SHANNY TOWN: Princeton University women’s hockey player Cristin Shanahan glides up the ice. Last Saturday, junior forward Shanahan scored the winning goal as Princeton edged Rensselaer 2-1 in overtime. The Tigers, now 6-1-1 overall and 4-0 ECAC Hockey, host St. Lawrence on November 21 and Clarkson on November 22. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Cristin Shanahan saw no need for finesse when she got the chance to give the Princeton University women’s hockey team an overtime win against visiting Rensselaer last Saturday.

With just over two minutes gone in the extra session, Shanahan received the puck on the doorstep of the goal on a nice pass from Kiersten Falck and she closed the deal with aplomb.

“I wasn’t really the playmaker there, my teammates did a good job,” said Shanahan, whose tally gave Princeton a 2-1 win as it improved to 6-1-1 overall and 4-0 ECAC Hockey.

“I don’t know how Falck manages to thread the puck through every single time. She got it to me, it was a perfect puck laying right there for me and I had the open net so I slammed it home.”

The triumph marked the third overtime win for the Tigers in their last four games as they had edged Union 3-2 in OT on Friday and had topped RIT 4-3 in overtime on November 7.

In Shanahan’s view, Princeton’s clutch play exemplifies the team’s special spirit.

“I have never played on a team that loves hockey so much,” said Shanahan. “We just love coming to the rink, we love being here. It just means a lot playing with kids who love it; coming through in those moments shows how much heart we have.”

Shanahan acknowledges that the Tigers need to play better so they don’t have to keep going to overtime to get wins.

“I think our team just has to work on being consistent through the whole game,” said Shanahan.

“We are a very strong team. I think we have a ton of potential and that we can absolutely kill this season. One thing we have to do is play 60 minutes.”

With two seasons of college hockey under her belt, Shanahan feels she is getting more out of her potential this winter.

“I think I am way more confident, I have noticed that and the coaches have told me that,” said Shanahan, a 5’6 native of Ottawa, Ontario who is second in goals scored for the Tigers this season with four, trailing only Molly Contini’s total of five.

“I am doing my own thing and not worrying about how other people are playing. I am just focusing on my game and doing my thing; it is finally working out for me.”

Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal is looking for his team to do better at maintaining its focus.

“We have come up at big moments and have made big plays,” said Kampersal, whose team took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by sophomore Morgan Sly.

“We have spurts of really hard-working play where we are really getting to work and we are strong on the puck and getting shots on goal and then other times when it is not very pretty and we are throwing pucks away, playing a little ping pong with the puck. We have done a good job defensively of keeping teams to the outside for the most part so we don’t let up a ton of shots, which is good.”

In the win over Rensselaer, the Tigers did a good job when it mattered most.

“We didn’t generate enough shots on offense tonight but again we killed off the big penalty at the end of regulation, which was huge, and then to get the goal right after was even bigger,” said Kampersal, who got 20 saves from junior goalie Kimberly Newell. “We got all the points, they are not drawing pictures on the scoresheet, luckily.”

Shanahan’s game-winning shot brought a smile to Kampersal’s face. “Shanny is solid, she slammed that home, which was great,” added Kampersal. “The pass by Falck was a big league pass. It was a really nice play all around. Leahy sent them in with a nice entry. That group played fairly well all day.”

While Kampersal is happy that Tigers are undefeated so far in ECACH play, he knows that won’t last long if the team doesn’t get more consistent.

“They are finding ways to win games,” noted Kampersal, whose team hosts St. Lawrence on November 21 and Clarkson on November 22.

“There has been adversity where we might have folded in years past, like getting down 3-0 to RIT last week or having Union score on us with 30 seconds to go last night and losing the lead late here. They kept with it and they kept resiliency. We will take where we are at, no question, but we definitely need to play a lot better and work on being consistent for 60 minutes.”

Shanahan, for her part, believes the Tigers can get better and better as the season unfolds.

“We are all pumped, I was just talking to some of my teammates and we think we are going to play home ice in the playoffs,” said Shanahan. “We are hoping to be Ivy champs. We think we have something special going here.”