Box Score (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y. — There was one change in the lineup between the Cornell men's hockey team's Game 1 and Game 2 of an ECAC Hockey Championship first round series — and junior forward Matt Buckles justified that move in spades. Buckles scored 3 minutes, 18 seconds into overtime to lift the Big Red to a 2-1 victory of Union, clinching the series and a ticket to a quarterfinal date against regular-season champion Quinnipiac.
 
Eighth-seeded Cornell (15-9-7) killed off the fifth power play of the night for ninth-seeded Union (13-14-9) just 1:22 into the extra frame, then the Big Red went back on the offensive. Trevor Yates and Buckles worked the puck into the Union zone on the right wing, then went to work below the goal line. Buckles slid the puck over to Christian Hilbrich, then beat his defender out of the corner and took the return pass while cutting to the net. As he neared the crease, he slid a backhanded shot between the stick and right leg of Alex Sakellaropoulos, giving the Big Red a first-round sweep.
 
Buckles was inserted into the lineup after missing the last two games. His track record proved the move might pay off. With Saturday's winner, Buckles has five career goals in 10 games against Union and 13 goals in his 76 career games against other opponents.

"I said to the guys afterward that (Buckles) has been out of the lineup the last couple games, but he's had a great attitude," said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey. "He came in tonight and had some good hits. Bringing that puck to the front of the net is something we've talked about all the time, getting to the crease. It was great to see him score that goal to win the game."
 
Cornell, which entered the weekend ranked 18th in the nation in the USCHO.com poll, will hit the road for a best-of-three quarterfinal series next weekend. If Colgate defeats Dartmouth in Game 3 of their first-round series on Sunday evening, Cornell would move on to face second-seeded Yale; if Dartmouth wins, the Big Red would advance to tangle with top seed and national No. 1 Quinnipiac.
 
Just as in Friday's Game 1, a defenseman got Cornell on the board in Game 2, this time coming from sophomore Ryan Bliss. Freshman forward Anthony Angello took a shot from distance that whistled wide of the net, caromed off the end wall and onto the back of the cage. Mitch Vanderlaan was the first to fish it off the net, then circled back up the left halfwall and set up Bliss at the top of the left circle. His blast deflected off the shins of a Union defender and bounced off the ice past Sakellaropoulos' blocker for Bliss' second goal of the season.
 
Even though that was the night's first goal, there was plenty of excitement prior to it. Cornell threatened right off the hop with Angello testing Sakellaropoulos a few times. Union then appeared to take the lead in the game's seventh minute when Ryan Scarfo jammed in a loose puck off a scrum near the Big Red crease — but the officials went to video review and deemed a Union player had dislodged a frozen puck from the glove of Cornell goalie Mitch Gillam.
 
Union then had a full 1:12 of a two-man advantage later in the frame, but the Big Red trio of Eric Freschi, Patrick McCarron and Reece Willcox — along with the ever-present Gillam — killed it off without much incident.
 
The Big Red then appeared to double its lead just 90 seconds later, when a rebound of a Jake Weidner shot bounced around underneath Sakellaropoulos. Weidner eventually poked the puck in, but officials ruled they had already blown the play dead.
 
The Dutchmen finally cracked through the Big Red penalty kill in the third period hwen Matt Wilkins shoveled in a rebound of a Gillam save on a shot from Brett Supinski with 9:04 left in the third period.
 
But that was the only shot to elude Gillam the entire weekend, helping the home side avenge Union's sweep in a first-round series last year at Lynah Rink. Gillam made 32 saves on Saturday and stopped 64 of 65 shots he saw in the series.

"Honestly, I feel the difference between this year and last year was goaltending. ... That's the growth that Mitch has had this year," Schafer said. "He had an outstanding series."

In eliminating Union, Cornell ousted the team which ended its 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. Up next is a series against national No. 1 Quinnipiac, which ended the Big Red's 2012-13 season. Cornell last five games against Quinnipiac have been decided by a total of four goals, with four of the games going to overtime and the other's only goal coming with less than two minutes remaining in the third period.