Princeton vs. St. Lawrence ECAC Tournament Consolation Game

Hello and welcome to the Times-Union Center in Albany, New York for this afternoon's game between the No. 9 Princeton Tigers (22-11-0 overall, 14-8-0 ECAC) and the No. 14 St. Lawrence Saints (21-12-4). The winner of the game will almost certainly earn an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament while the loser will be sent home empty-handed.

Both teams suffered heartbreaking losses last night. The Tigers were up 3-1 late in the third period against Cornell before allowing two goals in the final two minutes, 52 seconds. Riley Nash scored the equalizer for Cornell with less than one minute remaining. The game went into the second overtime period before the Big Red's Colin Greening scored the sudden-death game winner to give Cornell a 4-3 win.

St. Lawrence lost in equally gut-wrenching fashion to the ECAC regular season champions, Yale. The Saints were up 3-2 with one minute, 28 seconds left in the third period before Yale scored two goals in a 22 second span to take home a 4-3 victory. The game winning goal was scored by the Bulldogs' senior captain, Matt Nelson.

With both teams having little time to recover from last night's disappointment, this game could be won by the team that starts out with more energy. The Saints have one big advantage on Princeton, having played the earlier game yesterday. As a result, St. Lawrence had an extra four hours to recover for today's all-important consolation game. Princeton has responded well to adversity all year and will have to gut out one final victory in order to solidify a bid in the NCAA tournament.

With both teams' NCAA tournament hopes on the line, it promises to be an exciting and intense game at the Times-Union Center.