Box Score
 
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The men's hockey team's bid for its 13th ECAC Hockey title came to end Friday with a 6-1 loss to Harvard in the semifinals at Boardwalk Hall. The Crimson jumped out in front with a pair of goals in the opening eight minutes, then extended the lead in the second period to quash any Big Red comeback hopes. It was the worst defeat of the season for 13th-ranked Cornell (17-8-7).
 
Harvard struck first on a fantastic solo effort from freshman defenseman Patrick McNally. He beat a pair of forwards on a rush up the middle, setting up a one-on-one with a defender. The Cornell defender had the play angled well when McNally pushed the puck toward the middle and tried to skirt around the outside, but the puck bounced off a skate in the slot and right back into McNally's path. He got off a quick shot that bounded off sophomore goalie Andy Iles' chest protecter, then poked the rebound back into the crease where it caromed into the net off another skate at the 4:38 mark.
 
Alex Killorn doubled the lead about two and a half minutes later with wrist shot from the high slot over Iles' glove. It was his first of two goals on the night.
 
Despite being outshot 8-5 in the first period, the Big Red had twice as many shot attempts as the Crimson, 26-13. Harvard was credited with 16 blocked shots in the opening frame, and Raphael Girard stopped all five that made it through on target. Perhaps his best stop came at the 9:15 mark, when he kicked out his right pad to thwart a one-timer from the slot by senior Sean Collins.
 
Senior captain Keir Ross got a stick on an attempted pass on a Harvard two-on-one later to keep the deficit from growing before the intermission.
 
But the respite didn't last long. After multiple whacks at a bouncing puck in the Cornell slot, Harvard's Colin Moore blasted a shot over the shoulders of a would-be shot-blocker and Iles to extend the Crimson lead to three 4:37 into the second period. The Big Red's deficit then ballooned to four after a pretty passing play led to Marshall Everson's tap-in power play goal at the 9:09 mark.
 
Killorn's second goal came with five minutes remaining in the third period, then Everson netted his second of the evening on a two-on-one less than two minutes later to cap the Crimson's scoring. It was the first time this season the Big Red surrendered six goals.
 
Freshman forward Joel Lowry then scored the Big Red's lone goal from close range with 1:06 remaining. Linemates Sean Collins and John McCarron drew assists.
 
The Big Red will play in Saturday's consolation game against fourth-seeded Colgate, which dropped Friday's first semifinal to top-seeded Union, 6-2. It's a rematch of the 2008 consolation game, but there's a lot more than pride on the line. Cornell's chances of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament would be greatly increased with a win Saturday. The game will be webcast at www.b2tv.com, and the audio feed will be available on Redcast, featuring the call of Cornell play-by-play man Jason Weinstein.