Foster Nets Game Winner as Tigers Defeat No. 4 Penn State

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Senior Ben Foster scored the game-winning goal at 18:34 of the third period as the Princeton men's hockey team defeated No. 4 Penn State on Saturday, Jan. 28 at Wells Fargo Center.

Foster tipped in a Ryan Siiro shot from the right side to give Princeton the game winner with 1:26 remaining in regulation. Junior Quin Pompi outlet the puck as Princeton (8-11-2) got an odd-man rush and Foster's initial shot was pushed away by the paddle of Peyton Jones to the right boards where Siiro got to it first and put it back into action.

With 1:20 remaining Penn State (16-4-2) pulled Jones for the extra skater and called for a timeout with 29.6 seconds left after not being able to get anything going. The Tigers withstood the extra skater for its sixth win over a ranked team this season.

"We were down 4-2 in the third but we were playing well," Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty said. "We had some great looks and some great opportunities and it was a great back-and-forth game. The 5x3 kill was huge as well. The senior line struggled a little bit but answered the bell with just over a minute to go."

Down 4-2 after two periods, the Tigers battled back to score three goals in the third period for its fifth win over a top-10 team this season amongst a crowd of over 15,000.

"It was awesome," Fogarty said. "It was special to come out of the break and play in an NHL rink, with a full house over 15,000+. Our guys were ready to go. We've had lulls after the breaks and but there was an extra energy with the guys and seeing the fans and the environment. Our guys want to play pro hockey and I'm glad they had the opportunity to to experience this."

Freshman Liam Grande got Princeton within one at 2:48. Grande was carrying the puck into the zone before it got poked away but a streaking Joey Fallon picked up and brought it in the rest of the way. He put the puck in the slot where Josh Teves was before he was taken down by a defender. Grande was in great position to take advantage and blasted the puck over the blocker of Jones.

Junior David Hallisey added his second of the night on the power-play at 4:08 to knot the game at 4-4. Sophomore Ryan Kuffner got the puck from Jackson Cressey inside the left circle and skated around the back of the net before slotting the puck for Hallisey for the strike.

Princeton was 2 for 4 on the power play, while Penn State was 1 for 4. The Nittany Lions failed to score the go-ahead goal when it had a two-minute 5x3 after Kuffner and Max Becker were both tagged on the same play at 11:07. Penn State had just one shot on goal during the two minutes.

Senior Colton Phinney made 43 saves in net for Princeton, while Jones stopped 36, as shots fell 47-41 in favor of Penn State.

Andrew Sturtz scored just 51 seconds into the game, on Penn State's first shot on goal but the Tigers were quick to respond as Max Becker tied it up 34 seconds later.

Defender Josh Teves started the breakout and centered the puck to Max Veronneau, he fed Becker who was racing up the right side and he fired past the glove of Peyton Jones.

The Tigers grabbed a 2-1 lead at 9:46, converting on its first power play opportunity of the game. Jackson Cressey won a face-off deep in the zone, to Véronneau at the right point and fired it on net where it was tipped in by David Hallisey on the doorstep.

Penn State matched the power-play goal exactly one minute later on its first power-play chance, with David Goodwin netting the goal. Defender Kris Myllari gave the Nittany Lions a 3-2 lead at 13:42 with a shot through traffic and past the glove of netminder Colton Phinney.

The lone goal of the second period was Sturtz' second goal of the night. Kevin Kerr fed Chase Berger along the extended red and Berger came around the back of the goal to deposit the puck in the paint and Sturtz shoveled the puck over the outstretched pad of Phinney at 14:52.

Princeton returns to ECAC action next weekend, Feb. 3 & 4 when it travels to Yale and Brown.

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