DOG BITES: Princeton University men’s hockey player Rob Kleebaum heads up the ice in recent action. Junior forward Kleebaum tallied five points on three goals and two assists last weekend but it wasn’t enough as 11th-seeded Princeton fell 2-1 to No. 6 Yale in a best-of-three ECAC Hockey first round playoff series. The Tigers lost 4-2 to the Bulldogs on Friday and then came back the next day with a 5-4 win on overtime to force a decisive third game. Yale came through in Game 3 on Sunday, topping the Tigers 7-3 as Princeton ended the winter at 9-16-7. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Having gone 0-7-1 in its last eight games with Yale, the Princeton University men’s hockey team had reason to dread its trip to New Haven last weekend to face the Bulldogs in the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs.

But Princeton head coach Bob Prier and his 11th-seeded Tigers liked their chances in the best-of-three series with the sixth-seeded Bulldogs.

“I think the guys felt confident going in; we prepared as much as we could,” said Prier, whose team had lost 5-2 to Yale just a week earlier as it wrapped up regular season play.

“We wanted to give them positive reinforcement going into the weekend. We showed a ton of clips where we exposed Yale the last time we played them; we had 13 goal mouth opportunities.”

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Yale took advantage of its chances around the goal in the opener on Friday night, jumping out to a 2-0 lead.

“Our achilles heel all year was that we came out flat,” said Prier. “When we don’t start slowly, we generally win. We need to get that jump and adrenaline going before the game. They came out hard but we played pretty darn well after that.”

With Rob Kleebaum scoring a goal and assisting on a Jack Berger tally, the Tigers narrowed the Yale lead to 3-2 early in the third period. The Bulldogs, though, tacked on an empty net goal to hold on for the 4-2 win.

“We put together the line of Kleebaum, Berger, and Marc Hagel; they are all big, strong guys,” said Prier.

“They really controlled the puck; it seemed like they would have it 40 seconds at a time. They were mucking and grinding; that was a really nice playoff line.”

A night later, the Tigers broke through against the Bulldogs, pulling out a 5-4 overtime win. Princeton built a 2-0 lead after two periods and then weathered a storm in a wild third period before an Andrew Calof tally 33 seconds into the extra session gave the Tigers the win and forced a decisive third game.

“I am really proud of the way the guys played; we really dominated a lot of that game,” said Prier.

“We gave them a 5-on-3 late, that was a matter of a young team being too emotional. Calof elevated the level of his play, we were lucky to have him on that 2-on-1 in overtime. In the last two games, he showed that he can be one of the elite players. He had two goals in each game. He didn’t have his best game on Friday and he really responded. “

In the third game, Princeton fell behind 3-0 midway through the first period and fought an uphill battle from there, ultimately succumbing 7-3.

“I don’t think we played poorly in the first period, they were just really precise on the shots that they did have,” said Prier, whose team ended the season with an overall record of 9-16-7.

“It was back and forth after that. In the third period, we had a 4 x 4 and we pulled the goalie and had opportunities. It was 5-3 and we continued to battle back. They got an empty net goal and then scored on a power play. We fought right to the end.”

For first-year head coach Prier, getting to take the helm of the Tiger program was a special opportunity.

“I was so fortunate to have a group of guys like this to fall into,” said Prier, a former star and longtime assistant coach at St. Lawrence “As far as my personal development, I learned so much.”

Prier acknowledged that he needs to apply some of the newly-acquired knowledge to get the Tigers back on the winning track.

“We were organized but we have to be better organized,” said Prier. “I need to do a better job of managing things from day to day. I learned a lot from what transpired this season. It starts at the top; I could not have worked harder but I need to work smarter.”

In Prier’s view, the Tigers have the talent in place to get back to the top of the ECACH.

“I am very excited about the future, we will have additional competition with a good group of young guys coming in,” said Prier, whose program is losing just three seniors in Hagel, Derrick Pallis, and Brodie Zuk.

“We will have 10 juniors next year; that is a big difference from having 10 sophomores.”

With the Tiger players having adjusted to a different coaching approach, the team won’t have to go through a transition phase next winter.

“Are we all on the same page?- probably not but we will be,” said Prier.

“A lot of kids made progress getting on the same page. There is not a lot of difference between winning and losing in this league. To win consistently, you have to be focused every practice and play consistently. You can’t turn it on like a light switch. You have to have habits ingrained and we have to get there. There is no better group to do it, they are fabulous guys.”