Men's Hockey: Yale mounts devastating comeback, Brown destroyed at Baker Rink

The men’s hockey team is winning. Dominating, even. The Tigers were up 3-1 against one of the top teams in the nation. Junior forward Mike Kramer forced a turnover and raced down the ice, decking a diving Yale defender and sending a pass to freshman defenseman Michael Sdao. Sdao gathered the puck and chipped it into the Bulldogs’ net for a commanding 4-1 lead. Baker Rink exploded.

Then, everything changed.

In a season defined by “almosts” and “what-ifs,” it was only fitting that the final weekend of the regular season appeared as though it would end in similar fashion for the team.

On Friday night, Princeton (12-14-3 overall, 8-12-2 ECAC Hockey) coughed up that commanding 4-1 lead, allowing six unanswered goals to Yale’s high-octane offense and ultimately losing 7-4.

Just a day later, Princeton bounced back by beating Brown 7-3 in one of the team’s most lopsided victories of the year. The win, coupled with a Harvard loss later that night, earned the Tigers a home ECAC Hockey playoff series against the Crimson next weekend.

“It’s always nice to be able to play at home,” senior defenseman and tri-captain Jody Pederson said. “One of our goals at the start of the season was to get a home series, so having been able to do that is a small victory.”

Princeton’s matchup with No. 4 Yale (19-7-3, 15-5-2) began auspiciously. The Tigers opened the scoring when senior forward Mark Magnowski chopped a deflection past Bulldogs goalie Nick Maricic off a shot from junior defenseman Taylor Fedun.

The Tigers doubled their lead less than three minutes later off a strong fore check. After a shot from Pederson deflected off a Yale skater, junior forward Kevin Lohry collected the puck and slid it over to sophomore forward Marc Hagel in the slot. Hagel then wristed a quick shot over Maricic’s blocker to give Princeton a 2-0 lead.

At 14 minutes, 11 seconds into the first period, though, Yale cut the lead in half on a power play when Sean Backman fired a shot past senior goalie Zane Kalemba.

Princeton responded toward the end of the opening frame. Sophomore forward Brodie Zuk feathered a pass from the corner to freshman forward Rob Kleebaum. The pass was deflected out to Pederson, who fired a slapshot at the Yale net that Maricic could not handle. The goal gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead heading into the second period.

“The puck just sort of slid out to me on a tee, and I tried to shoot as hard as I could,” Pederson said. “I didn’t see if it went in or not right away, but I guess it just sort of trickled by the goalie ... I’ll take it.”

Just more than four minutes into the middle frame, Sdao scored his fifth goal of the season to give Princeton a commanding 4-1 lead.

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“Everyone was pretty excited to have that lead,” Pederson said. “But Yale’s a good team with a never-say-die attitude. I think we might have taken our foot off the gas pedal a little more than we would have liked, and they got the ball rolling.”

At 10:28 in the period, Backman added his second goal of the game. Four minutes later, Mark Arcobello added one of his own on a power play to cut Princeton’s lead to just one. Then, with less than three minutes remaining in the period, a shot from Backman appeared to deflect off forward Brian O’Neill’s skates in the crease and into the Princeton net, knotting the score at 4-4.

“It really seems like no lead is safe with them,” Pederson said. “If you give them any room to breathe, they’ll put some pressure on you.”

Entering the contest’s final period, the Tigers needed to turn around their lackluster play and regain the confidence they had demonstrated during the game’s first 30 minutes. Just 10 seconds into the third period, however, Yale continued its run when forward Broc Little wristed a shot past Kalemba.

The Bulldogs then added two goals in the next nine minutes to chase Kalemba from the net. Though Kalemba’s replacement, freshman Mike Condon, was able to hold the Yale offense in check, Princeton was unable to gain any sort of momentum.

On Saturday afternoon, Princeton took the ice against Brown (8-17-4, 6-12-4) for what could have been the Tigers’ last game in Baker Rink this season.

Eager to get the taste of the previous night’s disappointing loss out of their mouths, the Tigers struck quickly in the first period. Magnowski skated with the puck down the side boards and finessed a pass over to junior forward Matt Arhontas on the doorstep.

Arhontas chipped the puck past Brown goalie Mike Clemente to give Princeton a 1-0 lead at 1:18 in the first period.

Despite outshooting the Bears 15-6 in the opening frame, Princeton was unable to add to its lead until the second period, when the Tigers scored a trio of goals in quick succession — one each by Magnowski, Fedun and freshman forward Will MacDonald.

The offensive onslaught gave Princeton a 4-0 lead midway through the game.

Much like during Friday night’s game, though, it seemed unclear whether the Tigers could maintain the lead.

Brown answered with a pair of goals in the second period to cut Princeton’s advantage in half.

“We had gone through sort of the same thing the night before, so we wanted to make sure that we made a conscious effort to stay after them, not give them too many opportunities” Pederson said.

Unlike in the Yale contest, though, Princeton did not allow the Bears to climb back into the game. The Tigers’ offensive pace stayed relentless as they outshot Brown 26-9 on the period, and Kalemba was able to stymie any further shots on net before the third.

“Brown’s a tough team, so I think we showed some mental toughness in staying after them and not giving them too much,” Pederson said.

At 11:13 in the third period, Hagel widened the gap by scoring his fifth goal of the season.

Just more than three minutes later, while on the penalty kill and with an empty net at the other end of the ice, sophomore defenseman Derrick Pallis shut the door for Princeton with his fourth goal of the season.

Though Brown managed to narrow the gap with a third-period goal of its own, Magnowski ended any hopes of a comeback when he scored a power-play goal with less than four minutes remaining.

Magnowski finished the game with four points off two goals and two assists, while his linemate Arhontas tallied a goal and pair of assists.

Saturday’s win earned Princeton the eighth slot in the ECAC Hockey standings and a date with Harvard next weekend at Baker Rink. If Princeton wins, it will go on to face a familiar foe: Yale, the league’s top-ranked team.