Saturday, March 3, 2018

Princeton Ousts Brown in ECAC Men's First Round


Princeton University has advanced to the quarterfinals of the ECAC Tournament for the second straight year. The Tigers completed a two-step sweep of visiting Brown University with a 7-1 win on Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink, one night after an 8-2 victory over the Bears in the opener of the best-of-three series.
The Tigers got goals from seven different players on the evening, and 27 saves from Ryan Ferland, after breaking open a 1-0 game with four goals in the middle period. Ryan Kuffner’s second-period score, his 28th goal of the season, stood up as the game-winner. It also tied a 20-year-old Princeton single-season record, set by retired NHL player Jeff Halpern in 1998 when the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.
Kuffner finished the night with a goal and two assists, as did linemate Max Veronneau, who recorded his 100th career point on Kuffner’s goal. Reid Yochim and Eric Robinson also posted two assists apiece for Princeton, which finished 2-for-6 on the power play.
The Tigers ended the game with six seniors on the ice, including relief goaltender Ben Halford, in their final appearance as a class at Baker Rink. Senior defenseman Matt Nelson closed out the scoring with a power-play goal with 34 seconds remaining in regulation, assisted by classmates Robinson and Joe Grabowski. Also on ice were seniors Max Becker and David Hallisey. Princeton outshot Brown, 44-30, over three periods.
Brown (8-19-4), which defeated both Dartmouth and Harvard last week in its regular-season finale, got its lone goal Saturday from Zach Giuttari, on a power play early in the third period. The Bears also received 37 saves overall from Luke Kania in Brown’s final game of the 2017-18 campaign.
Princeton (15-12-2), which now is assured of its first winning record since 2010-11, will play on the road next week in a best-of-three series at an opponent yet to be determined. The winner of that series will advance to the ECAC Tournament semifinals on March 16 in Lake Placid.

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