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ITHACA, N.Y. – Freshman Mitch Gillam made 24 saves and scored the first goal by a goalie in program history, helping the men's hockey team to a 4-2 victory over Niagara on Tuesday night at Lynah Rink. It's the fourth consecutive victory for the Big Red, which is ranked 14th in the country in both major college hockey polls.
 
Freshman Patrick McCarron scored his first collegiate goal with less than five seconds remaining before the second intermission to break a 2-all tie. The bulk of the third period was scoreless, setting the stage for Gillam to glove a long-range shot from Niagara's Matt Chartrain, drop it to his stick and fire it 180 feet into the vacated net at the other end of the ice with 8.6 seconds remaining. Making his first collegiate start, Gillam became the eighth goalie in NCAA Division I history to be credited with a goal, and the first since Harvard's Kyle Richter in 2008. Only two other goalies have ever actively shot the puck into the opposing net, with Western Michigan's Mike Mantua being the last in 2002 (Michigan State's Chad Alban was the other, in 1998).
 
Gillam was a big factor in the game beyond his offensive prowess, too. Giving senior Andy Iles a breather after making 80 consecutive starts – fifth-most in NCAA Division I history – Gillam stopped all 11 shots he saw in the first period while the Big Red built a 1-0 lead. With the teams skating four-on-four, sophomore defenseman Reece Willcox jumped into the Big Red's entry into the Purple Eagles' zone, took a pass from Dustin Mowrey and tucked the puck underneath Adrian Ignagni for his second goal of the season.
 
Junior forward Brian Ferlin then extended the home side's lead to 2-0 early in the second period with his team-leading seventh goal. Joel Lowry's goal mouth feed deflected off the skate of Mowrey in front of the goal, and Ferlin was free on the back side to rifle a shot over the blocker of Ignani. The goal came on the power play, marking the fifth consecutive game the Big Red has scored with the man advantage. Cornell is now tied with Connecticut for the best power play in the country (29.6 percent).
 
But Niagara (3-9-1) stormed back with two goals in a span of 2:12 to tie the game at 2. A collection of penalties left Cornell working on a rare four-on-three power play late in the frame. As Niagara was returning to even strength, McCarron faked his defender to the ice and tucked a perfect shot inside the left post in the waning moments of the period to put Cornell (7-3-1) back out in front.
 
Defenseman Joakim Ryan extended his team-best scoring streak to five games with a pair of assists. Mowrey and Lowry also had two assists apiece.
 
Cornell continues non-league play on the big stage this weekend, when it returns to famed Madison Square Garden in New York for the fourth edition of Red Hot Hockey. The Big Red squares off against Boston University at 8 p.m. Saturday.