PRINCETON, N.J. – In a game featuring three lead changes, the #20 Union College men's hockey team was eliminated by Princeton University in the second game of the ECAC Hockey Tournament quarterfinals by a score of 5-2 on Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink.

Union's quest for a trip to Lake Placid and a conference trophy ended at the hands of the fourth-seeded Tigers (17-12-3). Union won 22 games throughout the season, markings its most victories since the 2016-17 season.

The Garnet Chargers came out of the gate with the intensity of a team playing with their backs against the wall and were laying hit after hit on the Tigers. Princeton matched the speed of Union and landed the first blow 7:32 into play. 

Despite also allowing the first goal of the game on Friday in the 5-2 loss, the Garnet Chargers still entered play Saturday with a .500 record when their opponent strikes first. 

Union did not take its foot of the pedal and earned a 5-on-3 opportunity late in the first. As Luc Pelletier came out of the box to give Princeton four skaters on the ice, first-year Etienne Lessard corralled a pass from senior Colby MacArthur and sniped past Arthur Smith to level the score. Senior Brandon Buhr also assisted on the play, marking the eighth goal Buhr and MacArthur have both had points on in the last six games. 

Princeton aimed to retake the lead after earning a pair of power plays in the second period. The Tigers entered the game with an 18.4% mark on the man advantage but would need to crack the code of Union's top penalty-killing unit in the country. No team had converted on the power play against Union in seven consecutive games entering Saturday's matchup. 

Not only did Union prevent the Tigers from recording a shot while a man up in the middle stanza, but senior Parker Lindauer helped tilt the ice in his squad's favor by scoring his second short-handed goal of the season. 

At 11:03 in the period, he led an odd-man rush with his three teammates and deferred to MacArthur. Lindauer was on the doorstep to tuck away the go-ahead goal on a long pass from his senior teammate. 

However, Union's formidable penalty-kill unit was not able to withstand a 41-second 5-on-3 to start the third period and conceded the lead. 

Princeton then took a 3-2 lead 4:14 later and never looked back. Union did not earn another power-play opportunity the rest of the way and allowed a pair of empty-netters with less than two minutes left in the game. 

Princeton advances to Lake Placid for the semifinals of the ECAC Hockey Tournament on Friday, March 15.