Box Score

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — The men's hockey was eliminated from the ECAC Hockey Championships on Friday with a 5-2 loss to top-seeded Union at 1980 Rink – Herb Brooks Arena. Christian Hilbrich and Joakim Ryan scored the goals for the Big Red (17-10-5), which now appears unlikely to be in consideration for an NCAA tournament at-large bid.
 
Union (27-6-4) got on the board with Cole Ikkala's backhander off a two-on-two rush midway through the first period, then doubled its lead with Kevin Sullivan's power-play goal 2:13 before the first intermission.
 
Cornell responded with a dominating second period – but Union was opportunistic and matched the Big Red's two goals in the frame. Hilbrich pulled Cornell to within one at 5:56, keeping the puck on a two-on-one and firing a shot over Colin Stevens' glove for his ninth goal of the season.
 
Then a flurry of late-period goals started with Max Novak's strike off a defensive-zone turnover with 2:40 to play in the frame. Ryan's goal, set up by Reece Willcox and John Knisley, pulled the Big Red back to within one 58 seconds. But Union scored a scrambly goal from Mike Vecchione just 14 seconds after that, taking a 4-2 lead into the final period.

The teams traded chances in the final period before Daniel Carr iced the game with an unassisted empty-net goal.
 
Cornell, which appeared at the ECAC Hockey Championship weekend for a league-high eighth time in the last 10 years, can only continue its season if it receives an at-large bid to next weekend's NCAA regionals – but that appears to be unlikely with its 16^th-place standing in the PairWise rankings entering the weekend. There is no consolation game this weekend – a new change for this season.