Ming DeMers/Sun Photography Editor

Cornell slips to a 5-5-3 record in the ECAC with the loss.

January 31, 2025

St. Lawrence Deals Shocking 2-1 Loss to Short-Handed Men’s Hockey

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Scoring has not come easy for men’s hockey over the 2024-2025 season.

Cornell averages 2.8 goals per game, an average that hasn’t dipped below 3.0 since the 2016-2017 season. Injuries have ravaged the Red’s forward group, putting pressure on the few healthy skaters to produce.

But facing the lowest-scoring team in the ECAC on Friday, Cornell had a chance to open the offensive floodgates, in desperate need for points to climb up the ECAC standings.

But offensive issues only worsened on Friday. Barely able to assemble a full roster, Cornell fell to last-place St. Lawrence, 2-1, continuing the downward spiral of a season that had tremendously high expectations.

Ahead of puck drop, the storylines wrote themselves — Cornell (8-7-5, 5-5-3 ECAC) was forced to dress eight forwards and nine defensemen, compared to the usual 12 and six, respectively. This is likely a result of further disciplinary action taken by the ECAC after the post-game brawl between Cornell and Dartmouth last weekend.

Senior forward Kyle Penney, senior forward Jack O’Leary and sophomore defenseman Hoyt Stanley were handed disqualifications last Saturday, and thus were automatically suspended for Friday’s game. New absences from the lineup included senior forward Ondrej Psenicka and junior forward Nick DeSantis, the latter likely the result of further suspensions.

Whether or not those suspensions will last longer than one game remains to be seen, as the ECAC has a policy where all suspensions and disciplinary action are dealt with internally.

The Sun previously reported that head coach Mike Schafer ’86 was anticipating a suspension. Schafer was not present behind the bench on Friday, and sources have reported that the head coach did not make the trip to North Country due to a suspension, which would mean that he would also miss the Saturday game against Clarkson. 

The Saints took advantage of Cornell’s depleted lineup quickly. Outshooting Cornell 10-5 in the opening period, St. Lawrence got the game’s first goal 9:14 into the contest when Will Arquiett beat senior goaltender Ian Shane.

St. Lawrence (8-16-1, 4-8-1 ECAC) didn’t muster a ton of high-danger chances besides the goal, but Cornell’s highly defensive lineup failed to drum up much in the offensive zone. That would change quickly into the second period, when senior defenseman Hank Kempf cleaned up a rebound, knotting the score at 1-1 2:17 into the middle frame. The tally marks Kempf’s first goal of the season, just six days after sophomore defenseman George Fegaras notched his first of the year against Dartmouth.

Despite staying relatively close to the Saints in shots — St. Lawrence only had a slight 15-10 edge in shots taken in the second period — Cornell ultimately surrendered the next goal. St. Lawrence captain Philippe Chapleau was credited with the goal, as his long shot deflected off of Shane’s blocker and into the net, one that the senior netminder would want back.

Cornell began that final frame on the man advantage, 49 seconds bleeding over from a late holding call on St. Lawrence’s Gabe Westling. The already snake-bitten power play unit continued its struggles on Saturday, going 0/2 after entering the contest performing at a 12.5 percent clip — fourth-worst in the NCAA.

After a strong penalty kill that ended just shy of the halfway point of the third, Cornell would earn a third try on the man advantage. Once again, it would come and go, and Cornell entered the late stages of the third in search of a game-tying goal.

One final power play chance was awarded to the Red late in the third, and associate head coach Casey Jones ’90 — taking the reins as head coach due to Schafer’s absence on Friday — opted to pull Shane only after the two minutes went by. Cornell possessed the puck in its offensive zone, but a defensive stand by the Saints ultimately sealed the game, handing Cornell its second-straight loss.

Shane made 27 saves on 29 shots, and secured the 2,000th save of his career. Although St. Lawrence’s second goal was unlucky, Shane made a handful of eye-popping games that preserved the one-goal deficit. The Saints’ netminder, Mason Kucenski, also made 27 saves.

Cornell will look to snap its two-game skid when it takes on Clarkson at Cheel Arena on Saturday. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.