Princeton University Athletics
Men's Hockey Earns 3-0 Shutout Over No. 20 Clarkson
BOX SCORE
PRINCETON, N.J. (11/21/15) - Junior Colton Phinney earned his first career shutout with 31 saves as the Princeton men's hockey team rolled to a 3-0 win over No. 20 Clarkson on Saturday, Nov. 21 at Hobey Baker Rink.
Eight different players made the score sheet, as the Tigers scored a goal in each period for the complete 60-minute game.
“He responded great from being pulled last night,” Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty said about Phinney. “And for him to bounce back with that type of effort showed great professionalism.”Rankin reiterated Fogarty’s comment saying: “We did a pretty good job of keeping them to the outside, but at the same time the guy to my left [Phinney] had a heck of a night with his first career shutout. I’m really proud of him. He keeps us in every game, and he deserved that shutout. Big time.”
Sophomore Eric Robinson put the Tigers on the board midway through the first period with his third tally of the season. Freshman Josh Teves took a shot from the point that deflected off a defender and into the corner when classmate Alex Riche won it and delivered a great backhanded pass to junior Ben Foster just below the face off circle. Foster shuffled the puck across the goal mouth to Robinson for the backdoor goal.
Princeton continued its relentless pursuit of an ECAC win as it finished off the first period with a 10-5 shot advantage over the Knights.
The second period continued the same way and the work paid off again with a goal at 1:57. Clarkson won a face off in its own zone and wrapped the puck around the back of the goal but a pinch by Teves popped the puck up and into open space. Senior Kyle Rankin, who was already circling back on the pinch got his stick on it in the slot and scored glove side on Steve Perry.
Robinson nearly had another goal as he rifled on an odd-man rush but the shot deflected off the outstretched glove of Perry and into the corner. Sophomore Max Becker, who scored his first career goal last night, tried for his second tonight in an odd-man rush but defender Tyko Karjalainen ladi down and poke checked the puck away with an extended stick.
The best Clarkson looked was in the final 12 minutes of the period, when it outshot Princeton 8-2, but Phinney stood tall to keep the clean sheet.
The Tigers’ penalty kill, ranked fourth nationally, killed off all but 10 seconds of David Hallisey’s tripping infraction when Janick Asselin was hung up for the same charge. With Princeton taking charge on offense, Hallisey quickly got himself involved as he sprung from the box and along with Mike Ambrosia helped set up Véronneau’s third goal of the season – as the Tigers took the 3-0 lead on the power-play marker.
Perry finished the game with 21 saves and took a seat with 1:34 remaining in the game. The Golden Knights could only muster one shot on goal while two sailed wide and four were blocked.
“It was kind of a relief,” Phinney said after his shutout victory. “It got pretty hectic at the end and I starting thinking I was never going to get one. But the guys made a lot of blocks and we got a couple of lucky bounces but it definitely feels really good.”
Princeton was 1 for 5 on the power play and 2 for 2 on the penalty kill.
The Tigers improve to 2-6 overall and 1-5 in the ECAC. Princeton will head to Maine next weekend for a two-game series on Nov. 27 & 28. Princeton defeated Maine earlier this season, 3-1 at the Capital City Classic in Trenton on Oct. 31.
Notes:Princeton’s last home shutout was on Nov. 10, 2012 against Colgate
Princeton’s last win over a ranked team was Nov. 23, 2013 against No. 4 Quinnipiac