Men’s hockey had a dominant weekend at home against ECAC rivals, beating Union by a score of 4-1 on Friday and trouncing RPI in a 11-3 victory on Saturday.
The impressive performance earned Cornell two weekly ECAC awards and helped the team enter the top 10 in the rankings. Cornell moved up from 13th to 10th in the USCHO.com poll.
While it’s hard to single out specific contributors — 17 separate skaters recorded a point for the Red — here are The Cornell Daily Sun sports team’s three stars from the weekend:
First star: Max Andreev
Coming into Saturday night’s game against RPI, senior forward Max Andreev had been on the ice for five of Cornell’s first 11 goals, but had yet to find the back of the net himself.
“I’ve actually been pretty frustrated with myself after last weekend at Harvard and Dartmouth,” Andreev said. “I thought I played pretty well, but couldn’t get on the scoreboard. I was talking with the coaches all week and they told me to keep going and doing what I do and it was going to come.”
Andreev’s patience was rewarded on Saturday night when he scored four times and added two assists in the team’s 11-3 win. His four goals were the most by a Red skater since 1991 and his six points were the most since 2003.
For his effort on Saturday and his two assists on Friday night against Union, Andreev was named the ECAC Player of the Week — the second week in a row the award has gone to one of the Red’s skaters after Ben Berard won it last week.
Second star: Joe Howe
Freshman goaltender Joe Howe started both games for Cornell this weekend. While Howe and senior Nate McDonald have previously split time in net, Howe’s impressive performance on Friday night was enough to earn him the start on Saturday.
Howe recorded 21 saves on Friday night, allowing just one goal, and notched 23 saves on 26 shots on Saturday night.
Despite starting Howe in both games, Head Coach Mike Schafer ’86 said that nobody has claimed the starting job.
“We have three guys who are still vying for that position,” Schafer said. “Joe’s got to continue to work hard at his trade because Ian [Shane]’s working hard and Nate’s working hard at their trade.”
Third star: Matt Stienburg
Junior forward Matt Stienburg created opportunities on offense all weekend, notching five assists and a goal in Cornell’s two wins.
On Friday, Stienburg found freshman Ondrej Psenicka open in front of the net with a beautiful backhand pass. Later in the game, he was tripped up while breaking to the net but managed to set junior defenseman Travis Mitchell up for the score.
On Saturday, Stienburg assisted Andreev three times and scored a goal of his own.
Honorable mention: Tim Rego
Sophomore defenseman Tim Rego earned ECAC Rookie of the Week after his three-point performance on Saturday night. Rego scored twice in the contest — his first collegiate goals — and added an assist.