Men's Hockey: Tigers manage only one point from road trip

Against Harvard (4-18-1, 3-13-1), two players scored all of the Tigers’ points. Senior forward Mike Kramer and sophomore forward Rob Kleebaum each found the net twice in a game that was tightly contested throughout, as neither team ever led by more than one goal. In terms of statistics, both teams were remarkably even — each finished with 33 shots and 29 saves. However, although both teams had five power plays, Harvard scored on three while the Tigers only managed to convert once.

“The Harvard game was back-and-forth, with each team getting goals and then the other team countering the attack,” senior defenseman Matt Godlewski said. “We took a few penalties that put us on the penalty kill, and eventually they scored a power play goal to come back into the game. We were a bit disappointed after the game because we were winning by one goal coming down the home stretch of the third period, but we collapsed a little bit towards the end of the game and they tied it at 4-4.”

“Against Harvard, we played a decent game at even strength, but their power play killed us,” senior defenseman Cam Ritchie said. “Their three power-play goals were the difference between the tie we got and the win we desperately needed.”

Against Dartmouth (17-9-0, 13-7-0), Kramer provided the Tigers’ lone goal. Dartmouth outshot the visitors 33-29.

“The Dartmouth game was also back and forth, but we didn’t show up and play the way that we wanted to,” Godlewski said. “[I] give a lot of credit to Dartmouth; they came out and played a hard, tough game. We just lacked a bit of the focus and urgency that we need to win against a top-20 team in the country.”

Kramer continues to lead the Tigers in scoring with 12 goals, followed by senior forward Kevin Lohry with nine and senior defenseman Taylor Fedun with eight. Three others are tied with seven goals. Sophomore forward Eric Meland leads the team with six power-play goals, and Kramer has a team-high four game-winners to his credit.

The Tigers are now in sixth place heading into the final four games of the regular season.

“Three of our remaining four games are against top 10 nationally-ranked teams, so that adds to their importance,” Ritchie said of his team’s difficult closing schedule.

Princeton faces Brown and No. 2 Yale next weekend before traveling to No. 8 Rensselaer and No. 9 Union to cap its season.

The Engineers and Dutchmen swept Princeton at Hobey Baker Rink two weekends ago. Union leads the league by one point over Yale, while Rensselaer is battling with Cornell and the Tigers for fourth place.

“This weekend could have been huge for us if we had gotten four points, but it is by no means detrimental to what we are trying to achieve this season, which is an ECAC championship,” Godlewski said.

“We just need to make sure that we are ready to play next weekend, because we have two fantastic opponents coming to Baker Rink.”