Men's Hockey: Ranked opponents drop Princeton in N.Y.

The men’s ice hockey team faced two top-20 opponents on the road this weekend as they continue conference play. The Tigers (2-6-1 overall, 2-5 ECAC) were blanked by No. 17 Cornell (5-2, 5-1) in their game Friday night 4-0 and dropped their game 4-1 on Saturday afternoon to No. 16 Colgate (8-4-1, 4-2). It was the first time Princeton had to face two ranked opponents in two consecutive days.

“It is challenging [to play two top teams], especially on the road, but it is good to see where we stand against higher-ranked opponents,” sophomore forward Andrew Ammon said.

Going into the weekend, the Tigers’ special teams were ranked third in the league. The special teams failed to convert on any of the power plays this weekend, of which there were five against Cornell and three against Colgate. However, the team was able to kill all of their penalties against Cornell, Ammon said, a team with one of the top power plays in the country. Head coach Bob Prier said the problem was the special teams looked uncharacteristically flat on Friday and Saturday.

Despite tough results on the scoreboard, the team was still able to learn a lot from these games.

“I don’t think we were outmatched this weekend,” Ammon said. “There are some things we need to work on, but there definitely were some positives that we can take from these games as we move on.”

“We learned that we need to play with a killer instinct from the start,” Prier said. “We are a disciplined team, but we have to capitalize on our early opportunities and execute on our special teams. We know we can’t simply go through the motions; we have to play in the moment.”

One of the standout players for Princeton in both games was sophomore goalie Sean Bonar. Friday night he made 18 saves and Saturday he recorded 42 more, a new career high. He currently has a goal against average of 2.86. The team credited Bonar in keeping the scores close in both games.

“Sean really stood on his head in [the Colgate] game, and it’s too bad we couldn’t get the win for him,” Ammon said. “He gives us a great chance to win every game he plays.”

Friday night, the Big Red did not take over the game until the third period. At the end of the second period, each team had taken an equal number of shots, and Cornell was only up by one goal. However, the hosts put in three goals within a five-minute span during the third to put the game out of reach. The Tigers lost their momentum, only sending two shots on cage to Cornell’s nine in the final period.

“Cornell is a great team,” Prier said. “They are extremely systematic, but even if you know what they are doing it doesn’t matter. It was even in the first two periods, but we got impatient and made a few mistakes that they capitalized on. Early on we had two chances, but we didn’t capitalize on them, and the momentum went to the other team. This set the tempo for the game and took the momentum out of our sails.”

On Saturday night, the Tigers’ surge came in the reverse timing as they turned it on in the third period and played more aggressively. Colgate netted two goals in the final six minutes of the first period, and a scoreless second period for both teams kept the game competitive heading into the final period.

“We were down 2-0 [versus Colgate], so there was no real pressure,” Prier said. “We wanted to win the game, but we were not second-guessing ourselves. We played with more assurance and took more risks. Our record is not indicative of the guys not wanting it real bad. They want it so bad that they are playing a little tentative. They can’t be scared of making mistakes. This is an instinctual game, and they can all make the right decisions; that’s why they’re here.”

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Early in the third, junior forward Rob Kleebaum scored for the Tigers to bring the score to 2-1. Kleebaum’s breakaway opportunity was set up by freshman defenseman Kevin Mills, who sent the puck up the right side after being hit in the chest by a Colgate shot attempt. Eight minutes passed before Colgate responded with another goal, its second of the afternoon off of a power play. Two minutes later, the Raiders sealed the win for their team with a fourth and final goal.

At least four times during the games, the Tigers hit the post or cross bar on good offensive chances.

“We were close,” Prier said. “If they fell, it would have been a different story. If we go through the game, we will see the turning points where it could have gone the other way.”

The Tigers will take the ice again this weekend at the Denver Cup Classic where they will take on the host Denver and Providence.

“The team played pretty resilient,” Prier said. “They fought the fight to the bitter end versus both teams. This is encouraging. We are not happy about the performance but definitely not discouraged. We know what we can be because we showed it in spurts.”