This season has been one of ups and downs for the men's hockey team. Big wins against teams like Yale, currently in second place in the Eastern College Athletic Conference, and Midwestern powerhouse Notre Dame have been coupled with big losses to schools like ECAC bottom-feeder Vermont and Bemidji State, which was recently elevated to Division I.
This weekend's results do nothing to break that trend. Despite falling to Brown (3-9-0 overall, 2-7-0 ECAC) – which entered the game at the bottom of the conference standings – by a score of 2-1 Friday in Providence, R.I., Princeton managed to rebound for a 4-2 victory against first-place Harvard (7-8-1, 6-4-3) in Cambridge, Mass., the next night.
Despite Friday's result, Princeton (6-7-3, 4-3-3) now stands at third in the ECAC with 11 points, just two out of first place. The Crimson, Yale and the Tigers – the leagues' top three teams – however, have played more games than the teams they are above.
Blackbeard's treasure
Tied 2-2 with the league leaders in the third period of Saturday's contest, Princeton needed someone to step up and help salvage its first road trip of the new year. Sophomore forward Brad Parsons proved up to the challenge.
Taking a quick pass from junior winger Chris Corrinet, Parsons broke in all alone against Harvard goalkeeper J.R. Prestifilippo and beat him with a neatly disguised shot to the glove side to put Princeton ahead, 3-2.
"It was just a great lead pass from Chris," Parsons said. "He found me breaking out, I split the two defenders and luckily I was able to beat the goalie."
The score was Parsons' sixth of the season and turned out to be his second game-winning goal of the year. Junior forward Ethan Doyle added an empty-net, power-play tally at 18 minutes, 58 seconds into the third period to help seal the 4-2 victory for Princeton.
The first two periods of play were not as one-sided. Harvard's defense stymied the Princeton attack throughout the first 20 minutes, keeping the Tigers from getting quality shots on goal. The Princeton defense was likewise able to shut down the Crimson, however, thanks to the play of sophomore goalie Dave Stathos, who made 12 saves in the stanza.
"Dave has kept us in a lot of games this season when we haven't been able to find the net," Parsons said. "His effort against Harvard was no different."
With the game scoreless after one period, the Tigers finally found their way onto the scoreboard. At the 2:14 mark of the second, senior defenseman Brad Meredith put the Tigers up on a goal assisted by junior winger Shane Campbell. The Crimson tied the game less than three minutes later, but junior forward Kirk Lamb put Princeton back ahead with his third tally of the season. Harvard proceeded to knot the game at two at the beginning of the final period, only to see Parsons put the Tigers ahead to stay.
Prior to defeating the league's top team Saturday, Princeton took on its cellar-dweller Friday night. Despite a strong performance on the ice, the Tigers could not find a way past Brown or its goalkeeper, Scott Stirling.
Stirling kept the Bears in the game throughout all three periods, stopping almost every Princeton effort and giving up few rebounds. Princeton unleashed a barrage of shots, outattempting its opponent by a 32-12 count through the first two periods. The Tigers managed only one goal, however – a Doyle redirection at 10:34 in the second – which found its way between Stirling's pad and the post.
'Phenomenal'
"[Brown's] goalie was just phenomenal all night long," Parsons said. "Everything that we threw at him, he seemed to turn aside. We just couldn't find a way past him."
Despite the lead and complete control over the pace of the game, Princeton could not manage to hold on against the Bears. With just 1:37 gone by in the final stanza, Brown forward Matt Kohansky found linemate Jason Wilson on the right wing. Wilson circled in front of the net and beat Stathos with a low wrister through the five-hole.
Brown added a second goal at the 13:17 mark, this time beating the Tiger netminder with a top-shelf shot.
Princeton continued to attack Stirling for the remainder of the game, posting six shots in the final minute, but could find no chink in his armor. By the end of the evening, Stirling had amassed 49 saves and stopped the Tigers on all six of their power-play opportunities – leading the Bears to the 2-1 victory.
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