Bobcats Falls to Tigers

Boxscore

PRINCETON, N.J. - The Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team lost to #9/9 Princeton University, 4-1, in a non-conference game at Hobey Baker Rink in Princeton, N.J. While both teams are members of ECAC Hockey, their previous two meetings counted towards the league standings. The Bobcats drop to 6-6-1 overall while Princeton improves to 10-2-0.

Princeton scored five minutes into the game to take an early 1-0 lead. Kevin Lohry netted his fourth goal of the season on an assist from Brandan Kushniruk. Kushniruk fed Lohry out in front of the net and the sophomore wing's shot from the slot beat Quinnipiac goalie Bud Fisher (Peterborough, Ont.) to give the Tigers the early edge.

In the second period, Quinnipiac had a power play after Princeton was called for interference early in the second frame. After Matt Sorteberg (Anoka, Minn.) dumped the puck to the far end of the ice, Bryan Leitch (Coquitlam, B.C.) dug the puck out of the corner to the right of Princeton goalie Zane Kalemba. Leitch passed to David Marshall (Buffalo, Minn.) at the left point, who then found Zach Hansen (White Bear Lake, Minn.) alone just above the opposite face-off circle closest to the Bobcats' bench. The sophomore defenseman's blast from the right point beat Kalemba to the top right corner of the net to tie the game, 1-1, with less than 17 minutes to play in the second period. The goal was Hansen's fourth of the year while Marshall picks up his sixth assist. Leitch also picked up his ECAC Hockey leading 16^th assist of the year.

Princeton's third line of Mike Kramer, Mark Magnowski and Matt Arhontas combined for three second period goals to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead. At the 10:49 mark, Kramer scored to give Princeton a 2-1 lead. Mark Magnowski pushed down the right side of the ice towards Fisher in goal. His centering pass to Kramer was blocked by a Quinnipiac defender and sent straight up in the air front of Fisher. Kramer was able to poke the puck in mid-air past Fisher to give the Tigers the lead.

The line scored again with six minutes remaining in the period. Kramer passed to Magnowski in the right face-off circle. Magnowski's shot was stopped by Fisher, but Matt Arhontas collected the rebound and slipped it past Fisher for a power play goal to give Princeton a 3-1 lead. The trio made it 4-1 with just under three minutes to play. Arhontas hooked up with Kramer to the right of Fisher, who put a shot on goal. Magnowksi collected the rebound and punched it past the senior goalie.

Princeton's three-goal second period ended Fisher's night. The senior net minder gave way to freshman Nick Pisellini (Itasca, Ill.). Fisher recorded 21 saves, while allowing four goals, over 40 minutes. The freshman goalie stopped all 10 shots he saw over the final 20 minutes to hold the Tigers scoreless in the final period.

Quinnipiac returns to action on Friday, Dec. 5 when they host Hockey East member Providence College in a non-conference match-up at the TD Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start and can be seen live on the New England Sports Network (NESN).

After that Friday night's game, the Bobcats are idle until Dec. 29-30 when it travels to Storrs, Conn. for the UConn Invitational. The Bobcats will play Merrimack College on Monday, Dec. 29 at 4 p.m., prior to the late game of that day between host University of Connecticut and the United State Air Force Academy. The losers of both games will play in the consolation game on Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 4 p.m. before the championship game at 7 p.m.