Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Notre Dame
No Luck Necessary
December 29, 2001 | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 29, 2001
Final Stats
TRENTON, N.J. - Notre Dame used a pair of second-period power-play goals and 44 shots to defeat the Princeton men's hockey team 4-2 Saturday night in front of 2,552 fans at Trenton's Sovereign Bank Arena. Coupled with a 2-1 win the night before, the Fighting Irish swept their first two-game road series in more than four years.
For the second consecutive night Princeton found itself down by two goals late in the game and pulled its goaltender in favor of an extra attacker. And for the second night in a row David Del Monte (Missisauga, Ont.) scored to pull the Tigers to within one goal, but a Notre Dame empty-netter squashed any thoughts of a comeback.
Goalie Dave Stathos (Longueuil, Que.) did his best to keep the Tigers in the game, stopping 40 shots, including several spectacular saves. "David played a great game, but I'm disappointed that we didn't play better in front of him," Princeton coach Len Quesnelle said. "He deserved better."
The Tigers were outshot 87-51 in the two-game series. "We're being outworked," Stathos said. "We're losing the one-on-one battles along the boards."
After being outshot 43-22 the prior night, when freshman goalie Trevor Clay (Winnipeg, Manitoba) made 41 saves, Princeton vowed to generate more offensive opportunities in the rematch. The Tigers did just that in the opening 10 minutes, generating quality shots during a power-play opportunity that was followed by good scoring chances by Matt Maglione (Fayetteville, N.Y.) and Scott Prime (Moncton, New Brunswick).
The first period was scoreless in part to the sprawling save Stathos made on Jake Wiegand, who earlier had hit the post to the right of the Tigers' senior goalie.
Stathos' counterpart, Notre Dame goalie Morgan Cey, turned aside 10 shots in the opening 20 minutes and began the second by robbing Brad Parsons (Kingston, Mass.) from below the right-wing face-off circle during a Tiger power play. Without the injured David Schneider (Melrose Park, Ill.) to quarterback the power-play unit from the point, freshman Luc Paquin (Le Gardeur, Que.) stepped up his game and found the net with a couple of shots during the man-advantage.
Just before the midway point of the second period, Stathos stopped Tom Galvin's shot during a Notre Dame odd-man rush. With Stathos out of position after the initial save, David Inman fired at a open Princeton net, but defenseman Steve Slaton (Plymouth, Minn.) kept it 0-0 when he batted Inman's shot out of midair.
Notre Dame's power play may not have moved the puck as well as the Tigers', but its results were better. John Wroblewski set up behind the Princeton goal, and his centering pass deflected off Stathos and trickled into the net to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead at 10:21 of the second period.
Less than two minutes later, however, George Parros (Randolph, N.J.) sent Parsons in alone on Cey. The senior, who has missed nine games with injuries this year, scored his first goal of the season when he shifted the puck to his backhand and feathered a shot between Cey's pads to tie the game 1-1 at 12:08. James Fitzpatrick (Lawrenceville, N.J.) also picked up an assist on Parsons' 29th career goal.
Six seconds after Jesse Masear (High River, Alberta) was called for slashing, the Irish capitalized on another power play to regain the lead late in the period. With the face-off to the right of Stathos, Connor Dunlop won the draw to the point, where Tom Galvin's slap shot was tipped by Michael Chin, giving Notre Dame a 2-1 lead at 18:07 of the second.
The Fighting Irish opened a two-goal lead at 2:27 of the third period after a great individual effort by Sam Cornelius. With the puck loose behind Stathos in the Princeton crease, Cornelius kicked the puck toward the open net and managed to get his stick on it before it passed the goal line.
Trailing by two goals and with Stathos on the bench for another skater, Trevor Beaney (Cornwall, Vt.) nudged the puck along the boards behind the Notre Dame net where it was picked up by Parsons, who found Del Monte at the right face-off circle. Del Monte scored his fifth of the season to make it 3-2, but Wroblewski's second goal of the game into an empty net gave Notre Dame a 4-2 victory.
"We didn't work hard enough," Quesnelle said. "But I guarantee you that we will this week in practice."
The non-conference loss drops Princeton to 4-11, while Notre Dame, a member of the CCHA, reaches the .500 mark at 7-7-4.
Princeton faces another CCHA opponent next weekend when it travels to Bowling Green for a pair of games against the Falcons. The Tigers return to ECAC play Jan. 11 at Harvard and Jan. 12 at Brown.
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