MANNING UP: Princeton University men’s hockey player Jake Manfre heads up the ice in recent action. Last Saturday, sophomore forward Manfre scored two goals to help Princeton defeat RPI 4-0. The Tigers, who improved to 7-4 overall and 4-2 ECAC Hockey with the win, are currently on break and will return to action when they host Brown on December 28. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
Excelling at both ends of the ice, the Princeton University men’s hockey team accomplished something last weekend that it hadn’t done in 17 years.
Heading up to the Albany, N.Y. corridor, Princeton defeated Union 5-1 on Friday and then topped RPI 4-0 a day later, giving the program its first sweep of the capital region road series since November 14-15, 2008.
“It is a hard road trip with the environments that you face and the quality of the opponent that you play,” said Princeton head coach Ben Syer, whose team improved to 7-4 overall and 4-2 ECAC Hockey with the 2-0 weekend. “Even at my time at Cornell, I cannot remember sweeping that series. It might have happened but it doesn’t happen often.”
Although Princeton went into the trip to New York coming off losing 4-1 and 4-3 in a two-game set at Bowling Green from November 28-29, Syer saw positives from the weekend in Ohio.
“I thought our guys had a great response on Saturday night,” said Syer, noting that the Tigers were out of synch in the 4-1 defeat. “We did not get the outcome that we wanted, but the process and how we played the game was how we wanted to play or very close to it. I walked away thinking that we learned a lot. We needed to find ways to be able to harness that going into this past weekend. I thought that it was a great learning experience. It gave us something to really focus in on for this past weekend.”
Against Union, Princeton showed focus from the start, jumping out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Matt Souliere and Jaxson Ezman.
“I think two goals is always better than one, it gives you a little bit of a momentum,” said Syer. “That is a tough place to play. We talk about earning momentum. It gave us an opportunity to see that we are doing things the way that we want to play and we got rewarded. We attempted to play that way through the entirety of the game. I think that really set the tone for the night.”
As the Tigers pulled away to the 5-1 win, they showed scoring balance as Jake Manfre, Jayden Sison, and Drew Garzone tallied third period goals to give the Tigers five different scorers on the night.
“I think that is great and it was how they all scored and how they went about it,” said Syer. “I think they all worked for it. Ez’s goal was able to happen because it was a great backcheck by Brendan Gorman to be able to do that. It was a great breakout that led to Sou’s goal. It was just little things that factored in. It was great to see many guys get rewarded for that.”
At the other end of the ice, the Tigers stifled Union, holding the Garnet Chargers scoreless over the last two periods.
“I thought our team defense was pretty good,” said Syer. “I know we got outshot but I thought we did a pretty good job of keeping them outside. They had a couple of looks but I thought our defense in particular did a really nice job of battling around the net as did Cally (Conor Callahan) in the net. All of them from the defense to him really battled hard around the crease.”
Junior goalie Callahan kept battling the next night at RPI as he recorded his first career shutout, making 22 saves in the process.
“I thought he was solid the whole weekend, he made the saves that he needed to make and to give our guys a little bit of confidence here to go about their job,” said Syer of Callahan, who had 29 saves against Union and was later named the ECACH Goalie of the Week. “It was nice to see him get rewarded with a shutout on Saturday. I was probably most happy with him this weekend with the way he battled and competed for the 120 minutes that he played. Artie hadn’t played in a little bit and Conor has done a nice job of battling.”
Junior forward Kai Daniells did a very good job in the win over RPI, tallying one goal and two assists.
“I think he has started to do a number of things and he is getting rewarded for it,” said Syer of Daniells, who now has a team-high 10 goals. “It is possessing the puck, playing hard, winning battles and using his body to do that. He is a skilled player and always has been. To be able to use his body, to be able to possess the puck for longer periods of time and help his teammates, he has done a really nice job.”
In addition to Daniells, sophomore forward Jake Manfre also got rewarded for playing hard as he scored two goals against the Engineers.
“Jake had a couple of real timely goals there for us,” said Syer.
“His sidekick there, David Jacobs, made a real nice play and assisted on them as well. Manfre has done a really nice job. He got rewarded for doing things the right way from the start of that game on Saturday to the very end.”
While Jacobs hasn’t scored a goal this season, he has emerged as a key playmaker for the Tigers, piling up a team-best 10 assists.
“He is just committed to playing the right way,” said Syer of Jacobs. “He is a really selfless player that likes to win and wants to win. Whatever it is that is required of him is what he is going to give you. He made a couple of really nice plays this weekend both on Friday and Saturday in terms of setting up some nice goals.”
Syer pointed to sophomore forward Luc Pelletier and senior defenseman David Ma as unsung heroes for the squad.
“Luc has done a really nice job in the middle, he has scored a little bit the last couple of games,” said Syer, whose team is currently on break and will return to action when it hosts Brown on December 28. “He is starting to kill more penalties and getting more ice time. He has done a good job with that. I think David doesn’t have a point yet but he has moved pucks and done a really nice job in that regard. I have been pleased with the overall play of those two guys.”
While Princeton is still a work in progress, Syer likes the compete level he is seeing from his players in their promising start.
“I think one of the things that we are happy about is that our guys are finding ways thus far to be able to battle and compete in games to win,” said Syer, noting that he is looking for sharper special teams play from the Tigers when they return to action. “We have talked about that; you are never guaranteed anything but you can put yourself in position to battle. Winning is a skill and you have to work at it. Sometimes it comes in different shapes and sizes. The game doesn’t always play out the way you want it to. Our guys have done a really nice job with that.”