Yale Blanks Princeton on Road, 4-0

Princeton University's home postseason hopes took a bit of a hit with a 4-0 loss to visiting Yale University on Saturday evening, in the Tigers' regular-season home finale at 100-year-old Hobey Baker Rink.

Ian Carpentier notched the game-winning goal for Yale on a 5-on-3 power play in the first period, before closing out the scoring with just over a minute remaining in regulation on an empty-net goal. His two scores were sandwiched around a second-period tip-in by Niklas Allain, and a third-period partial breakaway converted by New Jersey native David Chen.

Yale improved to 6-17-4 overall, and 5-13-2 in ECAC Hockey, in gaining the season series split with Princeton, after a 3-0 loss to the Tigers three months prior in New Haven. Nathan Reid stopped all 40 shots he faced on Saturday in recording his second shutout of the season for the Bulldogs, while Aidan Porter made 22 saves on 25 shots against for the Tigers.

Princeton (12-15-0, 8-13-0) is in seventh place in ECAC Hockey, three points ahead of both Rensselaer and Union. The Tigers will visit both schools next weekend to close out the regular season. 

The top four teams in the conference will receive a first-round playoff bye, while the fifth through eighth seeds will host the ninth through 12th seeds, respectively, in the new single-elimination ECAC Hockey first round that will take place the first weekend of March. The first-round winners will advance to the best-of-three quarterfinals on March 10-12, also on campus sites, before the four quarterfinal survivors advance to the ECAC Hockey championship in Lake Placid on March 17-18. The ultimate winner in Lake Placid will receive ECAC Hockey's automatic berth to the 2023 NCAA tournament.

Colgate Edges Princeton in OT

Liam and Brendan Gorman almost made it Princeton's night. Almost.

The two brothers from Arlington, Mass. staked the Tigers to a 3-2 lead with their individual goals at Hobey Baker Rink on Saturday night, but in the end it was the visiting Colgate Raiders escaping with a 4-3 NCAA victory in overtime. 

Ross Mitton took a drop pass just inside the Princeton blueline, skated between the faceoff circles, and wristed a shot through Tigers netminder Aidan Porter just 57 seconds into the 3-on-3 extra session to give Colgate its first and only lead of the evening. Porter finished the game with 22 stops.

Liam Gorman opened the scoring when he stole the puck along the right wing boards just over five-and-a-half minutes into the contest, and skated in alone to beat Colgate netminder Carter Gylander (33 saves). Colgate's Nic Belpedio responded nine minutes later with a power-play tally to close out the opening stanza.

Jack Cronin connected on the power play for Princeton for the only goal of the middle session, before Colgate knotted matters once again on Colton Young's power-play goal two-and-a-half minutes into the third period. It was a five-minute man advantage for the Raiders, after the Tigers' Nick Seitz received a major penalty and a game misconduct for hitting from behind only 20 seconds into the final frame.

Brendan Gorman whipped home a shot from the right circle just under six minutes into the third period to again put Princeton (0-3-0 overall, 0-3-0 ECAC Hockey) up by a goal. Simon Labelle replied just under seven minutes later for Colgate (3-6-1, 1-1-0) off a goalmouth scramble to make it 3-3 and ultimately push the contest into sudden death.

Princeton outshot Colgate, 36-26, on the night and finished 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Raiders went 2-for-7 while a man up. The two schools will meet again in January at Colgate to close out their season series.

Princeton Begins New Season with Win and Tie at SCSU

Princeton University opened its 2019-20 men's hockey campaign by continuing its recent success against St. Cloud State University.

The Tigers skated to a 5-3 win and a 5-5 tie with the host Huskies in Minnesota over the weekend of Nov. 1-2. The two schools had played to pair of ties in central New Jersey in Dec. 2017, when St. Cloud was ranked as the top Division I team in the country.

Junior goaltender Ryan Ferland backstopped the Tigers to a season-opening victory on Friday, making 31 saves, while sophomore forward Corey Andonovski scored Princeton's first goal of the season and added an assist. Senior forward Jackson Cressey also had a goal and an assist for the visitors.

On Saturday, Andonovski tallied his first career collegiate hat trick, including the game-tying goal in the third period, while freshman netminder Aidan Porter made 25 saves for the Tigers in his NCAA debut. Cressey scored one goal, and set up three others, to finish with six points in two outings. Sophomore forward Sam Hentges led 16th-ranked St. Cloud (1-2-3 overall) with two goals and three assists on the weekend, while junior goalie Dávid Hrenák finished with a total of 37 saves over the two contests for the Huskies.

Princeton (1-0-1) opens ECAC Hockey play at Harvard and Dartmouth on Nov. 8-9, while SCSU will play a non-conference series at Northern Michigan.