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Princeton upends top-seeded Cornell to reach ECAC final

Princeton senior Eric Robinson celebrates after scoring a goal against Cornell goaltender Matthew Galajda during the second period of Friday night’s ECAC semifinal game at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. The breakaway goal proved to be the game-winner as the Tigers skated away with a 4-1 victory. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

LAKE PLACID — A week ago, Princeton may have sent a shock through the ECAC hockey world when it traveled to Union and came through with a two-game sweep of the second-seeded Dutchmen in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

On Friday in Lake Placid, the Tigers pulled off another surprise by defeating top-seeded Cornell 4-1 in the first semifinal game of the ECAC men’s ice hockey championships at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena.

Perhaps the only people who haven’t been shocked by Princeton’s postseason run so far are the Tigers themselves. After surviving a first period that saw Cornell dominate its way to a 1-0 lead and outshoot Princeton 11-4, the Tigers roared back with a pair of goals in the second period and two more in the third to advance to tonight’s final against Clarkson, a 5-4 winner over Harvard in Friday’s second semifinal game.

Eric Robinson’s breakaway goal late in the second period gave Princeton a 2-1 lead and held up as the game-winner.

Robinson, a senior from Bellmawr, New Jersey, said coming out cool-headed after weathering a tough opening period proved to be a key for Princeton.

Cornell's Alex Rauter puts Princeton's Reid Yochim into the boards in front of the Big Red bench during the second period of a March 2018 opening semifinal game of the ECAC men's ice hockey championship tournament at the Olympic Center. The Tigers rallied from a 1-0 first-period deficit to triumph 4-1. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“We were just saying stay calm, and stick to our game,” said Robinson, who capped off the win by sliding his second goal of the game into an open net with 34 seconds remaining in third period. “We knew we belonged here.”

During the opening 20 minutes, the puck rarely made it into Cornell’s defensive zone, and the Big Red took a 1-0 lead at the 15:38 mark of the first on a goal by Trevor Yates. On the play, Yates, a senior, flipped a backhander over the shoulder of Tigers goaltender Ryan Ferland into the upper part of the net.

As it turned out, the Yates tally was the only goal that went in for Cornell, which came into the game as the nation’s second-ranked NCAA Division I team.

Liam Grande netted Princeton’s first goal, tying the contest at 1-1 at the 8:51 mark of the second period when he took an advantage of a favorable bounce off the boards and buried a shot past Cornell freshman goalie Matthew Galajda. Josh Teves assisted on the play.

Robinson then put the Tigers ahead to stay with 5:56 remaining in the second when he skated in all alone on Galajda and wristed the puck into the net on the Big Red goalie’s stick side. The play started in Princeton’s defensive zone on a blocked Cornell shot that ended up on the stick of Princeton’s Luke Keenan. After gaining control of the puck, Keenan quickly dished a pass to Robinson, who burst up the middle of the ice for the breakaway.

Princeton tacked on two more tallies in the final stanza, with Max Veronneau scoring midway through the period on assists from Ryan Kuffner and Matthew Thom. Robinson then sealed the deal on an unassisted empty-netter when he picked off an errant Cornell pass near center ice and skated in all alone on the empty net.

Cornell fell to 25-5-2 with the loss and is now expected to receive and at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.

Princeton improved to 18-12-4 with the victory.

“We were definitely on our heels because how good of a team they are,” Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty said of his team’s play in the first period. “We knew we just needed to get one. I think we started taking charge in the second period moving the puck. I’m just happy we got a couple of bounces.”

“It seems like we were satisfied just winning the first period,” said Yates, who scored his 12th goal of the season for Cornell. “We let them get back into it. Now they’re playing tomorrow and we’re not.”

Cornell head coach Mike Shafer said it’s time to get back to the drawing board and prepare for the NCAA tournament.

“It was a frustrating night,” Shafer said. “They played well. They clogged up the middle and their goalie came up with big stops when needed.”

Cornell outshot Princeton 28-18.

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