Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
St. Lawrence (ECAC First-Round)
Men's Hockey Falls in ECACHL Playoff Opener
March 04, 2005 | Men's Ice Hockey
March 4, 2005
Box Score
Canton, N.Y. - St. Lawrence scored two goals in the first period to take a lead it would not relinquish as the Saints defeated the Princeton men's hockey team 7-0 in the first game of the ECAC Hockey League first-round series between the two teams. The Tigers will look to even the series with a win in tomorrow night's game.
The Tigers played a strong first few minutes, but momentum began to tilt in St. Lawrence's favor after as the Saints outshot the Tigers 22-10 in the period. Princeton had the first good chance to score in the period when Matt MacDonald went to the penalty box, but St. Lawrence killed the penalty and moments later, scored on their first power play of the period.
T.J. Trevelyan carried the puck into the Tiger zone and fed a cross-ice pass into traffic. The puck bounced around a bit and wound up bouncing away from the net right onto the stick of Max Taylor. Taylor used the traffic as a screen and scored his 10th of the season just over the outstretched pad of Princeton junior goaltender Eric Leroux at 8:31 of the period. St. Lawrence made it 2-0 at 14:49 of the opening period when the Saints registered their second power-play goal of the game. This time, Taylor took a point shot that Mike Zbriger deflected in front of the net. Leroux saved Zbriger's deflection, but the rebound found John Zeiler at the back door, where he scored from for his ninth of the season.
The Saints extended the lead in the second period with three goals. First at 9:18, Zbriger took advantage of a Tiger miscue to make it 3-0. Leroux tried to play the puck up ice, but it got caught up in a bunch of skates, when Zbriger came up with it and scored his seventh goal.
Following the goal, the Tigers brought in sophomore goaltender B.J. Sklapsky, but St. Lawrence scored 1:52 later to make it 4-0. MacDonald took a point shot that went wide, but the puck bounced to Jim Hakewill on the opposite point who took a shot against the grain that got the far upper corner.
Josh Anderson made it 5-0 at 16:47 of the period. With the Tiger defense pinching to try and put a goal on the scoreboard, Tony Maci sprung Stace Page and Anderson on a 2-on-1. Page made a nice pass across that Anderson just had to redirect to make it 5-0. Leroux made five saves in the period, while Sklapsky made seven. Mike McKenna made eight in the St. Lawrence net.
Simon Watson scored at the 7:00 mark of the third period and Page picked off a Tiger pass and scored on a breakaway at 14:59 to make it 7-0.
St. Lawrence outshot Princeton 48-23 in the game. Leroux made 15 saves while Skalspky stopped 16 shots.
Princeton will look to even up the series tomorrow night when the two teams face off at 7 p.m., in the best-of-three ECACHL first-round series.