Princeton Scores Twice Late to Upend Harvard

Box Score

Princeton, NJ -- The Princeton men's hockey team scored twice in the final eight minutes to come from behind and defeat 15th-ranked Harvard 2-1 on Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink. Sophomore Kevin Kaiser scored the game winner for Princeton on a breakaway with 2:36 remaining in regulation.

Harvard got the early jump in the action and outshot Princeton 13-4 in the opening period. Harvard broke through at 11:48 of the first period to take a 1-0 lead as Jimmy Fraser scored when he one-timed a Michael Del Mauro pass into the Princeton net. That goal stood up as the only one for the next 40 minutes of action before Princeton came on late.

Play shifted into Princeton's favor in the second period as the Tigers garnered a season-high 18 shots in the period, but could not solve Harvard netminder Kyle Richter as he made several great saves. That trend continued in the third as Richter continued to hold the lead for his team. Meanwhile, in the Princeton net, sophomore Zane Kalemba was just as good, stopping a total of 31 shots and keeping the Tigers within a goal.

Princeton finally broke through at 12:41 of the third period when freshman Matt Arhontas scored his first collegiate goal. Senior Landis Stankievech gloved down a clearing attempt at the blue line, then controlled the puck and fed it sophomore Jody Pederson at the point. Pederson then waited for a screen and threw the puck to the net, where Arhontas was able to redirect it by Richter to knot the game at a goal apiece. Pederson's assist was his third of the weekend.

Tied at 1-1, Harvard then went on the power play at 15:18 when Kaiser was called for tripping. That proved an important call in the game, because two minutes later, Stankievech sprawled to block a point shot by Harvard defensemen Alex Biega. The puck caromed off of Stankievech into the neutral zone, where Kaiser had just stepped out of the penalty box. Kaiser picked up the puck and skated into the Harvard zone all alone. Once in the slot, Kaiser shot high to the stick side of Richter and found the back of the net for his second goal of the year. The assist was Stankievech's second of the night and his fourth point of the weekend as he extended his point-scoring streak to three games.

The win was Princeton's third in a row and moved the Tigers back to .500 overall at 8-8-0, while Princeton moved into a three-way tie atop the ECAC Hockey standings with its 6-4-0 record.

The Tigers are back in action next weekend with ECAC Hockey and Ivy League contests at Yale and Brown.