Alex Hewit made his first save of the 2008 season and promptly threw the ball right into the stick of Canisius’ Adam Jones, who stood less than a yard in front of the All-America goalie. Jones shot it right past Hewit for the first goal of the game.

Luckily for Princeton, Hewit shook off the rust rather quickly after that. His teammates followed a little later.

Hewit made 17 saves and Princeton scored the final seven goals of the game to snap a tie and race past the very stubborn Golden Griffins to win the season-opener 13-6 in front of 626 chilled fans at the Class of 1952 Stadium Saturday afternoon. Princeton shut out Canisius for the final 20:49.

Tommy Davis had a career-high four goals for Princeton.

The Tigers and the Griffs opened the season against each other for the third straight season, and Princeton has now won all three while outscoring Canisius 47-19 along the way. Princeton now will play defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins next Saturday in the Konica-Minolta Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

“Canisius played us very hard,” said Princeton coach Bill Tierney. “We have a lot of things to work on now, and we have to get some answers very quickly.”

Hewit kept Princeton in the game for the first two-plus quarters, as Canisius refused to go away quietly. Jones, a freshman on the Canadian Under-19 national team, used the Hewit giveaway to put Canisius on top 2:14 in the game, and he would add two more goals after that in his debut.

Princeton led 6-4 at intermission, but Canisius tied it on goals from Jones four minutes into the third and then Michael Benzinger with 5:49 left in the quarter. Just when Canisius appeared to have the momentum, though, the game completely changed.

Princeton regained the lead less than a minute later on Davis’ third goal, and Scott MacKenzie’s first career goal made it 8-6 after three.

Mark Kovler and Rich Sgalardi then broke the game open to start the fourth.

MacKenzie assisted on Princeton’s first two goals to finish with a career-high three points, this after having two points for his freshman year. Kovler had a pair of goals, as did Greg Seaman.

Freshmen Jack McBride and Connor Reilly each had his first career goal, and McBride added an assist for a two-point day.

Princeton and Johns Hopkins will play in the second game in Baltimore next weekend, after Virginia and Johns Hopkins play the opener. Those four teams have combined to win each of the last 17 NCAA titles. The doubleheader will be televised live on ESPNU.