Scrivens' New Pads, 25 Saves Stymie Browns' Front Line

When sophomore Ben Scrivens suited up for Friday night’s game against Brown, he donned his new goalie pads for the first time in public. He had been wearing them in practice for three weeks, breaking them in, but their game debut occurred against the Bears. Ultimately, the pads turned out to be a symbol of a fresh start for both Scrivens and the entire men’s hockey team, which rebounded from a disappointing loss to Clarkson last weekend to top Brown, 4-1.

In the Clarkson game, Scrivens was replaced after giving up three first-period goals, but he had no such trouble against Brown as he stopped 25 Bears shots. The only time Brown slipped one past the sophomore actually occurred after he stopped a shot by junior Ryan Garbutt. Though Scrivens got the save, he was knocked over by a bevy of players, and the puck caromed to junior Matt Vokes, who was able to put it home for the Bears’ only tally of the night.

“You always want to come with a strong game no matter how the last one went,” Scrivens said. “I think coach has said it before, you want a short memory, same thing with tonight. … I kind of put that out of my mind, what happened with Clarkson. … I try and prepare the same way I usually do, and things went better for me tonight.”

Scrivens’s strong play was aided by Cornell’s penalty kill unit, which killed off six Brown power plays and helped to facilitate the victory. In the second period, the Red was even able to kill off a five-on-three opportunity after penalties to junior Jared Seminoff and sophomore Brendon Nash. Cornell (9-7-3, 7-4-1 ECAC Hockey) only allowed one shot despite having two players in the penalty box.

“The team played unbelievable in front of me,” Scrivens said. “That five-on-three, I think [the penalty kill unit] ate about seven or eight shots. Our penalty killers are doing a great job. … They probably stop more shots than I do on our P.K. because they block so many. Our team is doing well. We are scoring goals now. Our P.K. is doing well.” [1]Ahead of the curve: Senior forward Chris Fontas (19) clears the puck during Cornell’s 1-4 home victory over Brown on Jan. 25.

While Brown’s power play was shut down by Cornell’s penalty kill unit, the Red’s power play scored twice in its three opportunities on goals by senior co-captain Raymond Sawada and sophomore Blake Gallagher. On the one opportunity that the Red did not score, it only was on the power play for 14 seconds.

“We got to step up and get some shots on net, and we were able to put in some rebounds, and it worked,” Sawada said.

“Great job on … the power play and huge kill there in the second period, five on three for an extended period of time,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “Great job by a host of guys blocking shots, Tyler Mugford, Chris Fontas, Dougie Krantz, our defensemen that were out there, Joe Scali, paying the price physically to block shots and keep the score as it was.”

Sawada’s goal occurred 14 minutes into the game, when he put in a rebound off a shot by freshman Mike Devin. The tally gave Cornell a lead it would not relinquish. Junior Michael Kennedy also scored four minutes later in the first period off a feed from Sawada, which was all the scoring the Red would need. After Vokes’s goal, though, Gallagher’s tally and a score by freshman Joe Devin provided insurance.

“I thought we were very patient in the offensive zone, especially in the third,” Schafer said. “We got away from our game in the second trying to force things, and we really didn’t need to. We were very patient in the third, created offense, took care of the puck from that standpoint.”

Cornell also held the edge in shots on goal. While Brown (1-14-4, 1-8-3) recorded 26 attempts, the Red was able to get 34 shots on Bears junior Mark Sibbald, who was only making his sixth start of the season.

“Every game you want to generate as many shots as you can,” Gallagher said. “For the most part, once we got a lead, we wanted to wear them down, get our cycle going. We did a good job of that. Once we got the cycle working, that generated a lot of shots for us.”