Box Score (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – Senior forward Joel Lowry scored his fourth goal of the season and freshman goaltender Hayden Stewart made 33 saves, but the Cornell men's hockey team fell to nationally ranked Denver, 3-1, on Saturday night at Lynah Rink. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for Cornell (5-5-1) and resulted in a split of the highly entertaining weekend series of non-league games.
 
Neither team was able to score on limited power play opportunities all weekend, but Denver (9-4) created Saturday's first goal just as an opportunity on the man advantage expired. As Adam Plant worked the puck up the wall on the right wing, it squirted loose to Danton Heinen in the circle. He quickly dished back to Plant cutting across toward the middle, and he found Zac Larraza open on the back door for an easy tap-in goal to give the Pioneers the game's first goal.
 
Just 52 seconds later, Denver — ranked 10th and 11th in the two national polls — doubled its lead on one of its few odd-man rushes all weekend. As Big Red forwards got caught in a line change on the backcheck, the Pioneers entered the zone on a three-on-one — including both of their defensemen. Nolan Zajac dished to fellow blueliner Josiah Didier, then helped create a lane for Didier to find Larkin Jacobson for another easy conversion to Stewart's stick side.
 
Lowry, Cornell's leading scorer, then cut Denver's lead to 2-1 with 2:12 left in the second period on a four-on-four goal created by the Big Red defensemen Patrick McCarron and Joakim Ryan. McCarron wheeled up ice and gained the zone on the right side before spinning a backhand pass across to Ryan breaking into the slot. His shot squeezed through the legs of Denver goaltender Tanner Jaillet and rested perilously on the goal line before Lowry swatted it into the net. It was Ryan's first point of the season, after he returned this weekend following an eight-game absence due to injury, and the goal gave Lowry points in six of his last seven games.
 
The Big Red couldn't solve the Pioneers in the third period, eventually conceding an empty-net goal from Daniel Doremus to cap the scoring. Cornell is idle for three weeks to accommodate final exams and the holiday break before reconvening for the Florida College Hockey Classic. In its final non-league games of the season, Cornell will take on Lake Superior State on Sunday, Dec. 28 and either Notre Dame or Miami on Monday, Dec. 29 at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla. The tournament kicks off a stretch of six straight games away from home.