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ITHACA, N.Y. — John Esposito potted two goals and Andy Iles turned in his seventh career shutout as the men's hockey team knocked off Colorado College 2-0 on Friday night at Lynah Rink.
 
In a physical game between two teams in the national rankings, special teams became the deciding factor. Both of Cornell's goals were scored on the power play and the Tigers potent power play was held to just two shots on goal in five opportunities.
 
After nearly 40 minutes of play, there was nothing on the score sheet as both teams played a tight, defensive game with big hits aplenty. At 19:29 of the second frame, the Big Red went on a 5-on-3 power play, and it would not squander the chance.
 
Cornell only needed 26 seconds to break the deadlock as Esposito scored his first of the night. Cole Bardreau fed John McCarron at the high slot, who fired a shot high on Tigers goalie Josh Thorimbert. The rebound squirted free to the side of the cage, where Esposito was waiting and promptly stuffed the puck past Thorimbert to the near side.
 
The Big Red would strike again at the tail end of the third period after a Tigers forward got the gate for a slashing minor. Joakim Ryan made a nice play to dig the puck out of the corner and feed Bardreau at the left point. Bardreau made a great pass to Esposito at the right faceoff dot, who walked right in and fired one past the blocker of Thorimbert.
 
Colorado College would get another power play opportunity with 5:14 left to play in the game, but tremendous shot blocking and containment in the neutral zone denied the Tigers of any quality chances. The Big Red would use that momentum to shut down Colorado College in the dying seconds of the game, as the Tigers never even got the chance to pull their netminder.
 
This was the first time the Big Red opened the season with a shutout since 2007, when Tyler Mugford scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory on Nov. 7, 2008 at Princeton. Big Red goalie Ben Scrivens made 43 saves that day and while Iles wasn't tested nearly as often, he was called upon to make a handful of stops on quality chances. He had six shutouts last season.
 
Cornell will tee it up once again with Colorado College tomorrow night, as the two teams will wrap up their two game set at Lynah Rink.