tournament, so that’s where we’re going to start.”
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