ITHACA, N.Y. – Sophomore goaltender Mitch Gillam played well enough to win Friday night, but his 38 saves instead yielded a tie as the men's hockey team shook off the rust with a 1-1 tie against Omaha in its season opener at Lynah Rink.
 
Sophomore forward Matt Buckles scored the lone Big Red goal on a power play late in the first period, producing the only lead in a game that had a surprising amount of scoring chances despite the meager goal totals in the final score. Special teams were the key to the Cornell (0-0-1) sweep of Omaha (3-1-1) at the beginning of last season, where seven of the Big Red's nine goals in the two-game set came on the man advantage.
 
Perhaps more important than Cornell's power play this go around was its penalty kill. A sluggish start yielded three Omaha power plays in the opening seven minutes. Included in that stretch was 1 minute, 38 seconds of a five-on-three advantage in which the Big Red's most pivotal penalty killer — senior defenseman Joakim Ryan — was confined to the penalty box. After a goal-mouth feed went awry, the Mavericks quickly regained control and worked the puck around the perimeter. Luc Snuggerud set up Jake Guentzel for a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle, then started to raise his arms in celebration — only to slowly bringing them back down as Guentzel's stare went to the rafters in disbelief as Gillam stretched to his left to make an improbable save. Senior defenseman Jacob MacDonald was on the ice for the duration of the three-on-five kill, with forwards Cole Bardreau and Joel Lowry, and defensemen Reece Willcox and Patrick McCarron also putting in imperative work to avert the threat. Cornell has now killed off 16 consecutive two-man disadvantages, spanning 14:50 and dating back to a Feb. 11, 2012 meeting with Yale.
 
The Mavericks led in shots on goal, 9-3, at one point, but the Big Red gained traction later in the first period and started to earn some of its own chances on the man advantage. After Ryan absorbed a hit from an Omaha forechecker after the whistle sounded for icing, the home side's power play went to work. MacDonald and McCarron traded passes toward the top of the zone on the right side before MacDonald teed up Buckles for a one-timer from the top of the left circle. With 6-foot-7 junior forward Christian Hilbrich providing plenty of distraction at the top of the crease, the puck sailed by Omaha goalie Ryan Massa and pinged off the far post before splashing into the net.
 
Cornell threatened to double its lead at 4:10 of the second period. Ryan entered the zone on the left wing on a two-on-one. With the defender eliminating the option to pass, Ryan fired a shot that Massa shrugged away with his right shoulder. Just 48 seconds later, the Mavericks took advantage of a Cornell turnover at the offensive blue line. Tyler Vesel and Jake Randolph connected on several passes while speeding up ice before Vesel tapped the puck in past a helpless Gillam.
 
The Big Red appeared to take the lead on a would-be power-play goal by sophomore forward Jake Weidner at the 16:06 mark of the second. Bardreau ripped a shot from the top of the left circle that was saved by Massa. But with senior forward John McCarron creating havoc at the top of the crease, Weidner was free to convert the rebound from the slot. But the goal was waved off after video review, when officials determined that Omaha goalie Massa's mask was knocked off before the puck entered the net. Section 3, Rule 9.4 states "if a player's (including goalkeeper's) mask and/or helmet is displaced, there shall be an immediate whistle."
 
The two teams face off in a rematch at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink.