Box Score (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – Junior forward Christian Hilbrich scored his first goal of the season at an opportune time, leading the Cornell men's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Yale on Friday night at Lynah Rink.
 
Sophomore forward Jake Weidner started the play on the rush up the middle, attempting a toe drag that was poked away by a Yale defender. But the puck lay idle in the middle of the ice as players skated by, until Bardreau gained possession and turned a pass toward Hilbrich coming down the slot. The 6-foot-7 forward fired a shot that beat Bulldogs goaltender Alex Lyon low to the stick side with 7:02 remaining in the third period.
 
The goal helped reignite the crowd after a fluke goal pulled Yale even at 2 earlier in the frame. Yale defenseman Ryan Obuchowski dumped the puck into the zone, with sophomore goaltender Mitch Gillam settling the puck just outside the post to his right. But there was a miscommunication with the defensemen, and by the time Gillam attempted to play the puck, Obuchowski was on top of the play and banked the puck off Gillam's skates and into the goal.
 
Yale (3-2-2, 2-2-1 ECAC Hockey, 2-1 Ivy League) struck first with a power-play goal from John Hayden 6:45 into the game. With the puck along the half-wall to Gillam's right, one Big Red forward was knocked to the ice on a 50-50 battle, and the other forward made a diving attempt to clear the zone. But the Bulldogs' Mike Doherty kept the play alive at the blue line and made a cross-ice pass to Tommy Fallen and open up space. Fallen passed back to Hayden drifting into open ice in the high slot, where he had plenty of space to one-time an open slap shot past Gillam's blocker.
 
Cornell (2-4-1, 2-3 ECAC Hockey, 1-1 Ivy League) responded with two power-play goals, the first coming a shade over two minutes after Hayden's goal. Junior defenseman Reece Willcox blasted a shot from the center point that rocketed through traffic and high off the post to Lyon's glove side before bouncing across the goal line. The play was set up by a beautiful feed from sophomore forward Jake Weidner, with senior forward Joel Lowry drawing the second assist.
 
Over the next 20 minutes, Gillam was at his best to keep the game even. He made a pad save on Trent Ruffolo from point-blank range after the Yale forward got loose on a two-on-two rush 4:08 into the second period. About a minute later, he stopped Mike Doherty on a semi-breakaway after Cody Learned's chip off the glass sailed through the neutral zone and took a funny bounce onto his teammate's stick in the clear. Doherty had 11 shots on goal throughout the night — all stymied by Gillam. He made 32 saves to earn the victory.
 
The Big Red then took the lead at the 12:41 mark in the second period on freshman defenseman Ryan Bliss' first collegiate goal. Sophomore defenseman Patrick McCarron worked the puck through the neutral zone and sent sophomore forward Jeff Kubiak into the Yale zone on the left wing. Kubiak circled around the back of the net and eventually worked the puck back to Bliss about 40 feet from goal toward the middle of the ice. Instead of waiting to set up the power-play unit, he saw a lane, waited for a would-be shot-blocker to cruise by, then whipped a shot toward goal that beat Lyon — thanks at least in part by traffic by freshman forwards Dwyer Tschantz and Trevor Yates. The goal gave the Big Red at least two power-play goals in consecutive games for the first time since a Nov. 15-16, 2013 trip to Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
 
Cornell returns to action at 7 p.m. Saturday against Brown at Lynah Rink.