However, Saturday night at Thompson Arena, where hundreds of Dartmouth students pegged Princeton netminder Nick Bradley with tennis balls after the first Big Green goal, the late-season contest pitting 10th-place Dartmouth against fifth-place Princeton was anything but back-and-forth.

In fact, far from being low-contact, the first period alone featured seven penalties, two of which led to power-play goals for the Tigers. And light-years away from being back-and-forth, Princeton (16-10-1, 11-8-1 ECAC) stormed out to a four-goal opening session and never looked back, pouncing Dartmouth (10-16-1, 6-13-1), 7-3, in front of 2,438 spectators.

The Tigers, who stumbled into Saturday night's matchup having dropped six of their last seven, looked to continue their run at home ice in the playoffs. Taking advantage of stifling goaltending from Bradley and a hat trick from star forward Jeff Halpern, Princeton earned the triumph they needed and remained tied with Yale for the final home-ice spot.

"Halpern is a great player," Tiger coach Don Cahoon said following the victory. "He's a great competitor and a guy we can count on night in and night out. This was an important game for us and our guys played well."

The Big Green entered the night seeking to bounce back from their fifth one-goal loss of the season, and to lock up the ECAC's final playoff position. Having beaten Princeton in mid-January when the Tigers boasted a national ranking, the Big Green had reasons other than the tennis-ball display to anticipate Saturday night's matchup.

"We got beat tonight by a very skilled team," head coach Bob Gaudet commented. "We had an opportunity to get it done this weekend, but we let it slip away. But it's not the end of the road. We'll keep on playing."

In the initial frame, the Big Green looked stagnant, allowing four defensive breakdowns to translate into lamplighters and continuing their trend of futility with the man advantage.

All of the first period scoring came from players wearing the orange and black, as the Tigers special-teams units victimized Dartmouth with three netters, two on the power play and one shorthanded.

Halpern closed out the first period with two goals, the second of which spelled the eventual game-winner, and then wasted no time picking up his third after the break. Skating with a pass from teammate Scott Bertoli, the Potomac, Md., native moved in on the crease and slid the puck past goalie Eric Almon to build Princeton's lead to five. Halpern, who now has three career hat tricks, leads his team in seven offensive categories.

The Big Green have not won a conference game in which they've surrendered five goals, but they nevertheless clawed back in the second.

Freshman Chris Baldwin got things started for Dartmouth and induced the waterfall of tennis balls when he dunked a Mike Maturo rebound between the pipes. Baldwin's fifth goal, helped by assists from two freshmen, was duplicated minutes later when forward Michael Byrne, the right winger on Dartmouth's only rookie-less line, touched the twine to cut the Tiger lead to three.

In the third period, Big Green forward Ryan Chaytors made things interesting when he guided a shot from defenseman Ryan Poulton into the back of the net.

From there, Princeton awoke in time to quiet the comeback hopes of the Big Green. Halfway through the period, junior Benoit Morin sticked his second goal of the game past Almon. Seconds later, freshman forward David Del Monte netted his second career score to seal the Princeton victory.

Dartmouth finished the game zero-for-seven with the man advantage. The Big Green completed the weekend fruitless on the power play, having missed on 14 opportunities.

"We need to find a way to squeak a puck in on the power play," a frustrated Gaudet remarked. "It doesn't have to be pretty. It can be deflected off a leg or whatever. We need to get one of those."

Next weekend, Princeton will return home, playing host to RPI and Union. Dartmouth, now holder of the ECAC's final playoff spot by a single precarious point, will travel to face Brown and Harvard.

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