LAST CALL: Princeton University women’s hockey player ­Paula Romanchuk sets up in the crease in recent action. Senior forward Romanchuk and her classmates will be looking to end their careers on a high note as they compete in the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The seventh-seeded Tigers (12-13-4 overall, 10-10-2 in ECACH) will start postseason play when they head up to No. 2 Harvard (20-8-1 overall, 17-4-1 ECACH) this weekend for a best-of-three ECACH quarterfinal series starting on February 24. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Julie Johnson and her classmates on the Princeton University women’s hockey team didn’t get their senior weekend off to a good start.

Hosting Rensselaer last Friday evening, the Tigers fell behind 1-0 23 seconds into the contest.

“That first goal on the first shift puts you back on your heels and kills momentum,” said senior forward Johnson.

The Tigers did answer back as sophomore Denna Laing found the back of the net midway through the first period. With the game knotted at 1-1 after one, the Tigers did some soul searching during the first intermission.

“We rallied between periods,” recalled Johnson. “We knew that we just had to work hard and focus on winning our one-on-one battles.”

Early in the second period, Johnson won a key battle, gaining possession of the puck along the boards and setting up a Sally Butler goal that turned out to be the game winner in a 2-1 Princeton victory.

“I came off the bench and I just tried to play high and read what their defense was doing coming out of their zone,” said Johnson.

“I saw that the puck was coming loose near the boards and I tried to hop on it with speed. I knew Sally was in the slot so I just turned and gave her a little backhanded pass and thankfully she found the back of the net. It was pretty nice.”

While Johnson was happy to get on the score sheet, that was not her main goal in her last weekend of action at Baker Rink.

“This year I have been struggling to get points; it hasn’t been my focus,” said Johnson.

“I am trying to enjoy it; that is the big thing with senior weekend. You come in and try to enjoy it with your team and everyone rallies around each other. It doesn’t matter who gets the points as long as we win.”

The Tigers went on to win a day later, beating Union 3-0 to finish the regular season at 12-13-4 overall and 10-10-2 in ECAC Hockey action. The seventh-seeded Tigers will head up to No. 2 Harvard (20-8-1 overall, 17-4-1 ECACH) this weekend for a best-of-three ECACH quarterfinal series starting on February 24.

In Johnson’s view, Princeton will come ready to play well when they arrive at Cambridge.

“We have some work to do and we owe it to ourselves to play well there next weekend,” said Johnson.

“We have to tighten up a little bit in the d-zone and get the power play going. We need to focus on winning those blue lines. We are so close, it is just doing a couple of little things and we’ll be good.”

Over the course of her career, Johnson has done a lot of things for the Tigers, moving from her natural forward position to defenseman when Princeton has been shorthanded in that area.

“I have been ready to do whatever the team needs me to do,” said the 5’7 Johnson, a native of Calgary, Alberta who has three assists this season and 37 points in her Tiger career of 13 goals and 24 assists.

“This season I feel like I have played that role pretty well. Sometimes I feel lost on defense and I just try to keep things simple back there and work hard to get the puck. On offense, it is just grinding in the corners and the walls and trying to get my teammates the puck.”

Princeton head coach Jeff Kampersal liked the way Johnson grinded in the win over Rensselaer.

“For sure, JJ worked really hard, she was strong on the boards today,” said Kampersal.

“She did a good job for us on that goal, that was a nice shot by Sally over the shoulder.”

While Kampersal was happy to see Princeton get the win, he knows the team has to raise the level of its play of it is going to prevail in the playoff series at Harvard.

“It was definitely nice to get the win today; we played well for two periods but not three,” said Kampersal, whose team split with the Crimson in regular season play, blanking Harvard 3-0 at Baker Rink on January 6 but losing 10-1 in Cambridge on February 4.

“We need to fix coverage in front of the net and we need to fix our power play which is still mediocre at best.”

Kampersal is expecting a powerful effort in the playoffs from his group of seniors which includes Ann-Marie Elvin, Heather Landry, co-captain Charissa Stadnyk, co-captain Paula Romanchuk, Danielle DiCesare, and Rachel Weber in addition to Johnson.

“I would consider them a hockey group in the way they care about the sport,” asserted Kampersal.

“They show up, they play hard. Most of them have been in the lineup most games so very few times have we missed them. They bring a lot of heart and soul.”

Johnson, for her part, has put her heart into the program and has developed some deep bonds with her classmates in the process.

“We were extremely close our freshman and sophomore years and we still are that close,” said Johnson.

“Princeton hockey is a family and these are the girls that you spend every day with. You battle through the ups and downs; it is a special thing to be a part of and it is going to be sad to leave.”