Tigers Skate to Tie with Dartmouth

Final	1	2	3	OT	Final
Dartmouth (9-9-4, 6-6-3)	1	1	1	0	3
Princeton (7-10-6, 5-8-3)	1	1	1	0	3

Scoring Summary
1st - 00:42	Sdao, Michael (Princeton)
1st - 09:49	Neiley, Eric (Dartmouth)
2nd - 03:02	Kleebaum, Rob (Princeton)
2nd - 13:44	PP - Neiley, Eric (Dartmouth)
3rd - 02:49	Hagel, Marc (Princeton)
3rd - 03:59	Goggin, Connor (Dartmouth)

Dartmouth	Princeton
G: Eric Neiley - 2 A: 2 Players (#9, #16 - 2) Sh: 2 Players (#11, #16 - 5) Sv: Jody O'Neill - 36	G: 3 Players (#24, #25, #39 - 1) A: 5 Players (#6, #15, #18, #28, #39 - 1) Sh: Jack Berger - 7 Sv: Mike Condon - 29

TEAM STATISTICS	Dartmouth	Princeton
Power Plays	1 for 4	0 for 4
Shorthanded Goals	0	0
Penalties (min)	4 (8)	4 (8)
Shots on Goal	32	39
Face Offs Won	38	28

full stats

PRINCETON, N.J. (2/3/12) - It was a wild night at Baker Rink as the Princeton men's hockey team skated to a 3-3 tie with Dartmouth in a game that would take three hours and 19 minutes.

There was an hour-delay in the game, with 12:36 left in the third period, after a shot by Jesse Beamish hit the glass behind the goal and shattered it. Incidentally, it was the third shattered pane of the glass that day, as both teams broke one during pre-game skate in the afternoon.

"I wonder if Hobey is trying to send us a message. A positive one I hope," head coach Bob Prier said after the game.

"We played well tonight against a strong offensive team. You only need to give Dartmouth a couple of chances and it'll score on them. I think both goalies were unbelievable, even though the 3-3 score might not reflect it, both played outstanding games."

Junior Michael Sdao put Princeton on the scoreboard just 42 seconds into the game. Sdao fired a shot from the left boards that went over the shoulder of netminder Jody O'Neill. Freshman Tyler Maugeri and junior Rob Kleebaum earned the assists.

Dartmouth's Eric Neilley scored his first of two at 9:49 of the first. Neilley one-timed a pass from Dan Nycholat in the slot passed a screen Mike Condon. Tyler Sikura fed Nycholat the puck from behind the cage.

Junior Mike Condon would help maintain the tie with some impressive saves. With 2:16 left to play in the first period he made a big save on a shorthanded shot by Sikura after a turnover in the slot and made back-to-back saves on power-play shots in the last two minutes.

Kleebaum earned his second point of the night with a goal at 3:02 of the second. Freshman Aaron Ave picked off a Dartmouth breakout and kept the puck in the Tigers' offensive end. He slid the puck down the ice to Kleebaum who skated around the back of the net and flipped the puck from just inside the left face-off circle.

Neilley evened the game with a power-play goal at 13:44 when he went gloveside on Condon. Matt Lindblad and Connor Goggin earned the helpers as Goggin found Neilley in the neutral zone. Neilley sent the puck to Lindblad on the left boards and he sent it back to Neilley to fired glove side.

Condon made a huge save on Paul Lee's shot seven minutes in when Lee went 1x1 with him. Condon slid to his right and made the pad save. Midway through the period he stopped another 1x1 chance with Rick Pinkston came out of the box and was treated with the puck. The rebound bounced out to Sikura who couldn't get a shot off despite the open net on the left side. Condon maintained the tie as Dartmouth peppered him in the final minute of the period.

Senior Marc Hagel regained the lead for the Tigers at 2:49 of the third period. Sophomore Jeremy Goodwin picked up an Andrew Calof rebound at the blue line and fired a shot that was redirected by Hagel to give Princeton the 3-2 lead.

Nearly one minute later however the lead was erased with a goal by Goggin. A scramble took place on the right side of the goal and the puck was pushed back to Lindblad. Lindblad saw Goggin wide open in the left circle and sent a cross-ice pass to him that he fired top shelf.

There was an hour-delay in the game, with 12:36 on the clock, after a shot by Jesse Beamish hit the glass behind the goal and shattered it. Incidentally, it was the third shattered pane of the glass that day, as both teams broke one during pre-game skate in the afternoon.

At 9:49 p.m., play resumed, exactly one hour after the game was halted.

Both teams tried mightily to get the game winner goal but both goalies were strong between the pipes.

Junior Eric Meland had Princeton's best chance with 1:05 remaining but goalie Jody O'Neill made an unbelievable glove save on the shot. He would finish the game with 36 saves as his team moves to 9-9-4 overall and 6-6-3 in the league.

Princeton had a 39-32 edge in shots in the game as they Tigers improve to 7-10-6 on the season and 5-8-3 in the ECAC to sit in eighth place in the standings along with Yale. Princeton is 2-0-2 in its last four games.

"It's a tight race right now in the ECAC, so this point could mean the difference between a bye, hosting or travel for the first round," Prier said. "There's 12 points up for grabs for us and we're going to try to gobble up as many as we can in this final stretch."

The Tigers hit the road for the next two straight weekends. First up is a trip to the North Country as coach Prier revisits his alma mater St. Lawrence, and cross-town rival Clarkson, on Feb. 10 & 11.