Box Score (PDF)
 
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Even after the Cornell men's hockey team surrendered three goals in the opening 14 minutes of Friday's game against Brown, the Big Red still left Meehan Auditorium in belief that it didn't come away with a victory in a pivotal ECAC Hockey game.
 
Cornell (11-11-6, 9-8-4) rallied from three down and forced overtime, then scored what appeared to be the winner with 13.1 seconds remaining, only to see the goal disallowed by officials after video review. The game ended in a 3-3 tie, which takes the Big Red out of contention for a first-round bye in the ECAC Hockey Championships.

On the controversial no-goal, Cole Bardreau narrowly missed Christian Hilbrich with a breakaway pass at the Brown blue line behind the Bears' defense. The play would have been called icing, except Hilbrich was first to the puck and immediately turned toward goal. Brown goalie Tim Ernst made the save, then a frenetic scramble for the rebound led to Bardreau swatting the puck into the net.
 
But the officials convened and conducted a lengthy video review. They waved the goal off, deeming Hilbrich interfered with Ernst. The Big Red contended Hilbrich was pushed into Ernst by Brown defenseman Ben Tegtmeyer.
 
Even without a dramatic winner, the Big Red made an improbable comeback to even earn the tie. Sophomore forward Matt Buckles got the visitors on the board with his seventh goal of the season with 5:15 to play in the second. Senior defenseman Joakim Ryan worked deep in the Brown zone for at least 10 seconds before cutting to the slot, though the puck bounced to the left corner. Sophomore forward Jeff Kubiak won a battle with a Brown defender, allowing the puck to carom off the wall and into the path of a wide-open Buckles toward the bottom of the circle. He turned and stick-handled toward goal, getting Ernst to open up a spot to be beaten with a low shot.
 
Senior forward John McCarron then drew the Big Red within one with 1:54 left before the intermission. Bardreau sent a pass back to senior defenseman Jacob MacDonald at the center point, and his low slot clanked into the net off McCarron's skate.
 
Cornell, which outshot Brown by a gaudy 30-12 margin over the final 45 minutes, kept pouring on the pressure and got the equalizer from Hilbrich 5:32 into the third period. Freshman defenseman Ryan Bliss teed up a one-timer from the high slot that Ernst shrugged off, but the rebound popped into Hilbrich's path in the left circle, and his shot slid under the scrambling goalie for his team-high ninth goal of the season.
 
It was the first time Cornell rallied from three goals down since the season opener of the 2011-12 season against Mercyhurst. But the Big Red ultimately lost that game, 5-4. Cornell hasn't rallied from three down to win in at least 15 years.
 
Brown struck just 1 minute, 40 seconds into the game on a strange goal. A Cornell neutral-zone turnover on a breakout was quickly turned back by Brown, and Tim Lappin drove wide and beat his defender on the right wing. Attempting to drag the puck into the slot, Lappin lost control and a Big Red defender swept the puck back up the slot. But Brown's Davey Middleton kicked it toward the net in what likely would not have counted as a goal — except the puck took a slight deflection off Zack Pryzbek's stick a split second before entering the net.
 
Nick Lappin doubled the Brown lead at the 9:13 mark. Mark Naclerio won a faceoff to the right of Cornell goalie Mitch Gillam when Matt Lorito swooped into the circle and around the back of the net on a wraparound attempt. The puck slid off his stick and across the crease, where Nick Lappin got under his defender's stick and converted an easy tap-in.
 
Pryzbek notched his second of the game about four minutes later off another Cornell turnover in the neutral zone. Tim Lappin turned the puck back into the Big Red end, then dropped a pass for Pryzbek in the left circle. His shot cleanly beat Gillam to the near post, prompting the Big Red to insert freshman goalie Hayden Stewart.
 
Stewart proceeded to stop all 12 shots he faced, but he largely had little to do after the Big Red regrouped in the first intermission and take control of the game for the final 45 minutes.
 
The Big Red wraps up its regular season at 7 p.m. Saturday at #12/12 Yale. Cornell will finish anywhere from fifth to seventh in the final standings and will host a best-of-three first-round series against Rensselaer, Union, Brown or Princeton from March 6-8 at Lynah Rink.