The Princeton Tigers scored twice in the first period and held on to shut out the Colgate Raiders on Saturday afternoon, continuing their perfect record for the season.
The win against Colgate, combined with last night’s victory over Cornell, is Princeton’s first sweep of the two teams in twelve years.
“We’re off to a great start, but that certainly doesn’t mean anything in the long term,” Princeton head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “To have two great wins in two tough places is a great start, so we’re happy about that.”
Both teams battled hard throughout the game, but it was goaltending that won the contest; Princeton’s Zane Kalemba recorded his first career shut out, stopping 25 shots. With the win, Kalemba extended his season long three-game, undefeated streak.
Colgate’s Mark Dekanich stopped 19 shots and was helped tremendously by a strong Colgate defense; the Raiders blocked 14 of Princeton’s 35 shots in the last two periods.
The Tigers and the Raiders got off to an unbalanced start, with Colgate dominating the first seven minutes. However, the Tigers turned the tables and got control of the puck in the Colgate zone. Princeton’s Taylor Fuden took a shot that was blocked by David Sloane, but Mark Magnowski picked up the puck and took it back behind the net and fired a shot around the backside that landed up against the right pipe and Dekanich’s pads. Dekanich was unable to control the rebound and Magnowski jammed the puck in.
Nine minutes later, Princeton’s Lee Jubinville gained possession of the puck and carried it down the right side, then dropped a pass to Cam MacIntyre, who one-timed it over Dekanich’s right shoulder.
The next two periods were frantic. Colgate’s defense desperately tried to keep the score low as Princeton pressured Dekanich. Colgate shut down Princeton, but the offense had difficulty. Despite their best efforts, the Raiders were unable to break through Princeton’s defensive wall. Several times, Kalemba came up with big saves, using the pipes to his full advantage.
“We just need to find a way to generate some offense,” Raiders’ coach Don Vaughan said. “We think we’re heading in the right direction; we’re shooting more, and we out-shot this team tonight. We had twelve shots in the third period, and I thought a couple of those could go in, and a few of them hit the posts. It’s disappointing and frustrating, but all we can do is keep working.”
Colgate had a perfect scoring opportunity at the end of the game when Wade Poplawski picked up the puck on the right side and wove through the Princeton defense. As he reached at the net, he had a perfect opening in the top right corner. He flipped the puck up, but it hit the crossbar as the goal light flickered for a moment.
Next weekend, Princeton will play at home against St. Lawrence and Clarkson, while Colgate will look for its first league wins against Brown and Yale.
