Princeton Skates Past Yale

Princeton’s five goal flurry in the second period proved too much for host Yale to handle, as the Tigers cruised to a 6-2 victory in the nightcap of the inaugural Shootout at Ingalls Rink.

The Bulldogs’ sophomore center Mark Arcobello scooped up his own rebound at the right post to draw Yale even at one just 2:44 into the second period. But it was all Princeton after that.

“It was just one of those nights, sort of like putting in your golf game, where it was just going in,” said Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky. “One of our lines got hot at the right time and just took over from there.”

Cam McIntyre led the Tigers roaring back for five unanswered goals in a little more than 10 minutes of the middle frame. The sophomore forward from Sooke, B.C. tallied a hat trick and added an assist on Jody Peterson’s tally for four points on the evening.

First, McIntyre fired home a Ryan Rondeau rebound from the bottom of the left circle to make it 2-1 in favor of the visitors. Just 1:12 later, Peterson found the back of the net on a pretty backhanded feed into the slot by McIntyre to increase the lead to 3-1.

Dan Barlett added a goal scorer’s goal at 8:23, curling the slot to the right and ripping a wrister that beat Rondeau low to the glove side for a 4-1 Tigers’ advantage.

Yale called timeout following the fourth goal in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but McIntyre could not be stopped. The sophomore popped two more goals to complete Princeton’s explosion.

His second goal of the night came on a terrific play batting the puck clean out of the air into the net before Rondeau could trap it to increase the lead to 5-1. Then the sophomore turned the trick exactly three minutes later for a 6-1 second period lead.

All five of the goals were of the even-strength variety, which was a huge departure from where the game was headed before the flurry. Prior to Arcobello’s goal, Yale killed off five Princeton power plays in the first period.

Although the even-strength goals were a surprise, McIntyre’s outburst was not.

“He might have only scored 9 goals last year, but 8 of them came in the second half. Once he figured out what he needs to do, he’s become a dangerous player for us,” said Gadowsky.

Following the McIntyre show, the Bulldogs added a goal to make it 6-2 in the third period, showing some life despite being badly outplayed by their opponents.

“We’ll see the value of this weekend in how we come out tomorrow night,” said Yale coach Keith Allain. “You have to credit Princeton, but I like the way that we never gave up and kept battling in the third.”

Yale will look to carry its gritty play in the third period over to salvage a split in its first weekend of play when the Bulldogs faceoff against Brown tomorrow evening. Princeton will return to action in an exhibition contest against University of Ottawa Institute of Technology.