For the third staight game, Vermont goaltender Joe Fallon dazzled players and fans alike, backstopping the Catamounts to a 2-0 win over Princeton Friday at sold-out Gutterson Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n
Fallon’s second shutout in just a handful of collegiate starts came a week after the Cats rode his stellar goaltending to a win and a tie on the road against the then No. 1 team in the nation, Minnesota-Duluth. That earned the Bemidji, Minn., native USCHO\/ITECH National Defensive Player of the Week and ECACHL Goaltender of the Week honors. Friday he was at it again stopping all 29 shots the Tigers took. <\/p>\n
Even though Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon was glad to have the win, He didn’t feel his team played particularly well.<\/p>\n
“Joe Fallon won that hockey game for us tonight,” said Sneddon. “We didn’t pay the price like we did last weekend. We need to get back to that. I think it’s a good sign for our guy that there isn’t a lot of hooting or hollering in the locker room right now. The guys don’t feel great about how they played, tonight.<\/p>\n
“At the same time, we got two points in the ECAC, tonight. Maybe we’re expecting perfection, but I’m going to push them pretty hard. I think we had more in the tank but didn’t get great leadership all the time. We need our key guys to be our key guys all the time.”<\/p>\n
Vermont broke on top at the 6:25 mark of the first period. Chris Myers potted his third of the season from Mike Arcieri on the power play for a 1-0 lead. Arcieri found Myers down low on the left side of Princeton goaltender B.J. Sklapsky, He put the puck past Sklapsky to bring the Thunderstix-wielding Gutterson faithful to its feet.<\/p>\n
Just prior to Myers’ goal, Fallon’s most difficult stop came a little under five minutes into the contest. He stoned Princeton’s Brian Carthas, who had gotten behind the defense and had a shorthanded chance. Fallon kicked out his right pad to make the save.<\/p>\n
Princeton came on in the second period firing 10 more shots at Fallon. The Vermont goalie was equal to the task. <\/p>\n
Carthas, once again, had a golden chance for Princeton but was unable to convert on his opportunity. With 13:30 remaining in the period, Carthas caught a home-run pass and went in alone on Fallon. Carthas shot high to the glove side, but Fallon got enough of the puck to direct it over the net. <\/p>\n
Fallon kept Vermont on top in the second thwarting Carthas ,once more, followed by nice saves on Grant Goeckner-Zoeller and Seamus Young in quick succession.<\/p>\n
Fallon continued his great play in the third. He made big saves on Daryl Marcoux and Darrol Powe at the 2:23 mark.<\/p>\n
Powe was then tagged with a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for hitting from behind at 4:11. Although Vermont had a couple of excellent chances on the prolonged man advantage Sklapsky kept Princeton in the game and the Tigers killed it off.<\/p>\n
Princeton got a power play of its own later and Fallon was again challenged by Goeckner-Zoeller with 6:41 remaining in the game. He made the stop.<\/p>\n
Princeton was unable to pull Sklapsky for an extra attacker as Vermont continued to penetrate the Tigers’ zone. Sklapsky was finally called to the bench with 0:40 left. It was to no avail, as Scott Mifsud tallied his team-leading fourth goal of the season to salt the game away.<\/p>\n
“I think there are positives we can take out [of the game],” said Princeton first-year coach Guy Gadowsky. “But, bottom line in the ECAC you play 22 league games and every one is huge, and you certainly can’t be happy coming away with nothing.”<\/p>\n
Sklapsky was also very sound in net for Princeton making 29 saves for Princeton. <\/p>\n
Vermont has not allowed a power-play goal in the opponents’ last 22 attempts.<\/p>\n
“To be honest with you, I just don’t think we played very well tonight,” Sneddon said. “Princeton is certainly a much improved team, but I just felt like we got away from playing good defensive hockey. We gave away a lot of Grade-A opportunities.”<\/p>\n
Princeton (0-2-1, 0-1-0 ECACHL) travel to Dartmouth Saturday, while Vermont (3-4-1, 1-0-0) plays host to Yale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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