Cornell snapped the men’s hockey team’s 20-game winning streak at Ingalls Rink Friday night with a 6–2 victory.
The Big Red (1–1–0, 1–0–0 ECAC) scored two goals in the final seven minutes of the first period, a deficit that proved too much for the Bulldogs (1–1–1, 0–1–0 ECAC) to overcome. Cornell also stopped an eight-game skid against Yale.
The Elis jumped out to a blazing start, firing the game’s first seven shots on goal and finishing the opening frame with a 13–6 shot advantage. But Big Red goalie Andy Iles managed to hold off the Blue and White onslaught, saving every shot he faced.
“That was our best ten minutes [of the game],” captain and forward Brian O’Neill ’12 said. “When you don’t capitalize on that, it’s frustrating.”
A Yale turnover in the neutral zone set up Cornell’s first score of the night. With 6:11 left in the first period, an open John Esposito fired off a one-timer in front of the net for the game’s first goal.
The Big Red struck again with just 38 seconds left before the first intermission. A scramble in front of the Yale net sent the puck to left-winger Joel Lowry, who fired a rising shot past goaltender Jeff Malcolm ’13.
But the Bulldogs seemed to shift the momentum back in their favor when they scored their first goal at home this season 32 seconds into the second period. After receiving the puck from Kevin Limbert ’12, forward Chad Ziegler ’12 immediately launched a low shot from the top of the left circle. The puck flew behind Iles into the far post, giving Ziegler his second goal of the year.
The Big Red dominated the middle frame offensively, gaining a 16–8 shot advantage.
For the second period in a row, the Bulldogs gave up a goal with less than a minute to play. Malcolm blocked a shot by Brian Ferlin but could not hang on to the puck as Greg Miller swooped in and gave the Big Red a 3–1 lead with 52 seconds left on the clock.
Nicholas Weberg ’15 had a chance to tie the game five minutes after Ziegler’s goal. The freshman’s shot bounced off the post but the frantic scrambling that ensued could not give the Bulldogs the equalizer.
20 seconds into the final period, Cornell pulled further ahead when Lowry beat a defender off the wall and rifled the puck over Malcolm’s shoulder. Malcolm finished the game with 26 saves.
With 5:45 remaining, the Big Red struck the finishing blow when Kirill Gotovets escaped the Yale defense and sneaked past Malcolm’s right side to put the puck away. Cornell scored an empty net goal with less than minute left in the goal.
“Every time we scored, we tried harder instead of trying to be smarter,” head coach Keith Allain ’80 said. “We didn’t respond the way we liked to.”
Blueliner Tommy Fallen ’15 scored the Bulldogs’ second goal of the night. Off a feed from Andrew Miller ’13, Fallen blasted a shot from the left point that sailed through traffic into the back of the net.
The Bulldogs will take on Colgate Saturday night.