Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Men's Hockey Ties Brown in Final Home Game
February 25, 2012 | Men's Ice Hockey
PRINCETON, N.J. (2/25/12) - It was a dramatic finish on Senior Night at Hobey Baker Rink, as the Princeton men's hockey team scored two goals in the final two minutes of regulation to force overtime with Brown. The teams would end in a 2-2 stalemate in the final game of the regular season.
Freshman Tyler Maugeri and junior Rob Kleebaum both scored extra-attacker goals for the Tigers.
Brown started the game with a flurry of chances about three minutes in. The Bears would then take four penalties that would give Princeton momentum on offense. The Tigers would have a 5x3 edge for 1:51 in the early going but couldn't capitalize.
It was a scoreless 30 minutes of hockey before Brown's Ryan Jacobson would break the draw with a goal at 10:58 in the second period after an errant pass wound up on the stick of Bobby Farnham. A pass got too far ahead for Jeremy Goodwin in the neutral zone and he dove for it but it was too late as Farnham grabbed it and skated up the right boards. Farnham sent the puck across to Jacobson who was able to float the puck in on the open side.
Princeton almost got the equalizer on a 2x1 with junior Will MacDonald and sophomore Andrew Calof but the shot was fanned on with oncoming pressure from the defense. Senior Marc Hagel gave Mike Clemente arguably his best save of the came, when Hagel had a shot skating 4x4 and Clemente had to make a huge glove save, high and left, to keep his team ahead.
The Bears grabbed a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal at 17:38 of the third. Chris Zaires set up his own goal as he dug out the puck in the corner and swung it around the boards to Denni Robertson. Zaires circled around the top of the left circle and picked up the pass from Farnham and went over the blocker of a screened Sean Bonar.
Princeton would pull Bonar for the extra skater just 17 seconds later. The Tigers didn't waste any time as they made it a 2-1 game at just 15 seconds later at 18:10. Hagel would win a draw back to Calof. Calof sent a pass along the blue line to senior Derrick Pallis who fired on goal. Maugeri was on the doorstep to redirect it into the goal, his third of the season.
Bonar would skate back to his crease for the opening draw and had to make a save on a Robertson shot before Princeton got control and Bonar skated to the bench once again. This time it took 25 seconds for the Tigers to get the goal. Pallis dug the puck out from the boards and sent it to the left point to junior Michael Sdao. Sdao sent it across the ice to Kleebaum who fired blocker side on gClemente.
The Hobey Baker Rink crowd thought the Tigers had won the game in overtime when a shot was saved but the officials had a delayed whistle as Princeton put away the rebound. The goal was waved off. The Tigers had another great chance with 29 seconds left when they made Clemente sprawl out on the ice to keep the teams tied.
Sophomore goaltender Sean Bonar finished the game with 34 saves in his first start since Feb. 11. With less than three minutes to play in the first period, Bonar made back-to-back saves on Matt Harlow to keep the clean sheet. In the second, he stopped a Massimo Lamacchia breakaway when he saved the shot with an outstretched right pad save.
Clemente made 26 saves for the Bears who are now 8-16-5 on the season and 5-13-4 in the ECAC.
Princeton will wait to learn its post season fate after the remaining league games play out tonight. Princeton with a 8-14-7 overall record and 6-12-4 league mark will be either the 10th or 11th seed in the ECAC Tournament.