Box Score

ESTERO, Fla. – The men's hockey team rushed out to a three-goal lead, but couldn't hold on before dropping a 6-4 affair against Maine on Saturday in the championship game of the Florida College Hockey Classic.
 
Senior forwards John Esposito and Greg Miller each scored their team-leading seventh goals of the season, and senior defenseman Nick D'Agostino assisted all three of the Big Red's first-period goals.
 
Esposito's goal came just 69 seconds into the game after he took John McCarron's feed up the middle and burst past a defender for a breakaway before beating Maine goalie Martin Ouellette with a wrist shot over the glove.
 
Erik Axell doubled the Big Red's lead at the 8:23 mark of the first period on a fantastic effort, fishing the puck out of his skates while maneuvering through traffic in the slot and firing a shot past Ouellette. D'Agostino and Armand de Swardt drew the assists with passes from behind the goal line.
 
McCarron then gave Cornell (7-4-2) a 3-0 lead and ended Ouellette's night by stuffing a puck inside the post after emerging from the corner at the 10:33 mark. The goal marked the fifth straight game in which the Big Red had scored three times in a game.
 
But Maine (4-11-2) fought back, getting on the board 90 seconds later on Mike Cornell's seeing-eye shot through traffic from the blue line. Kyle Beattie and Mark Anthoine scored 64 seconds apart in the second period to tie the game, then Devin Shore scored the go-ahead goal in the latter stages of the wide-open frame.

Plenty of ice remained available as the teams traded punches in the third, but Connor Leen's power-play goal with 1:25 left all but clinched the game for the Black Bears. Miller scored 22 seconds with the Big Red goalie pulled in favor of an extra attacker, but Maine then added an empty-netter to bring the score to a 6-4 final. It was the first time Cornell surrendered six goals since March 16, when it fell to Harvard in the ECAC Hockey Championship semifinals, 6-1.
 
Axell, Miller and defenseman Braden Birch were named to the all-tournament team.

The Big Red will complete its four-game road trip next weekend with a visit to Denver for two games Jan. 4-5.