March 14, 2009

Princeton Forced to Decisive Third Game

Boxscore

PRINCETON -- Union took advantage of its chances early to build an insurmountable 4-0 lead in an eventual 5-2 win over the Princeton men's hockey team on Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink. Union's win drew the Dutchmen even in the best-of-three quarterfinal series with Game 3 scheduled for Sunday night.

Union jumped on Princeton with two goals in the first half of the opening period. Mario Valery-Trabucco put Union on the board at 6:41 with the first of two goals for the forward. He scored off a Princeton turnover in front of the Tiger cage, batting a loose puck out of the air and into the net. Brendan Milnamow made it 2-0 at 9:01 of the period when he scored through a screen from the point right off a face-off.

Union extended its lead in the second period when Jason Shaffer scored off a turnover from the goalline 3:05 into the stanza. The Dutchmen made it 4-0 when
Valery-Trabucco scored on the power play at 12:49 as his shot from the circle bounced off a Princeton defenders skate and into the cage.

The Tigers got on the scoreboard with five minutes left in the second period when junior Dan Bartlett scored his 11th of the season and his third in the last three games. Bartlett carried the puck through the neutral zone and beat Union netminder Corey Milan with a shot from the blue line. Junior Tyler Beachell and sophomore Matt Godlewski assisted on the goal.

Bartlett scored his second of the night in the third period to make the score 4-2 as Princeton threw everything it had at Milan. Bartlett's goal came with 6:53 remaining as he banked in a shot from behind the net. Beachell and freshman Derrick Pallis had assists.

That was as close as Princeton could get and Matt Cook sealed the win with 2:14 left with an empty-net goal.

Princeton outshot Union 46-22 in the game. Milan had 44 saves for the win while Princeton junior goaltender Zane Kalemba made 17 stops.

Princeton fell to 21-10 with the loss, while Union moves to 19-16-3. The teams play the third and decisive game of the quarterfinal series tomorrow at 7 p.m.