By EMILY BERMAN
It has been a bumpy start to the season for the men’s ice hockey team, which has as many shutout losses as league wins through its first eight games. Back home at Lynah after four straight games on the road, the No. 18 Red (4-3-1, 2-3-1) is looking to stabilize its play during a home stretch of three games in five days, including a match-up against defending national champion, No. 9 Yale.
After remaining dormant for the previous four games, the Red’s offense finally exploded last Saturday night, racking up four goals in the first period against then-No.17 ranked St. Lawrence to take a 5-2 win. It was a strong rebound effort for the Red, which had dropped Friday night’s game against No. 11 Clarkson after giving up a goal in the final 37 seconds.
According to assistant coach Topher Scott ’08, the Red needs to carry the momentum from Saturday’s game into practices in order to see positive results in its upcoming games.
“The thing we need to take out of it is we [have] to keep going in practice with the same kind of intensity,” he said. “When we practice as hard as we play, we play a lot better on the weekends. It’s important that we have a great week of practice and bring that passion to the practices and [it] should be a much better weekend.”
First up for the team is Brown (3-3-1, 1-2-1), which opened its season with a resounding 4-1 win over Yale, but has stumbled recently against Quinnipiac and New Hampshire. The Bears have not hit the ice for a match in more than a week, giving the Red the advantage in recent game experience.
The case is not the same for the Bulldogs (4-1-2, 2-0-2), who come to Cornell on Saturday following a Friday night showdown with Colgate. Barely three days after the match against Yale, the Red will skate out at Lynah
Brian Stern / Staff PhotographerThat’s a first |Sophomore forward Christian Hilbrich scored the first goal of his career against Brown last year.