Box Score (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – It took the Cornell Men's Hockey team six games to score its first seven goals of the season, but it took the Big Red just two more games to double that total.
 
Cornell scored three times in the opening 15 minutes Saturday in a 4-0 rout of Brown at Lynah Rink, roaring out of an offensive slump to a four-point ECAC Hockey weekend.
 
Freshman goaltender Hayden Stewart made 26 saves for the shutout, marking the 20th consecutive season the Big Red has registered at least one shutout. It's also the first shutout by a Cornell freshman since future All-American Ben Scrivens '10 made 22 stops in a 6-0 victory over Union on Dec. 2, 2006.
 
Balanced scoring in front of Stewart helped his cause. None of the goal-scorers had additional points on the night, while sophomore forward Jake Weidner had two primary assists and freshman defenseman Ryan Bliss also had a pair of helpers.
 
Senior forward Joel Lowry got the Big Red on the board with a deflection of a shot from sophomore defenseman Holden Anderson from the right point just 4:29 into the game. The play started with sophomore forward Eric Freschi taking a backhand from the slot that was saved and cleared to the corner. As the Bears' defender chased down the puck, senior forward John McCarron got a stick on his clearing try. That took the steam off the puck and allowed Anderson to one-time a shot toward goal, which Lowry redirected past Brown goalie Tyler Steel.
 
Freshman forward Dwyer Tschantz then scored his first collegiate goal on a similar play a little less than six minutes later. The Big Red won a battle along the right-wing boards on the power play, with the puck squirting out to sophomore defenseman Patrick McCarron at the point. He slid a pass to sophomore forward Jeff Kubiak on the half wall, and he one-timed a cross-ice pass to Bliss drifting toward the left point. With tons of space in front of him, Bliss wristed a low shot that
Tschantz deftly deflected between his own legs and through Steel.
 
Steel was then chased after junior forward Christian Hilbrich scored his second goal in as many nights, thanks largely to good positioning. After a busted chance on the rush, Hilbrich gathered the puck in the left corner and passed to Bliss inside the blue line. As Bliss started to drift toward the middle, he found senior forward Cole Bardreau with a pass on the left half wall, and he quickly teed up Weidner for a one-timer from the circle. The shot was headed wide of the far post, but thumped off Hilbrich's leg and into the net with 5:04 to play in the first period.
 
Meanwhile, Stewart was fending off 10 shots on goal in the opening period. It was his busiest frame of the night, though most of the shots came from the perimeter or off of goal-mouth scrambles.
 
Brown (1-6, 0-6 ECAC Hockey, 0-3 Ivy League) regrouped during the intermission and perhaps looked its most menacing early in the second period. A slick play by defenseman Brandon Pfeil set up Zack Pryzbek for a shot from the left circle, but Stewart turned it away for Cornell (3-4-1, 3-3 ECAC Hockey, 2-1 Ivy League).
 
Soon thereafter, Lowry's strong play along the boards drew a slashing penalty. The Big Red's power-play unit of Weidner, Hilbrich, Bliss, Kubiak and sophomore forward Matt Buckles dominated the ensuing shift. On a three-on-two, Buckles cranked a shot from the slot off the post. Less than a minute later — after sustained pressure weakened Brown's penalty killers — Weidner patiently waited for a passing lane to open from his spot at the bottom of the right circle to Buckles in the left circle, then Buckles buried a shot for his team-leading third goal of the season. All of his strikes have come on the power play. It's also the third consecutive game the Big Red has scored two power-play goals.
 
The closest Brown came to breaking the ice against Stewart was 10:20 into the second period. Nick Lappin mostly whiffed on a centering pass from the right corner, but the puck popped into the air and over Stewart toward the far post. Matt Lorito crashed the net from the left side and swatted the puck into the net out of mid-air, but the referee closest to the action disallowed the goal because it was played a with a high stick. The officials came to the same conclusion after a video review.
 
Cornell takes a break from league play for its next five games, starting with The Frozen Apple at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29 against Penn State at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Big Red then closes out the fall semester portion of its schedule with a two-game home series Dec. 5-6 against Denver.