It was a game that defied statistics. You'd think that with a 50-32 shots
on goal advantage, Princeton would have scored at least 4 or 5 goals. But,
as we've been saying all year, ignore the stats and pay attention to the
score.
 
After all the talk about Trevor Koenig being a rookie of the year candidate,
he fluttered against Dartmouth & Vermont last week. But On Friday, he
showed why we were ll talking about him. A 46-save effort helped Union
defeat Princeton, 7-4.
 
The goalies were the story of the game. Princeton seemed to control the
flow in the first period, but when Union put their first shot on goal,
it slipped right through James Konte's legs as if he were asleep. That
turned the game around, IMO. Union had more life to their legs after that
and showed it. Princeton tried to keep themselves in the game, but Koenig
wouldn't let it happen. He made 25 saves in the second period, when Princeton
put 27 shots on him. Most of those shots were quality shots, either point
blank shots or deflections from point shots.
 
Then there was the Priceton goaltending tandem. I was looking forward to
watching Konte, but I don't think I saw his real self. Freshman Erasmo
Saltarelli replaced Konte at the start of the 2nd period, but didn't help
his team much more than Konte did. Only 7 shots by Union in the period,
but 3 of those went in the net. The killer being Chris Ford's blast that
hit the back of the net with 0.7 seconds left.
 
Princeton made it close with a couple tallies in the third, as they again
controlled play for the most part, but couldn't get too many good shots on
Koenig. Chris Albert's 3rd goal at 18:20 put the game away. Jay Prentice
added an empty-netter.
 
Then, the melee ensued. Probably nothing compared to the Miami-MSU debacle,
but Princeton's frustration showed at the end. With under 4 seconds left,
a small fight broke out in front of the Union net. A couple misconducts were
handed out, along with several roughings. IMO, they might as well have
just stopped the game right then. It took the refs about 5 minutes to sort
out the infractions.
 
Regardless, Union celebrates a very important win. They now stand tied for
10th place with Yale, who comes to Schenectady tonight for a HUGE game for
both teams.
 
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+  Andy Weise                 Let's Go Tech!!     [log in to unmask]  +
=  SUNY Potsdam '93                                                       =
+  Union College '95?         Let's Go U!!        [log in to unmask] +
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