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ITHACA, N.Y. — Senior goaltender Mitch Gillam made 35 saves and the Cornell men's hockey team scored the opening two goals of Saturday's game against Yale only to end up with a 2-2 tie in front of a sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink.
 
"We didn't capitalize on our scoring chances," said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey at Cornell. "We had two opportunities on breakaways tonight that could have made the score 3-0 or 3-1. We just didn't play the kind of hockey we've been playing."
 
For the fourth time in its last five home games Cornell (15-6-3, 10-4-3 ECAC Hockey) not only struck first, but it enjoyed a 2-0 lead on goals from sophomore forward Anthony Angello and senior forward Jeff Kubiak. Both players also had assists on the other's goal.
 
The first strike was created by smart stick work from sophomore forward Beau Starrett on the forecheck. He gained possession near the Yale (10-9-5, 6-7-4) blue line and chipped the puck down the wall and past a defender to Kubiak. With the lone defender left approaching, Kubiak backhanded the puck into Angello's path as he charged toward the slot. He beat Yale goalie Sam Tucker to the near post for his eighth goal of the season and third in the last four games.
 
The same line doubled the lead about eight minutes later on Kubiak's third goal of the season. The play started in the Cornell zone with a pass between defensemen, and sophomore Trent Shore found Angello near the Cornell blue line. His cross-ice pass sent Kubiak flying into the Yale zone, and he undressed his defender in the circle before snapping a shot past Tucker's glove.
 
"(Kubiak) was outstanding. He was outstanding right from the start of the game right through the end of the game," Schafer said. "He was one of the best players on the ice surface."
 
Cornell had a golden opportunity to push lead to three goals, but a shorthanded-breakaway-turned-penalty-shot came up empty.
 
Yale's response was strong, and the visitors eventually cut the deficit when a turnover in the neutral zone turned into a two-on-one and Ted Hart banged in his own rebound at the 8:02 mark of the second.
 
The goalies then took over in an up-tempo game that yielded quality chances in both directions — though more for Yale. With the Bulldogs on the power play, Gillam made a kick save on leading scorer Joe Snively after the puck kicked off the endboards following a blocked shot.
 
Tucker answered with a right pad save on sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan's breakaway 1:30 into the third. Then Gillam got a little good fortune when Mike Doherty's shot from the left circle clanked off the post. Yale's final power play yielded three consecutive one-timed blasts from Frankie DiChiara near the top of the right circle, but Gillam was equal to each. When he snagged Hart's backhand as the penalty expired, the crowd erupted in approval.
 
But the Bulldogs would have the game's final strike, equalizing with with 4:40 left in the third period on Hart's second goal of the game. Chris Izmirlian won a faceoff to Gillam's left, though the puck sat in the circle for what seemed like an eternity before Hart snapped a shot past Gillam's glove.
 
With the tie, Cornell remains in fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with 23 points — though it has a game in hand on all three teams ahead of it, Union (27), Harvard (26) and St. Lawrence (25).
 
"It's fortunate that we picked up a point, but disappointing because I didn't think it was a great team effort," Schafer said.
 
Saturday's game was originally scheduled for Friday night, but was moved back a day due a blizzard in New England complicating the visitors' travel. Saturday's originally scheduled game against Brown will now take place at 4 p.m. Sunday at Lynah Rink.
 
"It's a quick turnaround here, so I kind of think we need to have a short memory, learn from our mistakes and just move on," Angello said.