BEARING DOWN: Princeton University men’s hockey defenseman Kai Greaves, left, and goalie Conor Callaghan guard the crease last Sunday against Brown. Sophomore Greaves assisted on the game-winning goal as Princeton edged the Bears 5-4 in overtime. The Tigers, now 8-4 overall, host Dartmouth on January 2 and Harvard on January 3. (Photo by Shelley M. Szwast, provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)
By Bill Alden
With the Princeton University men’s hockey team returning to action last Sunday after a 22-day hiatus when it hosted Brown, it attracted a standing-room only crowd of 2,186 packing Hobey Baker Rink.
Princeton sophomore defenseman Kai Greaves and his teammates were pumped up by the throng on hand.
“There was a lot of energy in the building today,” said Greaves. “It was a great turnout from the fans. That helped out a lot and of course we want to send them home happy.”
With the rivals knotted 4-4 in overtime, Greaves helped send the crowd home happy, blasting a shot from the point that Jaxson Ezman deflected into the net for the winning tally with 53 seconds left in the extra session.
“It was a good pass from [Kai] Daniells,” said Greaves, recalling the game-winning sequence as the Tigers improved to 8-4 overall and 6-0 on home ice. “Ezman had a good screen in front of the net, so I just wanted to put one there. It felt good off of the stick, it took an extra bounce to go in.”
The Tigers did show some rust as they outshot Brown 12-3 in the first period but trailed 2-1 heading into the second.
“A couple of times the puck didn’t bounce our way,” said Greaves. “I think the message was just keep doing what we are doing and eventually if we stick with the same process, the result is probably going to go our way.”
Princeton got rolling in the second period, building a 20-10 edge in shots on goal and outscoring Brown 3-1 to take a 4-3 lead.
“I think it was a continuation of the first period, I don’t think we got too down after being down 2-1,” said Greaves. “We were playing well and we knew that. We just stuck to it and it worked out for us.”
Brown scored a goal with 6:20 left in regulation to force overtime. With the Bears getting hit with a five-minute major penalty late in regulation, Princeton had a 4-on-3 power play for the first 4:12 of overtime. Although it took a while for the Tigers to cash in, Greaves was confident that they would come through.
“We practice the 4-on-3 a lot,” said Greaves. “I feel like we had some good chances there. It just took until the end to get one in.”
While the Princeton defense tightened up after giving up two goals in the first period, Greaves acknowledged the Tigers were a little rusty at that end of the ice.
“There were definitely some ebbs and flows here and there with the defense,” said Greaves. “I think we have a good foundation to build off of going forward.”
As Greaves has gone through his second college campaign, he has been looking to build on the experience he got last winter.
“I think just being more detailed, that it is what I work on with the coaches day in and day out,” said Greaves, a 6’2, 205-pound native of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, who now has eight assists this season. “It is making sure that I am a consistent player every day in practice and just hoping that it translates to games.”
The partnership Greaves has formed with junior Ian Devlin has helped him develop more consistency.
“It has been great, I think we have really good chemistry,” said Greaves. “We are good friends off the ice. It has been working pretty well so far and we still have a long way to go.”
Princeton head coach Ben Syer liked the way his squad worked through some rust on Sunday as it got back in action.
“I thought for the most part, our guys stayed with the game plan and stayed with a lot of the details we had discussed,” said Syer. “I was pretty pleased with it. I didn’t want the guys to get frustrated but stuff happens at times. That is why it is a game and you have to stay with the process. That tested us the whole night.”
The forward line of Daniells, Jake Manfre, and David Jacobs had another big game as Daniells tallied two goals and one assist with Manfre contributing a goal and an assist and Jacobs chipping in an assist.
“The goal that KD scored off the back side there was a great play to throw it down there,” said Syer, who also got a goal from Brendan Gorman in the second period rally. “They are bringing energy in their play and it is helping other guys as well which is great.”
In the overtime, the Tigers kept up the energy as they dominated possession and built a 6-1 edge in shots on goal.
“As that went along, it is a challenge,” said Syer. “You have to give them a lot of credit to be 4-on-3 for four minutes —that is a long time. They did an outstanding job but credit to our guys, they stayed with it and that is why you play it right out.”
In Syer’s view, Greaves has been doing an outstanding job all over the ice.
“He obviously gets credit for that offensive play,” said Syer. “I thought he did some really nice things to control the puck and to control the game. He has been growing in that regard throughout the year. It has been really good to see.”
The Tigers also got some really good play from senior defenseman Nick Marciano who had an assist in the win.
“Marciano is an outstanding player,” said Syer. “I think he has a chance to play beyond Princeton. He is long. He can skate. He can rip it. I am a huge fan.”
Syer pointed to the play of senior forward Ezman as a huge plus for the Tigers.
“The one guy I think that sometimes slips through the cracks is Ezman, he got credit for the winner,” said Syer of Ezman, who had a goal and an assist against the Bears.
“He set Gorms up on his goal. He plays fast. He does a really nice job of going about his business every day. He is even-keeled but he plays with jam. Guys love him and they feed off of that.”
With Princeton hosting Dartmouth on January 2 and Harvard on January 3, keeping an even keel as it worked through some ups and downs against Brown should serve it well this weekend.
“It was definitely good to get back,” said Syer. “There were some decisions and hurried plays that we didn’t need to do at times today. It is always a challenge to get back. Now we go in and play two league games here against Dartmouth and Harvard. They are playing well and are ahead of us in the standings.”
Greaves is confident that good times are ahead for the Tigers now that they have returned to action.
“Everybody was excited,” said Greaves. “We had some time at home with the family and we wanted to get back on the right foot to start off the second half of the year. I think we did a good job of that today.”