This story has been updated.
Men’s hockey (16-4-5, 11-4-3 ECAC) clinched its 26th Ivy League title on Saturday after a shootout win over Yale (10-14-3, 7-10-3 ECAC). The title is the 13th under head coach Mike Schafer ’86.
The game will be officially recorded as a tie, but the extra ECAC point awarded to the shootout victor sealed the title outright for Cornell.
Despite the newest addition to the Red’s trophy collection, Saturday’s tie will leave a sour taste in Cornell’s mouth. Entering the game in sole possession of 10th place in the PairWise rankings, the tie saw Cornell drop down to 14th. If the season ended today, Cornell would be one of the first teams out of the NCAA Tournament.
Meeting a red-hot goaltender in Yale’s Jack Stark, the Red knew it would be a battle.
“We knew how difficult it was gonna be. [Yale’s] goaltender is playing really well and it was fortunate for us to get out of the game with a couple of points,” Schafer said.
The first period got underway slowly, as both teams asserted themselves physically, often at the expense of offense –– the first five minutes of play yielded just one shot on goal between both teams. Sophomore forward Dalton Bancroft was sent to the box early into the contest, juxtaposing Friday’s disciplined effort.
Whereas Friday’s contest only saw one penalty called through 60 minutes, Saturday’s clash was dependent on special teams. Neither team converted on the man-advantage, with Cornell going 0/3 and Yale 0/4.
One of Cornell’s failed power play attempts was a momentum-changing penalty kill for Yale. 17 seconds after the Bulldogs’ penalty ended, a shot from Henry Wagner was stopped by junior goaltender Ian Shane, but the rebound caromed right in front of the net to a wide-open skater. It was Will Richter, flicking it past the outstretched glove of Shane and into the back of the net.
Undeterred, the Red fought back and almost immediately connected. For the second night in a row, Cornell got its scoring started thanks to a shot off the post. As the ringing sound from freshman defenseman Hoyt Stanley’s wrister still permeated throughout Lynah, freshman forward Tyler Catalano collected the puck on top of the crease and netted his first collegiate goal to tie the game.
“[It was] super exciting. I’m glad I could do it here in front of the home crowd. … They’re always so supportive and they show up every night, so it was exciting,” Catalano said.
Those two first-period goals would be all the game saw, as both teams resorted to stifling defensive styles and took fewer risks offensively in the latter two periods.
The second began with a bang, quite literally –– after another puck was fired off the pipe (this time by Wagner), Cornell counterattacked with an odd-man rush that was nearly lethal. Junior forward Kyle Penney corralled the puck and sauced it over to sophomore forward Nick DeSantis, who ripped a one-timer but was met with the glove of Stark.
“Their goaltender played outstanding[ly]. He had a big save on [Catalano] in the second and [DeSantis],” Schafer said. “He made a big glove save, I don’t know how it didn’t go in. As a coach, you sit there going, ‘What’s going to happen here?’” Schafer said.
Entering Saturday as arguably Yale’s most highly-touted defensive piece, Stark was as advertised on Saturday night. The freshman netminder stopped 22 of the 23 Cornell shots, including an athletic paddle save with five minutes left in the second.
Across the ice, Shane continued his rock-solid play, making 16 saves for a .941 save percentage. A few of his stronger saves came on a late second-period penalty kill by Cornell, when freshman forward Jake Kraft was nabbed for slashing.
That 1-1 tie would hold into the third, marking just the third time in the Red’s current 13-game unbeaten streak that Cornell hasn’t led going into the final frame.
Junior forward Jack O’Leary won the Red an imperative third-period penalty, drawing a cross-checking call with 5:07 left –– a chance to grab the lead with time dwindling down. The power play yielded more opportunities than its two previous ones, but the Red was unable to improve its 42-best 17.6 power play percentage.
Aided by a stellar kick save by Shane with 25.8 to go, the Red survived a late power-play push by Yale –– one that would carry over after regulation –– to send the game into extra time.
While Cornell prevailed on the penalty kill, the Red was once again reminded of its power play woes when it earned a man-up opportunity with 1:28 left in overtime. The Red moved the puck well during the shortened power play but passed up a few shooting lanes and couldn’t convert, prompting a shootout.
As per usual, Bancroft and senior forward Gabriel Seger opened up the shootout for Cornell. Both notched goals that rang off the post and into the net, a poetic nod to a weekend where Cornell hit the iron five times across both games.
Yale followed that up with a score and a miss, giving Catalano a chance to be the hero. Though he was stopped by Stark, Shane came up big on Yale’s final try, snuffing Ian Carpentier with the glove and clinching the title for Cornell.
Players took turns lifting the trophy to a rancorous student section, with loud cheers erupting across the rink after each teammate hoisted the trophy.
Winning the trophy was “one of the first dates we circled on the calendar at the beginning of the year. It was one of our goals. So it felt good to lift it but we’re on to the next goal,” Catalano said.
Saturday night’s game marks the final Ivy matchup for Cornell, which will now hone its focus on the final four ECAC games. After a costly dip in the PairWise, Cornell’s remaining games are imperative if the Red wants to stay in contention for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“[We have] four games left to go. … There [are] a ton of guys that are sick, so they have to really take care of themselves right now as we get ready for those last two weekends,” Schafer said.
Cornell will hit the road next weekend for a notoriously tough road series against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Cornell will face Clarkson in Potsdam on Friday before traveling to Canton for a clash against St. Lawrence on Saturday. Both games will begin at 7 p.m.
Eli Fastiff is a Sun Staff Writer and can be reached at [email protected]