Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Massachusetts
Men's Hockey Falls to Massachusetts 4-0
December 29, 2004 | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 29, 2004
Box Score
Amherst, Mass. - A strong special-teams night lifted Massachusetts past the Princeton men's hockey team 4-0 Wednesday night at the Mullins Center. The Minutemen scored two power-play goals and one short-hander, while UMass killed all six Princeton power plays for the win. Princeton junior goaltender B.J. Sklapsky made 31 saves in the loss.
Both teams began the game aggressively with several good scoring chances in the opening few minutes. After each team killed off a penalty, the Minutemen (9-10-1; 4-5-1 HE) capitalized on their second power-play opportunity when Marvin Degon scored his sixth goal of the season. Degon and Stephen Werner worked the puck back-and-forth along the points when Degon took a slapshot that got through traffic to give the Minutemen the 1-0 lead at 10:41 of the period. Massachusetts made it 2-0 at 14:55 of the second with its second power-play goal of the game. Werner picked up the puck in the neutral zone and carried it into the offensive zone along the boards. He beat his defender and cut to the net, where he made a deke and lifted it into the Tiger net. Degon assisted Werner's seventh goal of the year. Massachusetts outshot the Tigers 11-6 in the period.
Princeton (4-10-1; 4-6 ECACHL) started the third period strong by killing a two-man Minuteman advantage and had some strong shifts following the kill in the first half of the third period. Despite the good shifts, the Tigers were unable to finish as Princeton was outshot 11-5 in the final stanza. Werner scored with a shorthanded empty-netter for his third point of the game, and Matt Burto scored with under 30 seconds remaining on a rebound to reach the final score.
Sklapsky finiahed the night with 31 saves and fell to 1-4 on the season. Massachusetts goaltender Gabe Winer made 17 saves for the shutout.
Princeton resumes action in six days on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m., when the Tigers host American International. The game starts a six-game homestand in the month of January that continues on Jan. 7 and 8 against Clarkson and St. Lawrence.