Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Yale
Men's Hockey Falls to Yale
November 24, 2001 | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 24, 2001
PRINCETON, N.J. - It was a night to forget for the Princeton men's hockey team. The Tigers suffered a 6-1 loss in Eastern College Athletic Conference action on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 3,486 at Ingalls Rink. The Bulldogs avenged a 2-1 overtime loss at Princeton on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
"I thought that we were ready to play but we came out and tried to make plays we weren't even capable of making," said Princeton head coach Len Quesnelle. "We played totally outside of ourselves. At times tonight I thought that we worked hard, but at this level it wasn't hard enough. This group needs to start being consistent. Tonight we had some guys who didn't show up at all."
The Elis cashed in on their second power play chance of the game to take a 1-0 lead at 9:06 when Spencer Rodgers nailed his first goal of the year after a rebound came out to him as he was standing eight feet from the net with an open side to aim at. The Tigers almost evened things late in the period. Yale gave up the puck at the Princeton blueline with a 5-on-4 situation. Senior captain David Schneider (Melrose Park, Ill.) came in alone on goalie Dan Lombard, who sticked the puck away on the ice before Scott Prime picked up the rebound and fired a high shot that the Yale goalie gloved to preserve the 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.
The Bulldogs made it 2-0 when Nam fed Jason Noe going up the boards on the home side. Noe, in full stride, fired a high wrist shot past senior Dave Stathos' (Longueuil, Que.) glove at 6:36 for his first goal of the year. Nam netted his first goal of the season when he backhanded a 10-footer past Stathos' stick at 17:45 of the second. That capped a stanza in which Yale outshot the Tigers 16-9 while Stathos came up with 15 saves.
A Bulldog penalty for too many men on the ice with three seconds left in the second gave the Tigers a golden opportunity to get back in the game. The Eli goalie ended those hopes with four saves. Nam made it a 4-0 lead with a backhander from between the circles and 24 seconds later Mike Klema put Yale up 5-0. Twenty seconds after that, Chris Higgins backhanded a low shot past Stathos, making it three Yale goals in 44 seconds.
Junior Nate Nomeland (Fargo, N.D.) came on to close out the night in the net for the Tigers. Stathos finished the night with 23 saves.
Princeton finally broke through after a scramble in front of the Yale net. Lombard was down on the ice when junior George Parros (Randolph, N.J.) banged home a shot from just outside the crease at 9:51 for his fourth goal of the season. Freshman Neil Stevenson-Moore (North Vancouver, B.C.) and senior David Del Monte (Missassauga, Ont.) assisted on the score.
Lombard made 26 saves, including 10 in the final period, to pick up the win between the pipes.
"I give a lot of credit to Yale," said Quesnelle. "They really played hard, and they really played well all night."
Princeton will return to the ice on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. when it hosts Northeastern in a non-conference matchup at Hobey Baker Rink to open a three-game homestand. The Tigers will then meet Colgate and Cornell on Friday, Nov. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 1. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.
Princeton (2-6-0, 2-4-0 ECAC, 1-2-0 Ivy) 0 0 1 --1 Yale (2-4-1, 2-3-1 ECAC, 1-2-0 Ivy) 1 2 3 --6
Scoring Summary First Period Y-1 Spencer Rodgers (Evan Wax, Stacey Bauman) PPG 9:06
Second Period Y-2 Jason Noe (Denis Nam) 6:36 Y-3 Denis Nam (Mike Klema) 17:45
Third Period Y-4 Denis Nam (Luke Earl, Jason Noe) 4:43 Y-5 Mike Klema (Denis Nam, Chris Higgins) 5:07 Y-6 Chris Higgins (Nathan Murphy) 5:27 P-1 George Parros (Neil Stevenson-Moore, David Del Monte) 9:51
Goalies Princeton - David Stathos (45:27) 23 saves, 6 goals allowed Nate Nomeland (14:33) 5 saves Yale - Dan Lombard (60:00) 26 saves, 1 goal allowed
Shots P: 27 Y: 34
Penalties P: 4/8 Y: 7/14
Power Plays P: 0 for 6 Y: 1 for 5
Three Stars 1. Denis Nam (Y) 2. Dan Lombard (Y) 3. Jason Noe (Y)