Princeton will head to its holiday break with a win following Saturday night’s 4-0 shutout of Alabama-Huntsville at Baker Rink. Senior goaltender Eric Leroux made 27 saves for his fifth career shutout and junior Grant Goeckner-Zoeller led all scorers with three points.
Princeton improved to 4-10 on the year with the win after earning a split of the two-game series with the Chargers. UAH had won 4-2 on Friday night.
The game was marked by 28 penalties for 56 minutes. Princeton took 12 and Alabama-Huntsville had 16. The Tigers were 2-12 on the power play, while the Chargers were 0-9.
The teams played an even first period as each team took eight shots, but Princeton scored what would turn out to be the game-winner late in the period. Freshman Will Harvey won an offensive zone draw and the puck slid to sophomore Keith Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk sent the puck towards the net and it knocked around in the slot before Stankievich picked it up and fired it to the upper-left corner. The puck went in and bounced right out to give Princeton the lead. The goal was his first of the season.
Princeton added to the lead midway through the second period when senior Seamus Young scored the first of two power-play goals for the Tigers. Freshman Brett Wilson got the puck from Goeckner-Zoeller and circled behind the Charger net. From there, he fed Young who had snuck in from the point. Young fired a quick shot through traffic for his second goal of the season. The goal was one of 21 shots that Princeton peppered Charger goaltender Jordan Erickson with in the period.
Princeton sealed the win with two late goals in a 48-second span in the third period. First, at 16:44, Goeckner-Zoeller tallied his team leading sixth goal. Goeckner-Zoeller received the puck on the half-boards and skated towards the center of the ice with it. With a UAH player tugging on his sleeve, Goeckner-Zoeller teed up the puck and picked the upper-right corner to give Princeton a 3-0 lead. Junior Kevin Westgarth and sophomore Kyle Hagel assisted on the goal.
Princeton iced the game moments later on the power play when senior Brian Carthas joined the rush and scored his third of the year. Goeckner-Zoeller and Westgarth assisted on the goal.
Leroux finished the night with 27 saves and recorded his first shutout of the season and fifth of his career. He is now 2-6 on the year. Erickson made 34 saves in the loss.
