Cornell (3-2-1, 1-2-1 ECAC) comes back from its first weekend on the road without adding any points to its record. The Red lost to Princeton (2-2, 2-0), 5-3, on Friday and then again to Quinnipiac (5-3-1, 2-0), 4-1, on Saturday.“It’s definitely not the outcome we wanted this weekend,” said junior forward Armand de Swardt. “We kind of dug ourselves in a hole — we didn’t come out ready to play the full 60 minutes like we wanted.”On Friday, the Red got off to a rough start as Princeton controlled the puck for much of the first period. Although junior goaltender Andy Iles was able to fend off a 14-second five-on-three, he was unable to stop Tigers’ Andrew Calof from scoring during the second power play, while Cornell was still on the penalty kill. Although in the second period the Red had a few more chances — including forwards sophomore Cole Bardreau’s and senior Greg Miller’s breakaways — the squad as not able to convert any of these into goals. Princeton, however, scored on another power play opportunity, the Tigers’ second of the period.The Red put up a fighting chance in the third period, with a late flurry of goals — Cornell earned three within the span of five minutes. Senior forward Jon Esposito scored off passes from defensemen sophomore Joakim Ryan and freshman Reece Wilcox about five and a half minutes into third period play. Two minutes later, Miller had an unassisted goal. Then, at 9:34, de Swardt was able to capitalize on a Tigers misplay with Bardreau’s help to earn a goal for the Red, putting Cornell ahead.“[We] had a really strong showing on Friday night, showing that we can actually come back in the third period, and we did regain that lead,” de Swardt said. “But we need to bring that type of intensity for the whole 60 minutes, not just period to period — not just the first or third.”With just under five minutes left in the game, Princeton scored again, to tie up the game. Then with just under three minutes left, Calof scored his second power play goal of the game, causing the Red to lose to the Tigers, 5-3.“Obviously this is a very disappointing weekend for us, we wanted to come away with two wins and came away with two losses,” Ryan said. “But we just have to use that as a learning experience and we have to have a really good week at practice here.”Although Cornell came out with more fire the next night against Quinnipac, Bobcats goalie Eric Hartzell did not let any pucks past him in the first period. The Red’s defense also had a solid performance in the first, fighting off another five-on-three, this time for 53 seconds, of which senior defensemen and tri-captains Nick D’Agostino and Braden Birch played the entire time.But in the second period, Cornell was no longer able to fend off Quinnipiac, who scored two goals. The first goal came after the Red fended off its second five-on-three, when the squad was not able to hold the Bobcats off on the second penalty kill. The second Quinnipiac goal marked Ben Arnt’s first of the season.The third period got off to a rough start as well, with the Red giving up another goal. Miller was then able to give Cornell some hope, as he got his team on the board with his third goal of the season. Although the puck deflected off his skate and went into the net, according to NCAA this is a fair goal as long as there is no kicking motion, which video review showed there was not. Despite this goal late in the game, the Red would get no closer to victory, as Quinnipiac scored one more goal, leaving the score 4-1 at the end of the buzzer.“We let up nine goals on the weekend and that is not typical Cornell hockey,” Ryan said. “So I think if we really focus in on our defense and have our defense going strong … It will benefit us.” Cornell’s two road losses this past weekend mark the team’s first sweep since last January, when the Red lost both Colgate games.“Going on the road it’s a little more hostile, the crowds are not cheering for you [and] it’s obviously not like we’re playing here in Lynah in front of our awesome fans, but every team has to go on the road so that’s really no excuse for us to be losing games like that,” Ryan said. “So we have to learn to face adversity on the road and do a better job on the road.”Next up, the Red prepares to take on two Ivy rivals at Lynah this weekend. Cornell hosts Harvard on Friday and then Dartmouth on Saturday.“We have two good teams coming in here, Harvard and Dartmouth,” Ryan said. “We really have to get focused here this week, buy into our systems, really make sure we are playing a full 60 minutes each night … We only played a couple good periods this weekend, so we really have to learn how to play a full 60 minutes.”
Original Author: Dani Abada