Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – With one of its best defenseman out of the game with an injury in the first period, the 14th-ranked men's hockey team couldn't hold on to a two-goal lead and eventually settled for a 2-2 tie on Friday night at Rensselaer.
 
Down to five blueliners for the final 45-plus minutes, Cornell (11-6-5, 8-3-4 ECAC Hockey) surrendered a pair of goals 1 minute, 28 seconds apart early in the third period. While Rensselaer (7-18-2, 4-9-2) is in last place in ECAC Hockey, the Engineers have lost just twice in their last eight games.
 
The Big Red kicked off the game with a big defensive play by junior defenseman Braden Birch. Just 67 seconds into the contest, Rensselaer threatened with a two-on-one only to have the quick stick of Birch deflect the puck harmlessly over the glass.
 
At the 6:34 mark, the Big Red took a 1-0 lead on its power-play chance of the evening. With just seven seconds left on the man advantage, senior defenseman Sean Whitney found freshman forward Joel Lowry speeding up the left wing on the break. Lowry gained the zone and fed Whitney back at the center point. His high shot was shrugged down by RPI goalie Bryce Merriam, but the rebound came down at the top of the crease. Senior forward Sean Collins took a whack at it, only to have Merriam make another stop, but Collins' second attempt fluttered over Merriam's left pad and into the net.
 
Rensselaer then had a pair of power-play chances before the end of the frame, but came up empty on both occasions despite some promising build-up. As it turned out, none of the Engineers' four shots in the opening 20 minutes came on the man advantage, and Cornell nearly struck on a shorthanded two-on-one at the 10:17 mark.
 
There were marked similarities in the second period – Cornell had two penalty kills and another power-play goal. A terrific shift and sustained pressure by the Miller line created the power play in the first place after sophomore defenseman Kirill Gotovets hit the post with a shot and an Engineers defenseman drew an elbowing penalty a short time later during a scramble in front.
 
Miller then scored the goal, his eighth of the year to tie junior defenseman Nick D'Agostino and Collins for the team lead. Though his name doesn't appear on the scoresheet, the play couldn't have happened without a stellar effort from Joakim Ryan. The freshman defenseman gloved down a hard clear above his head at the center point, then dished off to D'Agostino on the left side. D'Agostino slid a pass into the high slot for an a wide-open sophomore forward Dustin Mowrey. He made his way toward goal and got off a backhanded shot that Merriam stopped, but Miller was free on the right post to bang in the rebound. The assist gives Mowrey eight points in his last seven games.

But the Engineers rallied in the third period. After mustering just 10 shots on goal through two periods, the hosts got on the board with C.J. Lee's goal 2:54 into the third, then Ryan Haggerty's tally at 4:22. Both teams had several chances before the final buzzer, but none of them materialized. Sophomore goalie Andy Iles made 22 saves for Cornell, including 12 in the final 25 minutes.
  
Cornell was 2-for-4 on the power play and a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. The Big Red, which has lost just twice in its last 10 games, gets right back to work 7 p.m. Saturday with a game against first-place and 11th-ranked Union (16-6-6, 10-3-3). The Dutchmen defeated 20th-ranked Colgate on Friday night, 3-1, to take a three-point lead over Cornell for the league lead – though the Big Red has a game in hand.
 
###