Box Score (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y. — Three-point nights from freshmen Anthony Angello and Alec McCrea highlighted Senior Night for the Cornell men's hockey team on Saturday, but the Big Red couldn't hold on to three one-goal leads in a 3-3 tie with Rensselaer in the regular-season finale.
 
Angello scored the first two goals for Cornell (13-9-7, 8-8-6 ECAC Hockey), then helped set up McCrea's goal midway through the third period to restore the Big Red's lead. But after playing nearly two minutes with its goalie pulled in favor of an extra attacker, Rensselaer (16-13-7, 8-7-7) tied the game for good with just 24 seconds remaining in the third period. Milos Bubela was credited with the goal, which bounced past Cornell goalie Mitch Gillam after deflecting off a defender in the slot.
 
With the tie, the Big Red finished eighth in the league standings with 22 points. Cornell will host a best-of-three ECAC Hockey Championship first-round series against Union at Lynah Rink. Game 1 is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, with Game 2 following at 7 p.m. Saturday. If necessary, Game 3 would be staged at 7 p.m. Sunday.
 
After a disappointingly sluggish start to Friday's loss to Union, Cornell came out the aggressor early on Saturday. Rensselaer won a faceoff to the right of its goalie, Jason Kasdorf, and a defenseman tried a hard ring along the boards to clear the zone. But McCrea accompanied an RPI winger to the halfwall and cut the play down. The puck then squirted out to Angello at the top of the circle, and he wheeled a quick shot toward goal. With the help of a deflection off an RPI defenseman's skate, it bounced into the net for his team-leading 10th goal of the season. It was the Big Red's first first-period goal since Jan. 30 — a span of eight games.
 
Cornell kept the momentum, claiming the game's first six shots on goal and narrowly missing chances to double its lead on Christian Hilbrich's deft stick-handling play at the 7:28 mark, and Jake Weidner's near miss from close range about a minute later after buildup from linemates John Knisley and Eric Freschi. RPI had just four shots on target in the opening frame, none more dangerous than Alex Rodriguez's quick shot off a faceoff win that Gillam got a piece of with his catching glove.
 
RPI got on the board under somewhat strange circumstances. With the Engineers looking to break out of the their zone, forward Viktor Liljegren got tangled up with a Cornell defenseman in the neutral zone. The Big Red player went down, and Liljegren was wide open to take a Jimmy DeVito feed for a clean breakaway. He made a move to his backhand to beat Gillam, and the game was suddenly tied.
 
But not for long. Just 32 seconds later, the Big Red stormed back ahead on Angello's second goal of the night. McCrea's dump-in slid all the way behind the RPI net to the opposite wing, where Angello helped deflect the puck to Jeff Kubiak. Cornell's leading scorer swooped behind the net and attempted a wraparound. While he never got the puck tucked all the way toward goal, it did slide all the way across the goal moutch to an open Angello at the bottom of the far circle, and he buried a high shot into the net to restore the home side's lead entering the final period.
 
When Cornell played at RPI earlier this season, the only goal in the game came from Engineers defenseman Chris Bradley — and his second goal of the season came early in the third period Saturday. Gillam appeared to make a save on his shot from distance with his blocker, but the puck popped into the air and descended over the goal line.
 
The Big Red's last lead of the night came on McCrea's third goal of the year. Angello poked the puck to Kubiak in the neutral zone, and Cornell started moving up ice. McCrea gained zone and slid the puck toward goal, and it slipped over the goal line off Kasdorf's right toe after Kubiak drove the net and created havoc between the goaltender and his defender.