PRINCETON PICKING IT UP

The Princeton University men’s hockey team wrapped up its 2018 in strong fashion, taking both games of a back-to-back series at home against Maine on Friday (1-0) and Saturday (7-3).

Ryan Ferland made 40 saves in the opener to earn his third career shutout, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Senior Austin Shaw, who helped the Tigers earn a tie against Penn State on December 15 in relief of Ferland, also played in the series finale, and had seen an uptick in playing time with the sophomore Ferland struggling at times.

“I’m obviously really happy that he played well like that and got us the tie two weeks ago,” Ferland said. “In practice, he’s pushing me every day, and we definitely feed off each other and make each other better.”

Friday’s win snapped a winless stretch that dated back to Nov. 10, one in which Princeton went 0-7-1 before seemingly getting its year back on track against the Black Bears.

“It’s been 58 days, but who’s counting,” asked Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty through a chuckle.

“It was good, I liked the 1-0 win. We had to weather a couple storms there, one at the second period and then one there at the end. Our guys were getting some good looks, some guys who haven’t produced this year. But, it’s coming. To get that win relieves a lot of stress and burden from the guys. Ferland had a great bounce-back game.”