Men's Hockey: Princeton shakes off early rust with 2-2 start

“I think if you look at this weekend, we looked like we were a team that hadn’t played a lot of games compared to a few teams that had,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “We were a little rusty maintaining the focus that you have to have in a team game.”

At risk of opening its conference season with two home losses, Princeton played its best game of the year in a 4-1 win over Clarkson (3-6, 0-2) last Saturday. The Tiger offense nearly equaled its goal total from their first three games of the season.

Senior forward Dan Bartlett, last season’s leading scorer, tallied his first goal of the year to give Princeton a 1-0 lead in the first period. Clarkson kept junior goalie Alan Reynolds busy with 18 shots in the first period, but it was unable to find the back of the net.

Princeton grabbed control early in the second period when senior forward Mark Magnowski scored his first goal of the year on a power play to put his team ahead, 2-0. After struggling last season on the man-advantage, the Tigers have scored power-play goals in their last four games.

“Addressing the power play is something that we’ve obviously had an emphasis on,” Gadowsky said. “We are very happy that we’ve had a good start in that sense, but that certainly doesn’t mean that we’ve got the whole thing figured out.”

Junior forward Matt Arhontas scored Princeton’s final two goals: the first off an assist from Magnowski and the second on an empty-netter. Forward Matt Beca scored early in the third period for Clarkson to make the score 3-1, but that was as close as the Golden Knights would come.

Reynolds’ sterling performance in goal was a welcome sight for the Tigers, as it gives them another strong goalie behind senior Zane Kalemba, the returning ECAC and Ivy League player of the year.

“Alan came in [to the season] in tremendous shape and absolutely deserves a chance to play,” Gadowsky said. “We play the hot goalie all the time. Obviously we have extreme confidence in Zane. But it’s a very good thing to have more than one goalie that the team has confidence in. As far as the team is concerned, that’s a great situation to have.”

The last time Princeton and St. Lawrence (5-3-1, 1-1-0) met was in the consolation game of the ECAC tournament. That game, a 2-2 tie, sent the Tigers to the NCAA tournament while simultaneously crushing the Saints’ playoff dreams. This time around, St. Lawrence exacted a small manner of revenge, taking home a 5-2 win in both teams’ ECAC league opener.

Princeton opened scoring less than three minutes into the game on a goal from freshman defenseman Michael Sdao, the first of his career. Sdao’s goal highlighted a positive start to his collegiate hockey career, as he has provided a physical presence on defense that the Tigers often lacked last year.

“Mike Moore [’08] certainly added an aspect to teams that were trying to attack our zone,” Gadowsky said. “A player like Sdao does that, because he’s not easy to play against and opposing teams are always aware when he’s on the ice. He definitely adds an element to our team.”

Entering the second period up, 1-0, Princeton was in a position to take control of the game. That turned out to be far from the case, as the Saints came marching back to put three goals on the board and wrest control of the game from the Tigers,

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St. Lawrence used its size advantage and physical play to disrupt Princeton on both ends of the ice. After outshooting the Saints, 18-8, in the first period, the Tigers managed only 16 shots the rest of the game.

Part of Princeton’s struggle against St. Lawrence can be attributed to a rash of early-season injuries. Three juniors — defensemen Matt Godlewski and Cam Ritchie, and forward Kevin Lohry — all sat out the Tigers’ opening ECAC series. The three classmates have all been key performers for Princeton over the last two seasons.

“Hockey’s a tough game,” Gadowsky said. “You’re going to have injuries, and that’s just part of it. I don’t think you can expect to have any hockey season without injuries,” he added. “I think we’re fortunate that we have depth at both positions. Kevin Lohry is an excellent hockey player, and when you have players that can step in and take his spot, that’s important because injuries are going to happen.”

Forward Jared Keller’s goal two minutes, 13 seconds into the third period made the score 4-1 for St. Lawrence. Senior forward Tyler Beachell scored his second goal of the year on a five-on-three to bring the Tigers within two, but that was as close as the team would get. Forward Alex Curran’s empty-netter late in the third period made the score 5-2.

In a non-conference matchup between the last two winners of the ECAC tournament, Yale (1-1-1, 0-1-1) made an early statement, taking a 5-2 win from Princeton at Baker Rink.

“We’re very happy to see [Yale] early in the year. They have a very veteran team. I’m sure they’re going to be better later in the year, like we hope to be,” Gadowsky said. “To be able to measure yourself against a team that’s going to be excellent is a good thing. I took it as a positive sign in how we were able to compete for much of the game.”

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead when forward Kevin Limbert knocked in a goal only 1:09 into the game to put his team up, 1-0. Princeton responded seven minutes later when junior forward Mike Kramer’s first goal of the year made the score 1-1. Kramer’s goal came on a power play and was assisted by Sdao and Bartlett.

After a back-and-forth second period, the Tigers took a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission on a power play goal by senior forward Kevin Kaiser. Though Princeton looked to have control of the game, a devastating 40-second stretch early in the third period put the team on its heels.

First, Yale defenseman Kevin Peel scored on a power play to knot the score at two. Then forward Broc Little knocked in a shorthanded goal to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish.

Forward Andrew Miller scored Yale’s third goal of the period at 13:04 to give his team a 4-2 lead. Forward Sean Backman scored an empty-net goal late in the period to push Yale’s lead to 5-2.

In its first game of the year, Princeton took home a 1-0 overtime win against Brown (0-2-1, 0-1-1). Entering the game, the Bears hoped to prove that their last-place finish in the ECAC last season was a thing of the past.

Both teams looked like they were shaking off early-season rust at times, and inconsistent play was the norm for much of the game. The teams were generally even statistically as well, with Princeton holding a narrow 32-31 advantage in shots. The Tigers came closest to scoring in regulation, hitting the post twice in the second period on shots from senior defenseman Jody Pederson and sophomore forward Marc Hagel.

The difference in the game came in overtime, when a penalty on Brown forward Jesse Fratkin gave the Tigers their fifth power play of the game. Princeton seized the moment to take home the win on a goal from Beachell less than two minutes into extra time.

Princeton’s offensive struggles against Brown were a sign of things to come in future games, as the team did not have a forward score an even-strength goal until its fourth game of Fall Break.

“As far as the five-on-five goes, we’ve only played four NCAA games,” Gadowsky said. “I believe in the offense that we have, and sometimes it takes a few games to get going. I take it as a positive sign, the goals that we did score.”

The Tigers look to keep up their momentum in conference games against Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend at Baker Rink.

After the team’s performance against Clarkson this past Saturday, Princeton will enter the week of practice with confidence, looking to do just that.