ITHACA, N.Y. -- If the storyline is starting to sound the same, it should. Just like its last home game, the men's hockey team got a shutout from sophomore goalie Andy Iles, a game-winning power-play goal from junior defenseman Nick D'Agostino and a 1-0 victory -- this one coming against St. Lawrence in front of a sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink.

Iles stood tall when called upon for a 13-save blanking after the Big Red defense held the Saints to just four shots on goal through the opening 40 minutes. It was Cornell's fourth consecutive home shutout after defeating Princeton, 4-0 on Nov. 18; Quinnipiac, 4-0 on Nov. 19; and Niagara, 1-0 on Nov. 22. That's a first in the modern era of the program, with the last occurrence coming with two games apiece in the 1906-07 and 1907-08 seasons.

"It's just one of those games that as a coach, you're sitting there between the second and third, thinking 'We've outshot them 19-4.' You just hope nothing breaks and goes the other way on you," Cornell head coach Mike Schafer said. "It's fortunate for us. We had a lot of guys block shots tonight. When they had good looks at the net, we had guys in front of them, and held on to get the win."

The Big Red got the winner from D'Agostino at the 14:18 mark of the first period after 6:57 of power-play time. After coming up empty on a five-minute major in the game's early stages (save for a pair of hit posts by freshmen forwards Brian Ferlin and Joel Lowry), Cornell's second chance on the man advantage went turned out to be more fruitful. Junior forward Greg Miller won a faceoff just outside the SLU blue line back to junior forward John Esposito, who entered the zone up the middle. He dished off to Ferlin, who then backhanded the puck into the left corner. Esposito maneuvered around a defender to cut behind the net, then sent a pass up the slot to SLU goalie Matt Weninger's left that found D'Agostino charging from the point for a slam-dunk conversion.

There turned out to be many more posts clanked than nets dented in this one. St. Lawrence's Peter Child hit a pipe about midway through the game when a shot deflected off a Big Red defender and off the frame to Iles' right, bouncing right back into range for the goalie to pounce on. The favor was then returned when Cornell sophomore forward Dustin Mowery's offering from the high slot through traffic sent those familiar ringing tones echoing through the east end of Lynah.

Special teams turned out to be pivotal in keeping the Big Red out in front. The Saints had five of the game's final six power plays, but came up empty each time -- including twice in the final six minutes.

"The defense has to be consistent, and we did that tonight limiting them to 13 shots," Schafer said.

Cornell (7-3, 6-1 ECAC Hockey) will attempt to maintain first place in the league Saturday when Clarkson visits Lynah Rink to close out the fall semester portion of the schedule.

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