CORNELL 2, @Harvard 0 … Box Score | Game Recap | Video Highlights
CORNELL 2, @Dartmouth 2 [SOL]… Box Score | Game Recap | Video Highlights
This past weekend our play was day and night. On Friday night, we came ready to play, and carried the momentum the whole game. We played the kind of hockey we had stared to play for the last month and were solid in all phases of the game.
The first period we dominated the entire 20 minutes, firing 12 shots on goal to one for the Crimson. Our first goal, at 12:21, resulted when Harvard turned the puck over in their defensive zone. Junior forward Kyle Penney gathered the loose puck and passed it to junior forward Jack O’Leary. Jack’s wrist shot from the right faceoff circle beat the goalie to the blocker side to make it 1-0. Later in the first period, at 16:01, as the result of an aggressive forecheck, junior defenseman Tim Rego made it 2-0, with assists to sophomore forward Nick DeSantis and Penney.
Neither team scored the rest of the game despite several chances for both sides. We were outshot, 8-2, in the third period. Maybe that was a preview of things to come for the following night. We did enjoy plenty of support from the Lynah East crowd!
Junior goaltender Ian Shane recorded his 10th career shutout with 17 saves, while the Harvard goaltender stopped 21 shots. Ian is tied with goaltenders from Wisconsin and Notre Dame, for the third-most career shutouts among active Division I goaltenders and tied with Laing Kennedy ’63 for the seventh-most in Cornell hockey history. On the power play, we were 0-for-3, and Harvard was 0-for-2.
Saturday night at Dartmouth was the first time since Colgate that I didn’t think we were ready to play and compete hard. Even though we ground out a tie, I felt we were either tired or complacent after the win at Harvard on Friday night.
We started slowly at Dartmouth without scoring in the first period, and we were out-shot, 10-5, but Shane saved us numerous times. We had to kill off two power plays in the opening period. We got on the board first in the second period. At 5:24, freshman forward Ryan Walsh converted a long pass from Rego. Walsh sent a backhanded shot over the goaltender’s shoulder for the score. The other assist went to freshman forward Jake Kraft.
After our goal, Dartmouth seemed to wake up and the Big Green scored consecutive goals at 7:32 and 12:34 to take a 2-1 lead. In the later stages of the second period, we had a 4-on-3 advantage. On the ensuing faceoff after the second Dartmouth penalty, freshman defenseman Ben Robertson took a pass from senior forward Gabriel Seger and deposited the puck into a seemingly open net for his third goal of the season. Sophomore forward Dalton Bancroft was credited with the second assist.
Neither team scored in the third period, or in overtime. In the shootout for a point, Dartmouth scored on their first two shots, and we missed both of our opportunities. Shane had one of his busiest nights making 28 saves, while the Dartmouth netminder stopped 20 shots. Both teams were 1-for-5 on the power play.
We have made up some ground in the standings over the last month but need to keep going with 10 games remaining in the regular season. We have important games this weekend at Lynah Rink against St. Lawrence on Friday night, and Clarkson on Saturday. Looking forward to your cheers at Lynah Rink this weekend.