Princeton pushes No. 1 St. Cloud State to two straight ties

The Princeton men's hockey team is trying to make a place for itself among the national elite in Division I.

This weekend, the Tigers got a first-hand look at what exactly that looks like, as St. Cloud State, the No. 1 team in the country, skated into Hobey Baker Rink for a pair of games. And what separated the teams after 130 minutes over two nights?

Absolutely nothing.

GOAL! Ryan Kuffner with his 11th of the season from David Hallisey and Max Veronneau, a power-play goal, and Princeton leads St. Cloud 2-1 pic.twitter.com/sevApKKUnc

— Princeton Hockey (@puhockey) December 31, 2017

Princeton got goals from Jake Paganelli and Ryan Kuffner and St. Cloud rallied with a goal with 7:42 to play as the teams played to a 2-2 tie in front of 1,897 Saturday night. This game came 24 hours after the Tigers and Huskies played a 3-3 game Friday night, leaving them completely even for the weekend series.

If you're going to get a pair of ties against the top-ranked team in the country, it pays to have a goalie who can make it happen for you. In Princeton's case, it was freshman Ryan Ferland, who was the best player on the ice for the two games.

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Ferland made a career-high 43 saves in the tie Saturday night to follow up his 37-save effort Friday, one that included a ridiculous 14 in overtime alone. Princeton was outshot 14-0 in Friday's extra period.

The second time around, Princeton had some good chances in the five-minute extra time, including the final nine seconds of one power play and then another with 2:15 to go. Princeton outshot St. Cloud 4-3 in overtime, but nothing would get by SCSU's Jeff Smith, who made 40 saves of his own.

GOAL! Jake Paganelli with his second career goal and it's a 1-1 game pic.twitter.com/8Hm159fAMT

— Princeton Hockey (@puhockey) December 31, 2017

After a scoreless first period, it was St. Cloud who got on the board first at 6:46 into the second. Paganelli backhanded one that handcuffed Smith to even it with 2:09 left in the period, and Princeton then took the lead just 30 seconds into the third, when Kuffner's power-play goal made it 2-1.

For the second straight night, the Huskies rallied late to tie it this time on a power-play goal by Jacob Benson that just snuck in under Ferland. With the tie, St. Cloud is now 12-2-3 on the year, with both losses to defending NCAA champ Denver.

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Princeton (6-7-3) is back to the ECAC the next two weekends, both on the road, beginning with games at Cornell and Colgate this coming weekend. After a trip to Harvard and Dartmouth the following weekend, there will be a 17-day break for first-semester exams.