With four seconds on the clock, a drop-pass was intended for junior defenseman Tim Rego at the point.
The puck skipped over his stick, out of the zone.
The Union bench roared. Rego was consoled by teammates as the players in maroon swarmed their goaltender.
It was just that kind of night.
Men’s hockey couldn’t find an answer to Union on Friday night, falling 3-2 in front of its home crowd. The loss marks the end of Cornell’s six-straight unbeaten streak at Lynah Rink as well as the Red’s first regulation loss since Dec. 2.
“Weird kind of game,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86.
Before Friday, Cornell hadn’t lost to Union since March 15, 2019. That, too, came in a 3-2 loss at Lynah Rink.
Cornell (16-6-6, 11-6-4 ECAC) came out to a roaring start, notching a goal on its first shot. Freshman forward Jonathan Castagna, just 1:37 into the game, dangled through a pair of Union defenders, deked out the goaltender and tucked it home for the early lead.
The jubilant opening was quickly tarnished by Union’s ability to draw penalties — two Cornell penalties in the opening frame were ultimately the difference after 20 minutes.
“They went 2/2 on the power play [from] two stupid penalties in the offensive zone,” Schafer said.
Entering Friday’s matchup, Cornell’s 80 percent penalty kill success rate ranked 31st-best in the nation. The Red struggled to solve the Garnet Chargers’ power play, as three of the four goals Cornell conceded to Union this season came while the Red was short-handed.
While junior forward Sullivan Mack served a hooking minor, the Garnet Chargers (15-15-3, 9-9-3 ECAC) slid one past junior goaltender Ian Shane. Chaz Smedsrud’s team-leading 12th goal of the year came just 2:04 after Castagna’s tally, and just 3:41 into the game.
Later, when sophomore forward Winter Wallace was guilty of interference, Union’s Liam Robertson joined in on the fun. The goal was only Union’s fourth shot — the Garnet Chargers scored on a third of its shots in the opening frame. As a team, Union boasts the eighth-best shooting percentage in the nation, converting 11.6 percent of its total shots entering Friday’s contest.
The second period did bring some good fortune to the Red, as Cornell established substantial offensive zone time. Yet Kyle Chauvette was nearly impenetrable in net for Union, snuffing Cornell skaters left and right.
“You’ve got to give him credit. It’s not always just us,” Schafer said.
The Red’s frustration was evident. Sophomore forward Dalton Bancroft nearly broke his stick skating back to the bench after his shot was stopped, hammering his stick against the boards as he held his head down in exasperation.
Chauvette’s hot streak was not unwavering, however, as Cornell’s pressure ultimately paid off. After amassing five shots on its previous two power plays, it took only one shot to find the back of the net on its third man-up opportunity. A beautiful cross-ice pass from freshman forward Ryan Walsh found senior forward Gabriel Seger wide open.
Seger took immediate advantage of the opportunity, a reminder to not leave him unattended. His powerful one-timer beat Chauvette cleanly, handing Seger his 12th goal of the season and knotting the game up at two.
The Garnet Chargers couldn’t go long without spoiling the fun. Colby MacArthur’s goal with 1:03 left in the second period gave Union the edge once again and quickly drained the newly rekindled energy in Lynah.
“They went to the net, and shame on us. … Whether we turned it over or we didn’t, we didn’t turn around and go back and pick up the guys we needed to pick up,” Schafer said.
Frustration reached an inevitable boiling point in the third, as Cornell couldn’t find an answer to Chauvette and the stingy Union defense. Despite Union’s subpar standing in goals against per game (averaging 3.38 per game prior to Friday’s clash), the Red was met with diving blocks and stingy poke-checks from the Garnet Chargers’ defensive unit.
The offensive spurts were there –– sophomore forward Nick DeSantis rang one off the iron in the third. Junior forward Ondrej Psenicka was robbed all alone in front of the goaltender. Cornell created offense, but puck luck ultimately didn’t fall the Red’s way.
“We were pressing,” Schafer said. “[DeSantis] hit the goal post. … You know, a lot of things could change. I said that [to the players] after the game –– they created offense. We didn’t do a good job playing defensively against them.”
The 3-2 loss, which now sinks Cornell down to 17th in Pairwise, shouldn’t be characterized by missed offensive opportunities. Instead, the Red honed in too much on creating offense and in turn strayed from its usual defensive philosophy.
“We’ve lost our way in [understanding] that we need to be a really, really good defensive team,” Schafer said. “You can look at all the offensive stuff that you want, but we’re not doing the job the other way.”
Out of town, Colgate crushed Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Hamilton, New York, inching it just one point behind Cornell in the ECAC standings. Cornell will solidify its second-place position in the conference with a regulation win, but things get rockier with anything less.
The Red will celebrate its seniors and close out the regular season on Saturday night at Lynah Rink against RPI. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m., and a senior celebration will commence following the conclusion of the game.