FORWARD PROGRESS: Princeton University men’s hockey player Kyle Rankin unloads the puck in a game earlier this season. Last Saturday, junior forward Rankin had an assist as Princeton tied St. Lawrence 1-1. A day earlier, Rankin and the Tigers rallied for a 2-1 win over Clarkson. Princeton, now 4-17-3 overall and 2-14-2 ECAC Hockey, hosts Brown on February 20 and Yale on February 21. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Although the Princeton University men’s hockey team started February by losing 2-0 at Colgate and 4-2 at Cornell, Colton Phinney saw the weekend as a step in the right direction.

“Both games could have gone either way; we had a great second and third period against Cornell,” said sophomore goalie Phinney.

“I think since Christmas we have been playing really well. Goals are starting to come. I think we are definitely turning around and starting to play better.”

Hosting Clarkson last Friday, the Tigers dug an early 1-0 hole but came on after that to pull out a 2-1 win.

“We weren’t playing our best in the first,” said Phinney. “We knew we could play better and we had a great second period and a great third. It is believing in ourselves and knowing that we can improve. In the first period, we were giving them too much time and space. We weren’t really playing them like we were supposed to and how we practiced and we switched in the second and third.”

Phinney experienced a harrowing final minute on Friday as Clarkson went to an extra attacker and pressed hard in a bid to tie the game.

“The time seemed to go really, really slow; I looked and saw 20 seconds left and then looked up again and there was still a second left,” recalled Phinney, who ended up with 28 saves in the win.

“I knew we were going to block some shots and I knew they were going to throw everything they could at the net. I just try to make the saves and believe in our team blocking it, which they did.”

The Princeton defense showed its growing self belief a night later as the Tigers tied St. Lawrence 1-1, moving to 4-17-3 overall and 2-14-2 ECAC Hockey.

“We have definitely gotten better on defense,” asserted Phinney, who made 34 saves against the Saints.

“Cornell was a really good effort too, especially in the second and third periods. We built off of it today in the second and third periods; we didn’t give them much at all.”

Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty liked the effort he got from his players against Clarkson as they picked up their intensity over the last two periods of the contest.

“We were supporting the puck and attacking with speed,” said Fogarty. “We were not looking for the puck over our shoulder, we were attacking with the puck and had some time to get it in deep and get some pressure. We know who we are and the longer the games are 0-0 or 1-0, the more that our guys are fine with it and the other teams aren’t.”

The game winner was the product of an attacking play by junior forward Jonathan Liau as he flew down the ice to cut off a puck that was headed for the red line and then flipped it back to senior Tucker Brockett, who found the back of the net with 12:54 remaining in the third period.

“It was a lot of hustle there from Jon Liau to negate the icing; that was a great play by No. 10.” said Fogarty.

In pulling out the win, the Tigers showed toughness to go with their hustle. “It was a great team win, guys were banged up, there were a lot of ice bags in there,” said Fogarty.

“That is what it takes to win, winning is difficult. If it was easy, everybody would be winning. It takes 28 of our guys to be committed Monday through Thursday and then the guys in the games have to play to their potential every shift.”

Fogarty believes Princeton is starting to play up to its potential. “We tied Brown (2-2 on January 31) and now we beat Clarkson so we are getting points,” said Fogarty, whose team hosts Brown on February 20 and Yale on February 21.

“That is what our goal was, to play our best hockey down the stretch and I thought we played a very good game tonight.”

Phinney for his part, believes that the comeback win over Clarkson is a very good sign for the Tigers.

“I think this is the first one we came from behind so it was definitely good,” said Phinney.

“We are starting to get wins at the end of the season. We are showing that we are relentless and not giving up after they score first. At the beginning of the year, we would probably have given up and lost this game 3-0, or 4-0. We almost built off of giving up a goal and used it as momentum and went from there.”