Everyone involved agreed that it was a classic college hockey game when the Cornell and St. Lawrence men’s hockey teams faced off inside Lynah Rink Saturday night. But for the Red, it was not a happy ending, as the Saints stepped off the ice with a 2-1 victory and a slim hold on first place in the ECACHL standings.
“It was a good college hockey game, and it was frustrating to come out on the wrong end of it, but you move on from here,” said Cornell head coach Mike Schafer ’86.
Sophomore Michael Kennedy had the lone tally for the Red (11-9-3, 7-6-3 ECACHL), with assists going to freshman Brendon Nash and senior Mitch Carefoot. St. Lawrence (15-11-1, 11-4-1) earned the win behind goals from junior Jordan Hack and senior Max Taylor.
The even match of the two teams was reflected in the final box score, as freshman Ben Scrivens had 21 saves in goal for the Red, while fellow rookie netminder Alex Petizian made 24 saves for the Saints. Cornell outshot the visitors, 25-23, and each squad had six chances on the power play, with St. Lawrence scoring a single man-advantage goal.
“All we wanted to do was just make a game of it,” said Colgate head coach Bob Marsh. “We came out hard, and fortunately, we got some breaks, and our goaltender played great and we worked hard.”
“I don’t know if it’s one single thing,” Scrivens said. “The guys worked hard out there, you can’t say that it wasn’t the effort that was there. … Those are the breaks sometimes.”
The night began with the return of a Cornell hockey icon, as Joe Nieuwendyk ’88 stepped onto the ice to chants of “Hall of Famer” from Section A. The recent NHL retiree and Stanley Cup winner told the crowd, “For me, the best place I ever played hockey was right her in Lynah Rink. … I’m proud to be an Ithacan, I’m proud to be a Cornellian, so let’s go Big Red!” His number 25 will be retired early next season.
Cornell played with a purpose from the first whistle, jumping out to a 1-0 lead when Kennedy found the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season. Coming down the ice on the rush, Nash collected a pass from Carefoot and fed Kennedy the puck in front of the goal, where he beat Petizian glove side.
With the two sides locked in a physical, back-and-forth battle, Cornell missed an opportunity to gain some breathing room in the opening minutes of the second period. Gallagher emerged with the puck from a scuffle along the boards in front of the Cornell bench, breaking away to go 1-on-1 against Petizian. St. Lawrence freshman Alex Curran pursued Gallagher down the ice, tripping him in the crease and drawing whistles from the referees, who awarded Gallagher a penalty shot just less than five minutes into the second frame.
It looked as though Gallagher had Petizian beat, as the goalie fell to the ice going for a fake. However, Petizian reached back and grabbed the puck with his glove. The last penalty shot made by a Cornell player in Lynah Rink occurred 626 games ago, when Nieuwendyk converted an attempt in his final appearance in a Cornell sweater.
“It was my third penalty shot of the year, and I’ve stopped all three,” Petizian said. “He came in and deked me, but I guess I had the last word there.”
St. Lawrence turned the tide of momentum soon after, as Scrivens couldn’t control the rebound from sophomore Zach Miskovic’s shot. Hack found his way to the puck in the midst of traffic in the crease, beating Scrivens with a wrist shot for his fourth goal of the year. Saints rookie Travis Vermeulen also assisted on the goal.
“It was a huge character win for us. It gives us some breathing room,” Hack said. “We’ve had a hard time with Cornell over the years, so it’s a huge win for us.”
It came down to the final minutes, as neither team could find a way to gain a scoring edge despite multiple chances for each side. With 6:46 left in the game, senior defenseman Dan Glover was called for hooking, giving the Saints a power play opportunity. The visitors capitalized at 6:13, as Taylor got his stick on a loose rebound on the left side and sent a shot off the post and into the net for his ninth tally of the year. Sophomores Kevin DeVergilio and Brock McBride were credited with the assists.
The Saints killed off a hooking penalty to Taylor, forcing the Red to pull Scrivens with 40 seconds remaining. But the best scoring chance of the final seconds came from St. Lawrence, as a defensive clear struck the left post of the empty Cornell goal.
“The last two minutes, we had our chances on the power play. … It was absolute chaos for the last 40 seconds,” Schafer said. “It was a tough game but they deserved the victory.”
It came down to the final minutes, as neither team could find a way to gain a scoring edge despite multiple chances for each side. With 6:46 left in the game, senior defenseman Dan Glover was called for hooking, giving the Saints a power-play opportunity. The visitors capitalized at 6:13, as Taylor got his stick on a loose rebound on the left side and sent a shot off the post and into the net for his ninth tally of the year. Sophomores Kevin DeVergilio and Brock McBride were credited with the assists.
The Saints killed off a hooking penalty to Taylor, forcing the Red to pull Scrivens with 40 seconds remaining. But the best scoring chance of the final seconds came from St. Lawrence, as a defensive clear struck the left post of the empty Cornell goal.
“The last two minutes, we had our chances on the power play. … It was absolute chaos for the last 40 seconds,” Schafer said. “It was a tough game, but they deserved the victory.”