Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Northeastern
Wrong Direction
November 27, 2001 | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 27, 2001
PRINCETON, N.J. - The hockey adage is don't allow a goal in the first or last minute of a period. Princeton committed the sin twice in a 3-1 loss to Northeastern Tuesday night at Hobey Baker Rink.
Clinging to a 1-0 lead, the Tigers allowed the Huskies to tie the game with 41 seconds remaining in the second period and then gave up another goal just 13 seconds into the third period. The 54-second lapse of concentration extended Northeastern's unbeaten streak to 15 games against Princeton.
"We didn't get a complete effort mentally or physically," Princeton coach Len Quesnelle said. "We have to be tighter defensively."
Senior captain David Schneider (Melrose Park, Ill.) seemed primed to snap the 12-0-2 advantage Northeastern held against Princeton entering the game. Schneider picked up a Huskies centering pass deep in the Princeton zone and alertly head-manned the puck to a streaking David Del Monte (Mississauga, Ont.) on the right wing. With only Arik Engbrecht back on defense, Del Monte carried to puck to the right wing circle and patiently held it until Engbrecht went down in an attempt to block a centering pass or shot. Del Monte managed to slide a pass to Schneider, who tapped in his second goal of the season to give Princeton a 1-0 lead at 17:31 of the first period.
Schneider's goal, the 16th of his career, moved him into a second-place tie with Steve Shirreffs (1995-99) for most career goals by a defenseman.
In the last 3:30 of the second period, Northeastern mounted its first sustained attack. Tiger goalie Nate Nomeland (Fargo, N.D.), getting his second start of the season, turned aside Jaron Herriman's snap shot from between the circles and stopped Ryan Dudgeon, who had two cracks at the Tiger goalie from just outside the crease.
Mike Ryan then corralled a lose puck near the right wing boards and cut to the front of the net and beat Nomeland to tie the game at 1-1 with 41 seconds remaining in the period.
As badly as the second period ended, it got worse to begin the third. Just 13 seconds into the period, Willie Levesque found Jason Guerriero alone in front of the Princeton net, and the freshman center gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
The Tigers fired 13 shots at Northeastern goalie Keni Gibson in the final period, but couldn't put another shot past the freshman, who made 30 saves and improved to 3-0 on the season.
With Jesse Masear (High River, Alberta) battling Ryan in front of the Princeton net, Levesque managed to sneak a shot past Nomeland at 14:12 of the third to give the Huskies a 3-1 advantage.
"I thought we played well in the first period," Quesnelle said. "We had some bad luck around the net offensively, that seems to be a reoccurring theme."
Midway through the first period Matt Maglione (Fayetteville, N.Y.) fed Del Monte, who was tied up in front but still managed to tip a shot on Gibson. Later in the period Josh Roberts (Orleans, Mass.) block Jim Fahey's shot from the left point. Roberts pounced on the carom and skated into the Northeastern zone, but before he could get a quality shot on Gibson, Fahey pulled him down.
"The first period was our best tonight," Schneider said. "But we relaxed a bit in the second period. We aren't giving our best effort all of the time. It's frustrating. It's unacceptable."
Defensive lapses cost the Tigers on a few occasions, but Nomeland was solid in goal, making 27 saves. With Princeton on an early second-period power play, Chris Lynch had a partial break, but Nomeland stopped him as Lynch attempted to cut in from the right-wing boards. Four minutes later a bad bounce off the boards resulted in a Joe Mastronardi breakaway, but Nomeland positioned himself perfectly.
Nomeland stopped Levesque on a third-period breakaway and later made a glove save to stop Ryan Dudgeon on a two-on-one.
"I thought Nate played well tonight," Quesnelle said of his junior goalie, who received his first start since the Nov. 3 Niagara game.
Princeton is 2-7-0, and Northeastern, a member of Hockey East, improved to 6-6-2. The Tigers return to ECAC action this weekend when they host Colgate on Friday, Nov. 30 and Cornell on Saturday, Dec. 1. Both games at Hobey Baker Rink start at 7 p.m.
Tiger Tidbits:
Three stars: 1. Mike Ryan (N), 2. Willie Levesque (N), 3. David Schneider (P).
Defenseman Steve Slaton (Plymouth, Minn.) was used as a forward on Princeton's second power play.
The Tigers played their eighth consecutive game without Brad Parsons (Kingston, Mass.), the top returning scorer from last year's team.
Princeton's last victory against Northeastern was in 1974-75.
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