This story has been updated.
No. 6 men’s hockey allowed just three goals all weekend.
All three mirrored each other –– three finishes just atop the crease off of stellar feeds.
Tied up late against Brown, Cornell finally figured out the recipe for success, and it scored in just the way it had been scored on.
Junior forward Dalton Bancroft’s goal with 53 seconds remaining –– his second of the game –– lifted the Red over the Bears in a nail-biter. In yet another game where it faced impressive play from its opposing goaltender, Cornell emerged victorious in a come-from-behind, 3-1 victory.
“Especially when things aren’t going well, you just gotta stay with what [you’re] doing,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “I thought they did that. I thought they came out and made some adjustments.”
Bancroft tallied three points in the game, while senior goaltender Ian Shane stopped 18 of 19 Brown shots. Cornell trailed after the first period but stayed the course en route to its first conference win.
“Anytime you score that late in the game to go up, it’s really exciting,” Bancroft said. “But it was a great team effort tonight.”
Looking to avenge a sour result from the night prior, Cornell came out firing on all cylinders, rattling off three shots in the first minute and testing Brown goaltender Tyler Shea.
Shea, who surrendered seven goals against Cornell last season, made some key stops early that stunted Cornell’s momentum. The Red earned an early power play chance but couldn’t find the back of the net, still searching for its first man-advantage goal of the season.
Brown then secured a power play of its own and, although it did not convert, shifted the momentum in its favor and forced the Red back on its heels. The majority of the period was controlled by the Bears, ultimately outshooting the Red, 9-7, in the opening frame.
“I thought we got away from [the offense] for four or five minutes, and then I was happy with our pushback,” Schafer said. “I thought Brown played really well for a good chunk of time, and it took us a while to get back going again.”
Much of Cornell’s struggles could be attributed to the aggressiveness of Brown’s forecheck. Often sending one or two skaters high, the Red’s defensemen struggled to outlet the puck out of its defensive zone, often creating critical turnovers that resulted in Brown offense.
The Bears scored first on Saturday night in a goal that drew similarities to the two given up by Cornell against Yale the night before. A Ryan St. Louis pass found Max Scott at the doorstep, who easily tapped the puck past Shane as Scott emerged free from Cornell defender marking him.
Another early power play for the Red came about in the second period, giving Cornell a chance to tie up the game. The Red generated many more chances, and Shea made a handful of strong saves, but Cornell was once again snakebitten on the man advantage and saw the two minutes wane away.
“Even though they did score again tonight, probably a little bit better effort [than Friday’s game],” Schafer said.
However, Cornell kept up the pressure and ultimately found its long-awaited goal. Bancroft, who scored early in Friday’s game, found the back of the net 8:00 in the second period. Bancroft fired a slapshot from the blueline before collecting the rebound off a Brown skater and wristing it past Shea for the game-tying tally.
From there, play was relatively even. Cornell eventually overtook Brown in shots, leading 18-14 after two periods of play. An area of difficulty for the Red came at the faceoff dot –– Brown’s Scott made few mistakes at the drop of the puck, as he led Brown with 22 faceoff wins (including eight wins and no losses in the first period), 10 more than the next skater.
The Red ultimately out-attempted the Bears 20-9 in the second period, a stark difference from the first where Brown led the Red 22-10 in shot attempts. Cornell began to find more success through the Brown forecheckers, driving hard to the net and connecting more efficiently on its passes.
A scrum ensued after the horn sounded on the second period, prompting head coach Mike Schafer ’86 to challenge the play for a potential major penalty. The review found no contact to the head, resulting in another relinquished challenge for Cornell and the loss of its timeout.
Like it did in the previous two periods, the Red earned a power play in the first five minutes, this time with a chance to take its first lead of the game. Bancroft fired a shot that went off the pipe, and Shea made a pair of saves, both of which culminated in Cornell’s third wasted power play opportunity of the evening.
Cornell began to run away with the shot margin, firing 17 in the third period, but it once again ran into a hot goaltender. Shea was impressive down the stretch for Brown, keeping his team in the game despite a Cornell onslaught in the final frame.
“When you don’t get the bounces, it gets pretty frustrating. … Some games you don’t get any, and there’ll be games where you get them all,” Bancroft said. “It’s challenging at times, but [you have to] just try to stay level headed.”
As the minutes kept chipping away, Cornell continued to apply pressure. Sophomore forward Jonathan Castagna earned a brief breakaway in which he tried to beat Shea on a shot between the legs, but he couldn’t manage it on target while approaching with a bout of speed.
Perhaps the most pivotal moment of the game came with 3:43 remaining, as the Red earned its fourth power play opportunity of the night with a chance to take a late lead. Cornell moved the puck well around its offensive zone, but only mustered one shot on net as time ticked away.
But just as public address announcer Arthur Mintz ’71 announced the final minute of the third period, Cornell finally found the lead it had been looking for. Bancroft tallied his second goal of the game off a deflection at the far post –– a goal that mirrored the three that had gone into Cornell’s net across the weekend –– off of a stellar feed from sophomore defenseman Ben Robertson.
The goal sent the Lynah Faithful into a fit of screams.
An empty-netter from sophomore forward Ryan Walsh iced the game for the Red, finishing the weekend with four out of a possible six ECAC points.
“Every time you play a home game at Lynah, you don’t want to let the fans down,” Bancroft said. “Last night wasn’t the result we wanted, but I think we did a good job bouncing back and delivering tonight.”
Cornell will be back in action next weekend as it heads east for games against Dartmouth and Harvard. Puck drop for both games is slated for 7 p.m., and both games will be streamed on ESPN+.