Late UNH Rally Stymies Men's Hockey In Friendship Four Third Place Game

Saturday, November 30

Belfast, Northern Ireland

3:00 PM GMT/10:00 AM ET

Princeton University

1-6-3

New Hampshire

7-6-1

New Hampshire

Princeton

Christian O'Neill celebrates after scoring in Friendship Fopur

Photo by: William Cherry/Presseye

Late UNH Rally Stymies Men's Hockey In Friendship Four Third Place Game

November 30, 2019 | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

BELFAST – A quick two-goal spurt from New Hampshire midway through the third period denied Princeton in the Friendship Four Third Place Game at SSE Arena, 3-2.

Princeton held a 2-1 lead after 40:00, but the Wildcats capitalized on two bad bounces in quick fashion to knock off the Tigers.

Liam Blackburn's second of the game with 0:01 left on a UNH power play leveled the game at 2-2 after the puck bounced off a sliding Princeton defenseman and fell onto Blackburn's stick. All alone in front, Blackburn used patience to wait out Ryan Ferland for the tying goal.

1:07 later, Filip Angaras finished off an odd-man rush after a turnover at the blue line to give UNG a lead it would not relinquish.

Ryan Ferland finished with 31 saves, including 14 in the first period as he kept the Tigers in range. The Wildcats finally broke through Ferland with 15:09 gone in the first period as Liam Blackburn was alone in front after the Wildcats caused a turnover deep and he slipped a goal inside the far post.

The Tigers responded 2:53 later with a Christian O'Neill goal during 4-on-4 action. O'Neill posted up in the crease and screened the goalie on a Mike Ufberg shot before gathering the rebound and backhanding home the equalizer before the end of the first period.

Get To The Net.

Christian O'Neill Causes Havoc In Front And Backhands Home His 1st Of The Season.

1-1 In Belfast As Period 2 Starts pic.twitter.com/YTtEhAfsBy
— Princeton University Hockey (@princetonhockey) November 30, 2019

Early in the second, captain Derek Topatigh gave Princeton its first lead of the weekend with a powerplay goal at 4:28. Solid passing set the play up, as Topatigh first slid the puck to Luke Keenan in the corner. Keenan would feed Liam Grande across the ice who then sent one final pass back to Topatigh who had slid unmarked inside the heart of the UNH penalty kill for a one-touch goal under the blocker.

The Captain!

Topatigh sneaks through the UNH PK and slips a PPG under the blocker.

2-1 Tigers in Belfast! pic.twitter.com/Oml69QxIRF
— Princeton University Hockey (@princetonhockey) November 30, 2019

Princeton returns to Hobey Baker Rink on December 6 to take on Colorado College at 4 p.m. for Faculty and Staff Day. The two sides meet again the following day at 7 p.m.