It was a historic night inside Hobey Baker Rink on Friday as men’s hockey (5–2 overall, 2–2 ECAC) powered a 7–4 win over ECAC opponent the St. Lawrence Saints (2–11–1, 1–5–0). The victory marked Princeton’s first conference win of the season and a dominant rebound after tough losses to Yale and Brown.
The night belonged to junior forward Kai Daniells, who tied the Princeton program record with five goals, becoming just the fourth Tiger ever to do so — and the first since 1962. His five-goal showing stands as the most by any NCAA player this season and the highest single-game total in Division I since 2011.
Princeton weathered early adversity, taking two penalties within the first six minutes, but their penalty kill was sharp and allowed only one shot during those St. Lawrence opportunities. Once the Tigers settled into their rhythm, they flipped the momentum with sustained pressure in the offensive zone.
That effort paid off late in the period when a heavy forecheck forced a turnover deep in the Saints’ end. The Tigers’ leading scorer, senior forward Brendan Gorman, pounced on the loose puck and fired a high short-side shot to give the Tigers a 1–0 lead with just over four minutes remaining. Princeton carried that advantage into the first intermission.
The second period produced five combined goals and an astonishing 49 penalty minutes. St. Lawrence struck immediately — just 13 seconds in — with a turnaround shot from Tyler Cristall and took a 2–1 lead less than two minutes later when Filip Juricek capitalized on a turnover. The Tigers answered at 7:04, as Daniells sliced through the defense with a spin move at the blue line before diving to flip in a forehand finish. Cristall’s second goal, a power-play shot through traffic at 10:25, restored the Saints’ lead at 3–2.
The game’s turning point came with just over three minutes left when St. Lawrence’s Gabe Westling received a five-minute major for a check to the head of sophomore forward Drew Garzone. Princeton made the most of the extended man-advantage. With 1.8 seconds left in the period, Daniells ripped a wrist shot from the top of the left circle to tie the game 3–3 heading into the third.
Princeton opened the third by finishing off the remainder of the major penalty, taking a 4–3 lead when Daniells lifted a backhander into the net for his hat-trick goal. St. Lawrence responded just 41 seconds later, with a double-deflected point shot that ultimately redirected off the stick of Rasmus Svartstrom to even the score at 4–4.
“We need to go out and attack,” Head Coach Ben Syer told The Daily Princetonian about the aim of the third period.
From there, Daniells took over once again. He notched his fourth of the night and the eventual game-winner, redirecting a shot from sophomore forward Jake Manfre off his skate and under the glove of Kucenski. Princeton sealed the win with two empty-net tallies: a short-handed strike from Garzone, followed by Daniells’ fifth goal, cementing his record-tying night.
When asked how he seemed to always accurately place himself in the right place at the right time, Daniells said, “we stuck to it every night, there’s many different special teams, four and four … whenever we were out there we made sure to stick with the structure.”
The Tigers also overcame conference foe Clarkson (4–10, 1–5) 4–3 on Saturday night. They will travel to Ohio to face the Bowling Green Falcons (5–4–3 overall, 5–2–3 CCHA) next weekend for a two-game series.
Chloe Lydia Li is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Read More
South Asian Theatrics’ Legally Brown: wonderfully absurd and horrifically brain-rotted
Amaya TaylorContributing writer for The Prospect Amaya Taylor reviews PSAT’s “bizarre and fun” retelling of “Legally Blonde.”
Contributing writer for The Prospect Amaya Taylor reviews PSAT's "bizarre and fun" retelling of "Legally Blonde."
Football comes up short against Penn in final contest of the season
Zeke ArnoldPrinceton football concludes its season with just three total wins.
Princeton football concludes its season with just three total wins.
“Chile, look at where she is”: Patricia Smith wins National Book Award for Poetry
Michael GrassoContributing writer for The Prospect Michael Grasso details Princeton professor in creative writing Patricia Smith’s acceptance of the National Book Award for Poetry for her book “The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems.”
Contributing writer for The Prospect Michael Grasso details Princeton professor in creative writing Patricia Smith’s acceptance of the National Book Award for Poetry for her book “The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems.”