This story has been updated.
FAIRFIELD — It’s not a sweep.
But it certainly feels like one.
After mustering 41 shots on goal on Friday night and settling for a tie, Cornell — if it wanted any last-ditch chance for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament — needed a better result on Saturday night.
But instead what it got was the sight of Sacred Heart feverishly swarming its goaltender, shouts echoing throughout Martire Family Arena as the Pioneers emerged with a hard-fought 4-2 win over Cornell. Though the Red outshot Sacred Heart 29-21, Ajeet Gundarah came up big for the Pioneers once again, stopping all but two.
“I thought we were making some progress and going through the process with it and played some good hockey after the holidays,” said associate coach Casey Jone ’90. “And then I thought tonight, we wanted to take it easy. So, we were disappointed in terms of execution, in terms of our effort.”
Cornell has now lost five games. It has outshot its opponent in four out of those five.
Senior goaltender Ian Shane was pulled after the Pioneers took a 3-0 lead. It’s the second time Shane has been pulled this year. In relief, junior goaltender Remington Keopple stopped all 10 shots he faced, the fourth Pioneer goal being an empty netter.
Unlike the night prior, Cornell started the game with more jump, rattling off the first four shots on goal between either team in less than five minutes.
But just as it did on Friday night, the Red surrendered the game’s first goal.
A flukey deflection in the slot off of Sacred Heart’s Cole Galata sailed over Shane, who couldn’t keep track of it as it crept over the goal line. The Pioneers scored in just the way the Red has been failing to do so — with just the right amount of puck luck.
“They took advantage of the opportunities. We played catch up all night long,” Jones said.
The snakebitten Red searched for the equalizer, but was setback by two penalties and four-minutes of shorthanded action. The Cornell penalty kill, which had received praise from head coach Mike Schafer ’86 the night before, withstood Sacred Heart’s pressure once again, and senior forward Sullivan Mack even hit the pipe on a shorthanded breakout by the Red.
Galata’s early goal would be the only score of the period, as Cornell entered the first intermission trailing, something it has done five times over its 14 games. Sacred Heart’s goal also marked the 10th time the opposition has scored first against the Red.
It didn’t take long for that lead to double. Just 21 seconds into the middle frame, Sacred Heart executed a perfect cross-crease pass that John Jaworski easily fired into an open net.
It didn’t stop there.
Shane was pulled for Keopple after the third Pioneer goal, which came off the stick of Max Dorrington, who cleaned up Shane’s rebound before the netminder could make another movement. Within 56 seconds of the opening faceoff at center ice, Cornell was in a three-goal hole.
“Nothing against Shane. There was an opportunity to change and get a little momentum change. … [Shane] wasn’t really responsible for anything,” Jones said. “[Keopple] made a breakaway save right off the bat. … I thought that locked us in, gave us a real good chance [and] gave us some juice on the bench.”
Sophomore forward Ryan Walsh broke Ajeet Gundarah’s shutout bid 4:56 into the period when he fired a wrist shot that deflected off of Gundarah’s glove and trickled in. Cornell had a chance to garner the momentum with a power play 2:06 after Walsh’s tally, but that chance came and went with the score unchanged.
Cornell’s third power play try was just more of the same, and emblematic of the Red’s play all weekend — Cornell possessed the puck in the Pioneers’ zone for nearly the entire two minutes, but passes failed to connect, and few shots made it to the net with any real vigor.
Across the weekend, Cornell went 0/7 on the power play.
“We’re trying to find the pieces that work,” Jones said. “I thought at least pucks [were] coming to the net a little bit more [and there was] more [of a] shooting mentality.”
The third period came not without prime scoring opportunities for Cornell — in the first five minutes, Cornell whiffed at a pair of open nets as the Pioneer defense scrambled to get a clear.
It took until 4:11 left for Cornell to get within one. Sophomore forward Jake Kraft netted his third of the year off a shot that sailed over the shoulder of Gundarah — a result of shooting higher, something Schafaer emphasized after Friday night’s game.
Schafer pulled Keopple not long after, and the Red generated no shortage of chances.
But none would go.
An empty netter iced the game for the Pioneers, dealing Cornell a severe Pairwise blow. The loss likely bars Cornell from at-large NCAA tournament bid contention, and it’ll be up to conference play to decide the Red’s fate.
Cornell will resume conference play next weekend as it takes on Princeton and Quinnipiac on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. for both matchups.
“I thought last night we probably deserved a better fate. Didn’t get it,” Jones said. “So we should have responded today and came out with the effort and attitude to get it done here tonight. But we wanted some shortcuts.”