COMING UP BIG: Princeton University men’s hockey goalie Colton Phinney makes a save on Friday night as Princeton hosted Colgate in an ECAC Hockey first round best-of-three playoff series. Senior goalie Phinney came up big in the decisive third game of the series, making 35 saves to help Princeton post a 2-1 win over the Raiders. The seventh-seeded Tigers, now 15-14-3 overall, play at second-seeded and No. 6 Union (23-8-3) in a best-of-three ECACH quarterfinal series, starting on March 10. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)
Colton Phinney faltered badly in his Hobey Baker Rink debut as goalie for the Princeton University men’s hockey team in November 2013, yielding five goals over two periods in a 5-0 loss to Yale.
Last Sunday evening, senior star Phinney enjoyed a Baker finale for the ages, making 35 saves to help Princeton defeat visiting Colgate 2-1 in the third and decisive game of a best-of-three ECAC Hockey first round series.
It is the first ECACH series win for Princeton, now 15-14-3, since the 2009 playoffs. The seventh-seeded Tigers advance to the ECAC quarterfinals next weekend, for another best-of-three, this time at second-seeded and No. 6 Union (23-8-3), who beat Princeton 7-3 and 4-2 earlier this season.
“It is pretty awesome to go out on top,” said Phinney. “My first game at Baker I got pulled after two periods so tonight was a better performance for sure.”
Phinney pulled things together this season after some shaky play in the early stages of the campaign.
“I struggled to start the year, I was coming off of some offseason surgery so that was a big part of it,” said Phinney, a 6’1, 175-pound native of Chatham, N.J. who now has a goal against average of 3.04 and a save percentage of .908 this season.
“Thank God the guys carried me at the beginning part of the year and then I got better as it went along so it feels pretty good for me now.”
It felt really good for Phinney to outduel Colgate senior goalie Charlie Finn in the third game after he had stymied the Tigers much of the time in the first two games of the series as the Raiders won the opener 3-2 in overtime before losing game two 4-3 in overtime after holding a 3-2 lead with one second left in regulation.
“In the last two games, Finn played really well,” said Phinney. “He outplayed me so I thought it was big for me to step up and outplay him because he had a really good series.”
In the third period on Sunday, Phinney stepped up repeatedly, making 15 saves, with several of them being point blank stops.
“I was just trying to not think about the clock, just trying to play and just hope for the buzzer to blow and that we would be on top,” said Phinney, who holds the program record for career saves with 3,372.
Princeton head coach Ron Fogarty credited Phinney with rising to the occasion on Sunday.
“That was his best game of the season; he fought through screens,” said Fogarty.
“Colton will be the first one to tell you that he wanted to outplay their senior and tonight he absolutely did. He was the first star. He made some big huge saves and especially in the third period when they were putting on a lot of pressure.”
Fogarty was proud of how his squad handled the pressure as it bounced back from the loss in the opener to pull out the series.
“The team had goals, to have home ice, everything you do with the program means something; much more for the following year,” said Fogarty.
“Once you have the experience of getting the home ice, once you have the experience of winning a series, it is strong intangibles to have for the program. No one in that dressing room has had home ice, no one in that dressing room has won a series. You have to learn it so we learned. We had to come back and tonight was a gritty effort at the end so every step is positive.”
The Tigers demonstrated a special grit in the second game of the series, getting a goal from Eric Robinson with one second left in regulation to force overtime and then winning 4-3 in in the first extra session to stay alive.
“You are one second away from saying goodbye to the team and you have a chance to play the third game,” said Fogarty.
“It looked like the teams were getting tired there at the end; they are working so hard for three games. I am just excited for the opportunity for the guys to move on.”
Fogarty was particularly excited for his group of seniors, who endured a steady diet of losing as the Tigers posted an overall record of 15-72-6 in their first three seasons.
“I am happy for them, they have equaled their career win totals in one season,” said Fogarty. “They have a chance to keep going so I am extremely happy for the team.”
Phinney, for his part, is thrilled to get the chance to keep playing with his fellow seniors.
“The class has been awesome, especially of late,” asserted Phinney. “The senior line (Ben Foster, Garrett Skrbich, Ryan Siiro) has been unbelievable, just grinding out there. I think we deserve what has happened because we have worked hard all four years and no one gave up. It shows, just like our team hasn’t given up all year. I think it is great for us to win the first playoff series in years.”