Morale was high as No. 13 men’s hockey took a 1-0 deficit to a top-10 Quinnipiac squad into the locker room after 40 minutes of play on Saturday.
Firing off a couple of prime scoring opportunities as the second period came to an end, it seemed that the third period could finally be where the Red broke through.
It ended up being quite the opposite — Quinnipiac flexed its offensive-minded muscles in the final 20 minutes, potting three goals in the final 20 minutes and icing a 4-1 loss for Cornell. The result ends Cornell’s six-game win streak and is just the second win for the Bobcats in Ithaca since November 2018.
“We didn't play great in the third period and got exposed,” said head coach Casey Jones ’90. “I thought as skilled as they are and committed they are, they even did the little things better than us for the most part tonight.”
Quinnipiac (18-4-2, 10-2-0 ECAC), already up to 18 wins, looked strong on both sides of the puck against the Red (12-5-0, 7-3-0 ECAC) and was aided by a 20-save performance from goaltender Matej Marinov.
“[Quinnipiac] might be the best team we've seen so far this year,” Jones said. “They were consistent in the way they played. … I actually thought we had some self-inflicted wounds in the third period.”
Despite a strong start from freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer — making his first back-to-back starts in a single weekend since Nov. 21-22 — the Bobcats would get on the board 11:12 into the period after a fast start between both teams.
Unlike the goal Cournoyer surrendered on Friday against Princeton, Quinnipiac’s opening tally was not caused by any rebound or second chance, but an articulate play off the faceoff — Quinnipiac center Chris Pelosi won the draw back to Aaron Schwartz, wristing it by the Cornell netminder, who missed the puck as it deflected last-second off the stick of Andon Cerbone.
Quinnipiac’s lone first-period goal would be all that graced the scoresheet, not just through 20 minutes, but through 40 minutes, too. The second period was much stronger for Cornell, outshooting Quinnipiac 9-6 and earning more high-danger scoring chances.
But in the way of a tying goal for the Red stood the Bobcats’ 6-foot junior netminder from Slovakia, Marinov. Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold had most recently been rotating his two goaltenders, playing fellow junior Dylan Silverstein on Fridays and starting Marinov on Saturdays.
The formula has proven successful for the Bobcats, riding a five-game winning streak since kick-starting the goaltending tandem. Marinov appeared sharp on Saturday, making multiple eye-catching stops, including a masterful one on freshman forward Reegan Hiscock in the waning seconds of period two.
And although Cornell entered the third period in search of the game-tying goal, the Bobcats just kept coming.
“It was a one-goal game going into the third period,” Jones said. “I thought they might have had the benefit in the first. I thought we might have had the benefit in the second. I thought it was one of those games where it was right there for the taking.”
But when Ethan Wyttenbach came streaking in and buried a shot on a breakaway just 2:20 into the period, it broke a dam for the nation’s second-best offense (averaging 4.1 goals per game) entering Saturday.
Down 2-0, the wind seemed to be sucked out of the Red’s sails.
“I thought we looked a little bit young, and made some mistakes in the third period,” Jones said. “We didn't hold our composure and didn't play the game the right way.”
Quinnipiac kept jumping on pucks, forcing turnovers and hemming Cornell in its defensive zone. And just two minutes after Whyttenbach’s tally, Ethan Groenewold made it a 3-0 game on a hard wrist shot.
From there, Cornell’s youth began to show. Though the Red has been aided by the contributions of its younger players, tensions began to boil as Cornell faced one of its largest deficits of the year.
“I thought our unforced turnovers [were] a big difference in the game for me. I thought we turned a lot of pucks over tonight that we haven't done,” Jones said. “We've been getting away with some stuff, maybe, but I thought they were a good team, and if you don't manage the game properly, they're going to explode like they did tonight in the third period.”
There was no showing more evident of that than junior defenseman George Fegaras’ elbowing penalty at 11:06 of the third period. Serving his 12th minor penalty of the year, Fegaras watched as Tyler Borgula deflected a sharp-angle shot past Cournoyer on the short side, making it a 4-0 game.
“They just keep pushing the puck, they just keep coming at you with speed,” Jones said. “I thought we played a little bit into their hands.”
Junior forward Luke Devlin made it 4-1 when he buried a loose puck in Marinov’s crease with 2:33 remaining, but it would be too little, too late for Cornell, falling on Lynah Rink ice for the first time in 2025-2026.
There will be little time for Cornell to dwell on the setback. No. 10 Dartmouth (second place in the ECAC and five points ahead of Cornell) and Harvard (fifth place in the ECAC but tied with Cornell in points) will make the trip to Ithaca next weekend in what will be two more imperative games with massive seeding implications.
“We'll watch the tape. We’ll get better from this, and it'll be a good lesson learned,” Jones said. “We'll take it that way right now. We're just going to try to get better.”
Cornell takes on Dartmouth and Harvard next Friday and Saturday night, respectively, at Lynah Rink. Puck drop for both games is slated for 7 p.m., and all action will stream live 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.
