Harvard Edges Princeton in Regular-Season Finale

Boxscore

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Harvard's Doug Rogers scored on the power play midway through the third period to lead the Crimson to a 3-2 win over the Princeton men's hockey team on Saturday night at the Bright Hockey Center. Princeton juniors Jody Pederson and Dan Bartlett each had a goal and assist in the loss for the Tigers.

Princeton scored the game's first goal, but then fell behind 2-1 before tying it up at 2-2 through two periods. Harvard then tallied the only goal of the final period to come away with the 3-2 win.

Pederson got the scoring started at 6:21 of the first period when he one-timed a Bartlett pass by Harvard goaltender Ryan Carroll. The goal came on the power play and was Pederson's fifth of the season. Sophomore Matt Arhontas also assisted on the goal.

The Crimson answered six minutes later with another power-play goal as Rogers held the puck along the boards, waited for a screen, and then went to the middle and scored with a wrist shot to knot the score at 1-1.

Harvard gained its first lead of the night at 11:54 of the second period when Joe Smith scored off the rush. Harvard broke out of the Tiger zone and Smith scored with a quick shot from the top of the circles that snuck by Princeton junior goaltender Zane Kalemba.

Princeton quickly answered though when Bartlett netted his ninth of the season at 14:03. Freshman Marc Hagel started the play in the Tiger end with a pass to Pederson coming out of the zone. Pederson then fed Bartlett in the neutral zone and Bartlett weaved his way through the Harvard zone before waiting for a screen to develop and then shot inside the far post to knot the score.

The game entered the third period tied at 2-2 before Rogers scored the game winner at 11:49. Six seconds after a Princeton penalty, Harvard's Alex Biega knocked down a Princeton clear at the point and fed the puck to Matt McCollem on the goal line. McCollem then fed the puck in front and Rogers redirected it for the go-ahead goal.

Carroll finished the night with 38 saves as Princeton outshot Haravrd 40-30 in the game. Kalemba finished the night with 27 saves.

Princeton fell to 20-9 overall and 14-8 in the ECAC. It is Princeton's second-straight season with that ECAC record. Princeton finished the regular season in third-place in the ECAC standings as Cornell won its game in overtime to leap the Tigers.

Princeton is off next weekend and returns to action on Friday, Mach 13 for Game 1 of the best-of-three ECAC Quarterfinals at Hobey Baker Rink.