The fast-moving Cornell men’s hockey team pulled into a tie for first place in the ECAC with Harvard this weekend as the Cantabs took a break from competition.
Elsewhere in the ECAC, Union beat Dartmouth and Vermont, earning the Dutchmen an additional four points and allowing them to pull even with Yale in a tie for fourth place. With a 7-3 Dartmouth win over Rensselaer, goalie Nick Boucher broke Big Green head coach Bob Gaudet’s career win record.
Cornell 5, St. Lawrence 2
The nationally ranked No. 4 Big Red (16-3-0, 11-1-0 ECAC) demonstrated their dominance Saturday night against St. Lawrence (6-14-4, 3-7-2). The Saints gained one point on the weekend in a 4-4 tie against Colgate Friday and maintained their ninth-place standing with Colgate in the ECAC.
Less than three minutes into the game, Ryan Vesce drew first blood. But the Saints responded two minutes later and when Cornell scored soon afterwards, St. Lawrence once more responded. By the end of the first period, the score was knotted at two.
But Cornell’s superior size and strength prevailed; two goals in the second period and one more with 5:30 in the third gave the Big Red a 5-2 victory.
Cornell 3, Clarkson 0
Earlier this weekend, Big Red goalie Dave LeNeveu for Cornell earned the seventh shutout of his career with 16 saves on Friday, but the powerful Big Red defense helped him out there: In comparison, opposing goalie Mike Walsh of the Golden Bears (9-13-1, 6-5-1) stopped 16 shots in the second period alone.
The game was scoreless at the end of the first period, but Cornell scored in the second period with 6:52 on the clock, and twice again in the final period to put a seal on the Bears’ hopes.
With his seventh shutout, LeNeveu is tied for third place in career shutouts for Cornell.
Union 4, Vermont 2
With the Vermont win and a win over Dartmouth the day before, the Dutchmen (10-11-4, 6-5-2) completed their first road sweep of the season.
Vermont (8-11-3, 5-7-0) scored first with one second remaining on the first infraction, overlapping with a second penalty to give the Catamounts a 5-3 player advantage. Deflecting off a skate into the goal, the shot by Jeff Miles was his team-leading 14th of the season.
During the second period, Vermont failed to consistently clear the puck from its zone and Catamount goalie Shawn Conschafter’s eight saves couldn’t prevent the Dutchmen from scoring on a power play in the second period. Union trailed 2-1.
Three consecutive goals by the Dutchmen in the third quarter, however, lost the game for Vermont.
Vermont faces Yale and Princeton next week.
Dartmouth 7, Rensselaer 3
In the Saturday night game, the Big Green (10-8-1, 6-6) was tied 2-2 with Rensselaer (8-16-2, 2-8-2) at the end of the second period, but pulled away with five goals over the course of the third.
The night was memorable for Dartmouth not only because of Boucher’s record-breaking 41st win, but also because freshman Hugh Jessiman scored a hat trick. Furthermore, it was the Big Green’s first win since Jan. 4 and stopped their losing streak at five games.
The Big Green will take the road to play at Princeton and Yale next weekend.