Princeton Upends Cornell

Box score

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Hockey teams often talk about balance, needing to find offense from multiple sources. But on Friday night at Lynah Rink, it was one line that did all the damage for the Princeton Tigers, as they sent Cornell to a 3-2 defeat in the Big Red's home and ECAC Hockey opener.

The Princeton line of Lee Jubinville, Brett Wilson and Cam MacIntyre accounted for all three of Princeton's goals on the night, also tallying all five of the Tigers' assists. Jubinville scored a pair of goals, once in both the first and second periods, and assisted on MacIntyre's goal with 3:42 remaining in the third period that would stand as the game-winner.

Princeton took a 1-0 lead after the first period after Jubinville's shot from between the faceoff circles was deflected by a Cornell stick up and over the left shoulder of Cornell goaltender Troy Davenport. After heading into the first intermission trailing by one, Cornell senior Topher Scott found himself on the receiving end of a gift by the Princeton defense, intercepting a pass and skating in alone on goalie Zane Kalemba. Scott's shuffle of the puck went over the outstretched leg of Kalemba, knotting the score at one.

Five minutes later, Jubinville was at it again, finishing off a flurry in front of the goal. A shot from the point came in that Davenport stopped, but the puck came out to MacIntyre, who fired a point-blank shot that was stoned by Davenport. The puck came off to Wilson, who tried to flip the puck to the far post, where Jubinville was waiting to stick the puck into the uncovered goal.

In the third period, Cornell again tied the score, this time taking advantage of a flurry in front of the Princeton net. Riley Nash, circling around the goal, fed a pass into the middle to Colin Greening, who flipped a shot at the goal and was stopped by Kalemba. The puck came off to junior Evan Barlow, who shoveled it up and over Kalemba's leg and across the goal line, but not without some argument from the Tigers, who felt the puck had been cleared from the goal before fully crossing over the goal line. The goal stood, and the two teams were knotted back up at two.

With 3:42 remaining, MacIntyre ripped home a shot from Davenport's right faceoff dot that beat the junior netminder after taking a pass from Jubinville. Cornell, despite pulling the goalie for an extra skater with 39 seconds remaining, couldn't get the tying goal. With the extra man, the Big Red had an excellent chance, with Riley Nash feeding a pass into the middle that senior Raymond Sawada fired just wide of the post.

Cornell falls to 0-2-0 on the year and 0-1-0 in ECAC Hockey play, while Princeton improves to 2-0-0 overall and 1-0-0 in league action. The Big Red will try to get into the win column on Saturday night as they play host to Quinnipiac in a 7 p.m. contest at Lynah Rink.