Princeton Takes Down Top-Seeded Cornell to Advance to ECAC Hockey Championship Game

Friday, March 16

Lake Placid, N.Y.

4:00 PM

Princeton University

18-12-4

Cornell

25-5-2

Team	1	2	3	F
Princeton	0	2	2	4
Cornell	1	0	0	1

Photo by: John McCreary

Princeton Takes Down Top-Seeded Cornell to Advance to ECAC Hockey Championship Game

March 16, 2018 | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Video: Post-Game Press Conference

In a building that housed the greatest hockey game ever played, Princeton experienced its own sort of miracle on ice. The Tigers took down the No. 1 seed and No. 2 ranked Cornell Big Red 4-1 in the ECAC Hockey semifinals to advance to the championship game for the first time since 2008.

Princeton has won the ECAC Championship twice, in 1998 and 2008, which led to comments throughout the season that the lucky 8's would be a factor again this year. But it wasn't luck. It's been skill, perseverance and determination that has brought the Tigers to the final.

Waiting there will be Clarkson, the third seed, who rallied to beat Harvard 5-4 in overtime in the second semifinal. Face-off for the championship game is 7:30 Saturday night on Eleven Sports, and thew winner of the Princeton-Clarkson game will get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Finishing seventh in the ECAC Hockey regular-season standings, Princeton is unbeaten in its last seven games – the longest unbeaten streak in the nation.

With the four semifinal goals, Princeton has set a program record for goals in a season with 127, surpassing the 125 total from 1997-98. Another record was reached as junior Max Véronneau picked up his 54th point of the season to tie John McBride's school record for points in a season from 1959-60. Véronneau is second in the nation in points per game with his 54 in 34 games.

Cornell grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first period, as it outshot Princeton 10-4. Trevor Yates received a pass from Cam Donaldson from behind the goal at the right pipe and roofed one in to get on the board first.

Princeton came out refocused in the second and started to make Cornell play its game.

Sophomore Liam Grande tied the game at 8:51 with his fourth tally of the season on a transition goal. Skating in 2x2, junior Josh Teves fired the puck off the wall and saw it bounce back to Grande at the bottom of the face-off circle, where he tried a backhand on Cornell goalie Matthew Galajda that went off of a defender's skate and into the back of the net. Teves leads the nation in points per game for a defenseman with 32 points in 29 games.

Senior Eric Robinson scored his first of two on the night after an incredible block by freshman Luke Keenan. The puck slithered back out to neutral ice where Robinson was holding ground and suddenly found himself on a breakaway. Robinson then skated down center ice and fired under the blocker of Galajda at 14:04.

The Tigers had another breakaway opportunity before the close of the second period, when senior David Hallisey got loose and tried a backhand at the left pipe but was denied the goal with 24.7 seconds left.

Princeton started the third period on the penalty kill after a call at the close of the second but freshman netminder Ryan Ferland continued to set the tone for his squad with a tremendous save during the kill to keep his team on top. It would be one of his 27 saves on the night.

The Tigers got their second power-play opportunity in the third but it was quickly erased with a call on themselves 19 seconds later. Skating four on four, Princeton was excellent end-to-end working the puck out of the zone as Matthew Thom found Ryan Kuffner along the right boards. Kuffner skated into the zone, hit the brakes and turned to find Véronneau exactly where he wanted him in the slot. Véronneau dragged to the left and fired a rocket past his defender and over the glove of Galajda to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead at 10:17 with the 4x4 marker.

Cornell pulled Galajda, who finished the game with 14 saves, for the extra attacker at 17:09. Ferland made one stop and the Tigers blocked four shots before Robinson sealed the win with the empty-net goal at 19:26.

Princeton was 0 for 2 on the power play, while Cornell was 0 for 3.