Box Score

ESTERO, Fla. -- Five players had multiple points and Andy Iles made 19 saves to go along with his first collegiate assist as the Big Red men's hockey never trailed in a 5-3 victory over Clarkson in the consolation game of the Florida College Hockey Classic on Friday evening.

Sean Collins and the line of Greg Miller, Brian Ferlin and John Esposito had a goal and an assist apiece, and junior defenseman Braden Birch notched his first two points of the season in the form of a pair of assists. It was the Big Red's first win at the event since it captured the championship in 2008, snapping a five-game losing streak at Germain Arena. Though a clash of ECAC Hockey teams, the game does not count toward the league standings.

Featuring a shuffled lineup, the Big Red wasted little time establishing control. Esposito got the scoring started 8 minutes, 6 seconds into the game. Iles corraled the puck in the Cornell (8-4-1) zone before Ferlin's 200-foot rush up the left wing. The freshman Florida native -- who played three years with Florida Junior Everblades based in the same facility -- opted to circle the net and backhanded a pass across the slot that left Esposito with a wide-open short side to deposit the puck and give the acting home team a 1-0 lead.

Clarkson (9-9-4) answered with the help of an elongated two-man advantage. Ben Sexton was left alone in the left circle and picked a top corner through traffic to knot the score.

Cornell jumped back ahead for good with a three-goal second period. Sean Collins scored the go-ahead goal 4:02 into the middle frame with a perfect snap shot from the top of the slot after defensemen Sean Whitney and Birch set up the play along the blue line. Less than four minutes later, Ferlin extended the lead with his sixth goal of the season. Senior captain Keir Ross then took a John McCarron feed and scored to push the lead to 4-1 after the opening 40 minutes.

The Golden Knights made things interesting with a pair of goals in the third, including Sexton's second of the campaign. But Miller closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.

Junior defenseman Nick D'Agostino was named to the all-tournament team later in the evening after Maine defeated Massachusetts, 5-2, in the championship game. D'Agostino had a power-play goal and an assist in Thursday's game against UMass. The rest of the all-tournament team consisted of forwards Brian Flynn (Maine), Ryan Sheary (UMass) and Ben Sexton (Clarkson), defenseman Will O'Neill (Maine) and goalie Dan Sullivan (Maine). The Black Bears' Spencer Abbott was named tournament MVP. 

The Big Red is idle for a week before heading west to take on #7/7 Colorado College in a pair of games Jan. 6-7 at World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.