FIRE ON ICE: Members of the Princeton University men’s hockey team celebrate a goal during their sweep of Brown in a best-of-three ECAC hockey first round series earlier this month. The seventh-seeded Tigers kept rolling last weekend, sweeping second-seeded Union 2-0 in best-of-three quarterfinal matchup. Princeton, now 17-12-4, plays top-seeded and No. 2 Cornell (25-4-2) in the semis on March 16 in Lake Placid, N.Y. with the victor advancing to the title game on March 17 to face the winner of the Clarkson-Harvard semi. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Having gone 0-17-3 in its last 20 games against Union, including 0-2 this season, the Princeton University men’s hockey team seemed overmatched as it faced the Dutchmen in an ECAC Hockey best-of-three quarterfinal series last weekend.

But Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty wasn’t concerned about that history with his seventh-seeded Tigers having gone 9-2-1 in their last 12 games coming into the clash with second-seeded and No. 16 Union.

“We have been playing consistent since the Harvard game in January,” said Fogarty. “It has been a methodical game of doing the correct things over and over again; there has been a buy in.”

In the opening game last Friday, it looked like history might be repeating itself as Union took a 3-2 lead into the third period.

“Our thought process was get one goal; we knew we could score,” said Fogarty.

“It wasn’t about trying to score two. It was get one goal and win the period and we will push it to OT.”

The Tigers, though, ended up scoring three unanswered goals as junior Ryan Kuffner, sophomore Liam Grande, and senior Eric Robinson all found the back of the net for the Tigers.

A night later, Princeton came through again in the third period, pulling out a 3-2 win and sweeping the series as senior David Hallisey scored with 10 seconds remaining in regulation.

Princeton, now 17-12-4, will play top-seeded and No. 2 Cornell (25-4-2) in the semis on March 16 in Lake Placid, N.Y. with the victor advancing to the title game on March 17 to face the winner of the Clarkson-Harvard semi.

In the series decider against Union, Princeton built a 2-0 lead but found itself on its heels as the Dutchmen answered with two straight goals to make it a 2-2 game going into the third period.

“My message going into the third period of the second game was if on Thursday, anyone presented us the opportunity to win one period to go to Lake Placid, we would take it,” said Fogarty. “So let’s just go win one period; the guys used the entire period to wait to score a goal.”

Hallisey was the unlikely goal scorer, having suffered a leg injury on Friday which put his status for the second game in doubt.

“David was sore. He was on crutches that evening,” said Fogarty. “Even during the conversation in the morning, he didn’t feel he could play. Then he had a great rest and did some rehab with John Furtado. We dressed him as an extra skater for the warm up and he felt good and then he became the hero for the Tigers.”

Fogarty felt very good about the Tigers advancing to the ECACH Final 4 for the first time since 2009.

“It means a lot; it has been a steady progression over the four years for this team to get there,” said Fogarty.

“They see the magic of the ‘98 and the ’08 teams [who each won the ECACH tourney] and they want to do that. We want to create a standard of getting back there each and every year. It is great to get the taste of it and we are going to enjoy the experience for a couple of days before the game on Friday.”

Although the Tigers are sizzling, having outscored their foes 23-8 in going 4-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Fogarty doesn’t believe his club has peaked.

“I still think we can play better. There are some parts of our game that we are getting better at,” said Fogarty, whose team posted 8-2 and 7-1 wins over Brown in the opening round of the playoffs earlier this month.

“You keep striving for improvements in the collective group and the individuals and we are getting a lot of players who are reaching their potential. We keep pushing it in practice, so our team has been getting better as the season moves on. It is a matter of things are working and what can we improve on.”

Having lost twice to Cornell in regular season action, falling 5-4 on November 4 and 7-1 on January 5, Princeton will have to work hard to overcome the Big Red.

“It will be a tough game, which it should be when it is a championship weekend for the conference,” said Fogarty.

“We will continue to do the things that have gotten us here; they will continue to play their A-game. I just look forward to a great game. We have to just worry about our own game. That is how we got there, you can’t change now. You keep improving on how you got there so that is what we are doing.”