Men’s ice hockey (5–4–0 overall, 2–2–0 Eastern College Athletic Conference) fought a gritty, determined two-game series on Thanksgiving weekend against the Bowling Green Falcons (7–4–3, 5–2–3 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) at the Slater Family Ice Arena in Ohio. After falling 4–1 on Friday night, the Tigers fought hard for a tight 4–3 loss on Saturday night. Despite these two losses, the Tigers used the past few months of the off-season training to vastly improve from one game to the next, showing a promising start moving forward into ECAC play.
On the weekend opener, Bowling Green struck early with a goal only 1:36 into play, grasping the momentum from the start. The Falcon team kept their relentless push, earning three consecutive goals in the second period to garner a score of 4–0 going into the second break of the night.
Head Coach Ben Syer blamed the early deficit on the team not being “dialed in on [their] details from the start.”
“We found our game a bit in the end of the first period and again in the third,” Syer noted. “But the second period was not our best and it was hard to overcome that.”
After a Bowling Green game misconduct penalty for boarding, Princeton earned a five-minute power play but was unable to capitalize on the advantage. After going zero out of three on power plays, the Tigers went into the final period ready to play.
The Tigers made a final push in the third period to finally get on the board and find their footing. With slightly over five minutes left in the game, junior forward Kai Daniells had a quick shot to earn a score of 4–1 to end Friday night’s game. The Tigers finished the third period with eight shots on goal to Bowling Green’s six, but that wasn’t enough to find the back of the net.
“We knew Friday wasn’t our best performance as a team, and amongst the group we knew we had much more to give,” senior forward Kevin Anderson told The Daily Princetonian.
Saturday’s rematch saw a markedly different Princeton team. The Tigers played with speed, physicality, and a clear edge from the opening faceoff. While not ending with a Princeton win, the Tigers showed relentless offense and powerful defence for the full 60 minutes.
Anderson said the team knew that they “just had to stick to our fundamentals and go to work” during Saturday’s rematch. The team did not have “any fancy X’s and O’s,” Anderson told the ‘Prince’ after the game.
After a move around the circle by junior defenseman Ian Devlin and a quick pass to the crease, sophomore forward Luc Pelletier had a one move shot for the goal to open the scoring for the Tigers, 10 minutes into the first period. Bowling Green responded with a final goal at the end of the first period with a score of 2–1.
At the beginning of the second period, however, senior defenseman Jayden Sison took a shot on the Falcon goal, helping Princeton gain full control and tie it up at 2–2. Slightly over halfway into the period, senior forward Brendan Gorman took the Tigers to their first lead of the weekend with a shot under the crossbar close to the Falcon goalie.
Bowling Green tied the game late in the second at 3–3 before adding a decisive power play goal in the third period — their second power play of the night. Princeton generated pressure in the final minutes but couldn’t find the equalizer.
“Saturday was really a showcase of how sticking to our game plan gives us a chance to win,” Syer said to the ‘Prince.’ “All four lines were rolling, and it wore Bowling Green down. We probably deserved a better result, but that late goal is a reminder that you have to play the full 60 minutes.”
“[We] learned some valuable lessons,” Anderson told the ‘Prince,’ looking to next week’s games. “Although it’s not the results we wanted this weekend, the sour taste of losing is going to fuel our fire for a while.”
The Tigers plan to use this fuel by looking forward to returning to ECAC play with a trip to New York to play Union on Friday, and RPI on Saturday.
Cadigan Perriello is a Sports and Research contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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