Princeton Power Play Solid in 4-4 Tie with St. Lawrence

Nov. 11, 2000

Princeton, N.J. - Princeton knew coming into Saturday night's tilt with St. Lawrence, last season's ECAC champion, that this game would serve as a measuring stick for it early in the season.

"St. Lawrence is known for being very skilled, intense, and trying to establish a physical style of play early in games. We believe that we approach every contest we are in with the same kind of attitude, and I believe that we were able to accomplish that tonight, " said senior center Ethan Doyle (Marblehead, Mass.)

The game got off to a rather strange start as St. Lawrence's Mike Gellard was called for a slashing penalty just 18 seconds into the contest. The referees were not done calling early penalties, however, as they called one on Princeton's Neil McCann (So., Calgary, Alberta) just 22 seconds after Gellard went to the penalty box. In the first ten minutes of Saturday night's first period ten penalties were called, seven of them going against the Tigers. "It felt almost as if we were playing short-handed for the entire first period, " said Princeton head coach Len Quesnelle.

St. Lawrence scored as a result of a two-man advantages to begin the scoring early in the first period when Erik Anderson scored past Princeton goalie Dave Stathos (Longueuil, Que.). Andy Desrosiers and Russ Bartlett recorded the assists on Anderson's goal.

Princeton struck back on a two-man advantage of its own when McCann scored his first goal of the season after the Tigers' power-play unit took advantage of the solid passing of Brad Parsons (Jr., Kingston, Mass.) and Corrinet (Sr., Greenfield, Mass.). The power-play goal was Princeton's fourth this weekend.

"Having Kirk Lamb and Shane Campbell back on our power-play unit has really helped us. Lamb possesses good vision, is poised with the puck and is very patient, "added Quesnelle when asked why the Tigers' power play has exploded this weekend.

Princeton would score on the power play again in the first period when Parsons beat St. Lawrence goalie Sean Coakley. Lamb (Sr., Cold Lake, Alberta) and Corrinet recorded the assists on Parsons' third goal of the season.

Anderson scored his second goal of the contest at 1:20 of the second period on the Saints power play, and Jim Lorentz would score another power-play goal late in the second period.

In between the goals scored by Anderson and Lorentz, Corrinet scored his first goal of the season at 7:27 of the second period. Lamb and Steve Slaton (Fr., Plymouth, Minn.) assisted on Corrinet's goal, and it should come as no surprise that Corrinet's goal came on the power play. Slaton recorded his first collegiate point as a result of this assist.

Mike Gellard scored St. Lawrence's fourth power-play goal of the game early in the third period to give the Saints a one-goal lead. St. Lawrence played a more defensive style later in the game to protect its one-goal lead, but as the saying goes, "The best laid plans often go to waste."

Princeton took advantage of a solid line change when Trevor Beaney (So., Cornwall, Vt.) found Corrinet all alone at center-ice, and the Washington Capitals draft pick skated all by himself and beat Coakley to even the score with just over four minutes left in regulation.

"The goalie had the lower part of the net pretty well covered, and, since I had been shooting low for most of the weekend, so I ripped it high," commented Corrinet.

Corrinet's decision to go high and the resulting goal whipped the 2,113 fans in Baker Rink into frenzy as Princeton tied the Saints while both teams were at full strength.

The crowd's euphoria nearly turned to despair when Stathos robbed St. Lawrence's Anderson on a wrap-around attempt with just seven seconds left in the game. Princeton's stellar netminder made 38 saves as the Tigers tied the Saints after an uneventful overtime period.

"I like being at a two-man disadvantage early in a game to get myself going, " said Stathos, "but a team can only withstand so many attempts of this nature in a single game."

"You can only successfully kill so many penalty minutes, " lamented Quesnelle after the game.

The tie takes Princeton record to 1-0-3 overall and 0-0-2 in the ECAC, and the Tigers will be on the road to take on Vermont and Dartmouth next weekend. Quesnelle is the first head coach to begin his career with a four-game unbeaten streak since Richard Vaughan started his Princeton coaching career with a five-game winning streak in the 1935-36 season.

Scoring by periods:

Team 1-2-3-OT F St. Lawrence 1-2-1-0 4 Princeton 2-1-1-0 4

Scoring Summary: 1st - St. Lawrence - Anderson (Desrosiers, Bartlett) PPG - 5x3- 6:21 (SLU 1-0) 1st - Princeton - Neil McCann 1 (Brad Parsons - 1, Chris Corrinet - 3) PPG -5x3- 9:13 (Tied 1-1) 1st - Princeton - Brad Parsons 3 (Kirk Lamb - 3, Chris Corrinet - 4) PPG - 15:39 (Princeton 2-1) 2nd - St. Lawrence - Anderson (Gellard, Desrosiers) PPG - 1:20 (Tied 2-2) 2nd - Princeton - Chris Corrinet 1 (Kirk Lamb - 4, Steve Slaton -1) PPG - 7:27 (Princeton 3-2) 2nd - St. Lawrence - Lorentz (DiLaurio, LeRoy) PPG - 19:44 (Tied 3-3) 3rd - St. Lawrence - Gellard (Bartlett, Desrosiers) PPG - 5:27 (SLU 4-3) 3rd - Princeton - Chris Corrinet 2 (Trevor Beaney - 1, Neil McCann - 2) 16:56 (Tied 4-4)

Records: Princeton (1-0-3, 0-0-2 ECAC, 0-0-0 Ivy League) Clarkson (2-2-2, 1-0-1 ECAC)

Shots: St. Lawrence 38 Princeton 18

Goaltending Statistics: Princeton - Dave Stathos, 65:00, 38 saves, 4 goals-against. St. Lawrence - Sean Coakley, 65:00, 18 saves, 4 goals-against

Penalties: Princeton 11/22 minutes, St. Lawrence 8/16 minutes

Power Plays: Princeton 3/6 St. Lawrence 4/6

Total Attendance: 2,113

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