Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
St. Lawrence (ECAC First-Round)
Late Rally Falls Short for Men's Hockey as Tigers Fall to St. Lawrence 4-2
March 05, 2005 | Men's Ice Hockey
March 5, 2005
Box Score
Canton, N.Y. - Junior Dustin Sproat scored twice in the third period to erase a 2-0 Princeton deficit, but two late St. Lawrence goals lifted the Saints to a 402 win over the Princeton men's hockey team in the second game of the ECAC Hockey League first-round series at Appleton Arena. The loss completed the series win for the Saints and eliminated Princeton from the postseason.
The two teams skated to a scoreless first period, which saw the Saints outshoot the Tigers by a 24-6 margin. Despite the wide shot disparity, the period was pretty even as most of St. Lawrence's shot came form the perimeter, and the best scoring chance of the period came off a Tiger stick and did not count as a shot on goal.
Late in the period off a face-off win by junior Sebastian Borza, freshman Mike Moore rifled a shot at the Saint net that deflected off the stick of junior Dustin Sproat squarely off the near post and off to the corner. Junior Eric Leroux stopped all 24 shots he faced in the period, while Mike McKenna made six saves against the Tigers. Most of Princeton's chances came during a power play midway through the first period. The second period started with a strong scoring chance for the Tigers, but just as the Tigers couldn't convert it, the Saints turned it the other way and scored a shorthanded goal to give St. Lawrence the 1-0 lead. With the Tigers on the power play, Saint defender Drew Bagnall attempted to clear the puck up ice. The puck was knocked down by the Tigers and bounced into the slot, where several Tigers took swipes at the bouncing puck, but none could get full wood on it.
The first player to get a full piece of the puck was Matt MacDonald, who cleared it out off the boards. Kyle Rank won the race to the puck in the Tigers zone and went in alone of Leroux. He faked a shot and went to his backhand as Leroux went down and he shot it over him to give the Saints the lead at 3:24 of the period. McKenna also assisted on the goal.
St. Lawrence took 16 shots in the period for a two-period total of 40, while the Tigers managed four on McKenna who made 10 saves through two periods.
The Saints made it 2-0 early in the third at 1:08 when Josh Anderson scored off the Saint forecheck. Max Taylor circled in the Tiger zone and eventually found Anderson who skated across the Princeton crease, got past Leroux and slid into the open net.
Down 2-0, the Tigers mounted a comeback as Sproat scored twice to make it a 2-2 game late. First at 7:59, immediately off a defensive zone faceoff, Borza worked the puck up ice to sophomore Grant Goeckner-Zoeller who went on a 2-on-1 with Sproat. Goeckner-Zoeller drew the defender, then fed Sprat who scored his 17th of the year to make it 2-1.
Sproat then made it 2-2 at 13:37 when he took advantage of a misplayed puck by McKenna. Junior Brian Carthas threw the puck on net and McKenna went out to play it, he mishandled it and the puck came to freshman Landis Stankievech. He got a shot off that McKenna saved, but the rebound came to Sproat who slid it in for his second of the game and 18th of the season.
The Saints though were able to bounce back and with 1:52 left, a point shot by MacDonald across the grain beat Leroux to give the Saints a 3-2 lead. The Tigers pulled their goaltender to try and even the score but T.J. Trevelyan scored into the empty Princeton net with 40.7 seconds remaining to seal the 4-2 win.
Leroux finished the night with a career-high 52 saves as the Saints outshot Princeton 56-20. McKenna made 18 saves in the St. Lawrence net.
With the loss, the Tigers complete the season with an 8-20-3 record.