Men's Hockey: No. 13 Bobcats spoil Tigers' return home

Only five minutes and 34 seconds into Friday night’s ECAC men’s hockey matchup, Quinnipiac forward Jeremy Langlois keenly snatched the puck from sophomore defender Aaron Ave in the corner. Cutting into the middle and across the goalmouth, from left to right, Langlois’ slick forehanded shot knocked the puck past Princeton senior goaltender Mike Condon, giving the Bobcats an early 1-0 lead. Langlois’ goal would set the tone for the weekend, during which No. 13 Quinnipiac defeated Princeton 3-1 and 3-0 on consecutive nights.

The back-to-back conference losses dealt a blow to Princeton’s conference title aspirations and extended the current winless streak. The Tigers (3-6-3 overall, 2-3-3 ECAC), who have not won in their last five games, are stuck at seven points in the league standings, while the Bobcats (12-3-2, 8-0) maintained their perfect conference record and the top spot with 16 points. Quinnipiac has not lost in its last 10 games.

In Friday night’s matchup, Quinnipiac extended its first-period lead to 2-0 when, with less than a minute to play, Russell Goodman fired a backhanded shot through traffic and into the back of the net. The goal came after Condon rebuffed several consecutive Quinnipiac shots, nearly allowing the Tigers to enter the sexcond period down only one goal. Princeton cut the lead to 2-1 at 15:29 in the second period, when junior forward Eric Carlson snapped a wrist shot into the goal from the point. However, Princeton was unable to tie the knot. Plagued by a penalty-ridden third period, the Tigers played shorthanded most of the frame before relinquishing an open-net goal with under a minute to play.

Princeton had hoped to rebound at home on Saturday afternoon in its first game at Baker Rink in nearly a month. After emerging from the first period with the score still knotted at zero, the momentum started to shift in favor of the Bobcats. Following two second-period power-play opportunities on which the Tigers were unable to capitalize, Quinnipiac forward Clay Harvey made Princeton pay. Condon made multiple saves, but the Princeton defense was

Princeton never recovered, relinquishing one more goal in the second period and another in the third.

As the match wore on, the Quinnipiac defense played better. The Tigers, who had fired off 10 shots in the first period, mustered only eight shots over the final two. Quinnipiac’s strong defense forced turnovers and did not allow Princeton’s offense to penetrate. The Tigers’ 3-0 loss was the first time they have been shut out this season.

Princeton continued its stellar power-play defense, but was unable to capitalize on a single power-play opportunity offensively. The Tigers staved off all nine Quinnipiac power-play attempts over the series but also failed to convert on all eight of their man-up opportunities. This inability to score on the power play prevented any of Quinnipiac’s penalties from creating momentum shifts and allowed the Bobcats to maintain control of the games.

The Tigers will now look to rest up before attempting to get back on track at the nonconference Catamount Cup in Vermont at the end of December.