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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
No. 17 Cornell
Players Mentioned
No. 17 Cornell Sneaks by Princeton 1-0
February 06, 2016 | Men's Ice Hockey
BOX SCORE
PRINCETON, N.J. (2/6/16) - John Knisley's goal midway through the second period was the deciding factor in a battle between two Ancient Eight schools for ECAC positioning. No. 17 Cornell took a 1-0 game on Knisley's goal and a 32-save performance by Mitch Gillam.
It was a tight game throughout with the lone goal coming at 8:58 of the second period. After a save was made by Colton Phinney, the puck pushed into the left boards where Max Veronneau fought for it with Dan Weidman. Veronneau won the battle and lofted it down the ice, but Alec McCrea chased it down and collected it just on the side side of the blueline. He said the puck back down the ice right to the stick of Knisley who sliced a shot between Phinney and the right post.
"Our exact message was that you don't have to have blind faith that we're going to get it done," Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty said was his message in the locker room after the game. "You have to have the faith of the experience that our staff is bringing to you guys. When Brad [Dexter] was with a different ECAC team, they were in 12th and got to the tournament. I was in a different spot where we won a lot of games. That was a mirror image of what it takes to get it done. We just needed a goal. We were right in it, all the way through the game. It was an extremely enjoyable college hockey game."
Princeton outshot Cornell 32-30 but wasn't able to get a goal past the stingy Big Red defense that has allowed just 2.24 goals per game this season.
"You look at the wins and losses and we're not where we want to be but we were just talking about it in the room and everything we did tonight is the way you have to play to win games down the stretch," senior captain Kyle Rankin said. "Like I've said all along, the process is there. Some nights we've had trouble putting forth a 60-minute effort, but tonight I think it was a 60-minute effort we just weren't able to capitalize on our chances and they got that one goal on us."
The Tigers hit the road for the next two weekends. First up is a trip to Northern New York to face Clarkson and St. Lawrence on Feb. 12 & 13.