Peaking at the right time — that’s what men’s hockey’s philosophy has been as of late.
After suffering a devastating 4-1 loss to Union the night prior, the Red responded nicely in Troy, New York on Saturday, cruising to a 6-0 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. All but five players registered points, with sophomore defenseman George Fegaras, junior forward Dalton Bancroft and senior forward Sullivan Mack leading the way with two points each.
The Red, despite the result on Friday that dropped it out of contention for a first-round bye in the ECAC playoffs, picked up its fifth win in its previous eight games. Out-of-town results confirmed the Red will take on Yale in the first round of the ECAC playoffs.
The explosive win came despite a couple of key absences on the Cornell side of things — head coach Mike Schafer ’86 was not on the bench on Friday, as The Sun learned that Schafer was back in Ithaca on Saturday night after being hit in the head with a puck in the second period of Friday night’s game.
The second big change came between the pipes. After allowing three goals on four shots against Union, senior goaltender Ian Shane got the night off while junior goaltender Remington Keopple earned his second start of the year after stopping 11/12 on Friday.
Keopple looked more than capable on Saturday. In fact, he was perfect, making 21 saves on 21 RPI shots. Keopple has quietly amassed a .957 save percentage across five outings this season, stopping 68 of the 71 shots he’s faced.
Much like it did the night before, Cornell (13-10-6, 10-8-4 ECAC) came out to a quick start. It took only 89 seconds on Friday for the Red to find the back of the net, and just 108 seconds passed on Saturday before Cornell lit the lamp.
Senior forward Kyler Kovich roofed a shot over the left shoulder of RPI goaltender Noah Giesbrecht for the early lead. The goal marked the fourth goal and 10th point of the season for Kovich, as Cornell looked to hold onto its lead for slightly longer than it did 24 hours earlier.
That it did — both teams went 0/1 on the power play in the opening period and the Red held the 1-0 edge in score after 20 minutes, with Cornell outshooting the Engineers, 13-8.
The second period was almost a mirror image of the first — Cornell controlled the puck well in its offensive zone, testing Giesbrecht frequently and yielding a handful of top-notch saves from the graduate student.
In all, Cornell outshot RPI 11-8 in the second period. On the other end of the ice, junior goaltender Remington Keopple — who earned the start after relieving senior goaltender Ian Shane the night prior — was rock solid. The third-year had a shaky start that nearly saw the Engineers score 15 seconds in, as Elliott McDermott rang the iron with a shot that bounced back towards Keopple.
Just shy of the halfway mark of the second period, Cornell gave itself a larger cushion. Junior forward Nick DeSantis cleaned up a rebound off a shot from sophomore defenseman George Fegaras to double the Red’s lead.
Cornell, playing more confidently with the lead, looked poised with the puck in front of the RPI goaltender. The Red would earn a second power play opportunity less than two minutes after DeSantis’ tally, but the Cornell power play remained snakebitten and RPI successfully fended off the penalty.
DeSantis’ tally was the lone score of the second period, and a sound defensive effort led the Red into the final period of the regular season.
The change of the period ultimately saw the floodgates open for the Red. 4:49 into the final frame, junior forward Dalton Bancroft ripped a shot past Giesbrecht after using the RPI skater as a screen, increasing the lead to three. Bancroft shot after collecting a nifty drop pass from senior forward Sullivan Mack, who posted a two-point game.
Just 47 seconds passed before that 3-0 lead increased.
Freshman forward Charlie Major chased Giesbrecht out of the game after he wristed a hard shot blocker-side from the high slot. Keopple, after making a play with the puck to initiate the Cornell breakout, earned an assist on the Major tally, the first point of Keopple’s collegiate career.
RPI (12-20-2, 7-15-0 ECAC) made a change of personnel between the pipes, bringing in Jack Watson to attempt to salvage RPI’s final chance at a home game for the first round of the ECAC playoffs.
But the goaltender change yielded no different result. Just under six minutes later, the score was 6-0.
The fourth goal — and fourth goal scorer of the night — came courtesy of sophomore defenseman Ben Robertson, who broke a 20-game goal drought dating back to Nov. 23 with an impressive individual effort. Robertson carried the puck well behind the net of Watson, collecting his own rebound off an wraparound attempt before firing a nasty wrist shot to make it 5-0.
Mack put the cherry on top of this one, beating Watson cleanly to cap off a four-goal third period for Cornell.
The Red stood tall, even through a late RPI power play as sophomore defenseman Hoyt Stanley was nabbed for a five-minute cross-checking call. Keopple made two final saves to cap off his first career shutout.
The Red will be back in action this coming weekend, hosting Yale in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. The date of the game is not yet known, as the ECAC women’s championship will also be held at Lynah Rink that weekend. All coverage of the ECAC playoffs for both the men and women’s teams will be available on ESPN+.
Jane McNally is a senior editor on the 143rd editorial board and was the sports editor on the 142nd editorial board. She is a member of the class of 2026 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. You can follow her on X @JaneMcNally_ and reach her at jmcnally@cornellsun.com.
