Box Score (PDF)

POTSDAM, N.Y. — Whether it's a point gained or a point lost depends on the perspective, but the one certainty from the Cornell men's hockey team's 3-3 deadlock with Clarkson on Saturday night is that it wasn't dull.
 
Sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan and sophomore defenseman Matt Nuttle scored goals in the final half of the third period to give the Big Red a late lead, but Clarkson answered with Troy Josephs' second goal of the game with 2 minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the third to knot the score.
 
Cornell (17-6-4, 12-4-4 ECAC Hockey) pushed its unbeaten streak to seven games (5-0-2) with the tie and also clinched a first-round bye in the league's playoffs.
 
"It's good. But for us now, we want more than just the bye," said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey. "That's why getting up toward the top of the league was so important. It's great, it's something we strive for and it's one of our goals to get that home ice (and first-round bye). But right now, we've got to address where we are … because we just did not play very well."
 
But it was still the kind of night that essentially boiled down to "what could have been" for both sides — and that rang true even after the teams scored all of their goals.
 
Cornell had a power play late in the third period that stretched into overtime, but couldn't generate any terrific scoring chances. Clarkson (14-13-5, 9-8-3) then had an entire two-minute power play a short time later, but the Big Red salted the game away with a huge shot block from Nuttle and a couple saves from senior goaltender Mitch Gillam on Kelly Summers' offerings from the right point.
 
The wild finish belied the fact that Cornell yielded just five shots on goal from below the hash marks all night. Senior forward Jake Weidner's seventh goal of the season came in the game's 10th minute, giving the Big Red a 1-0 lead.
 
Sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan gained the zone on the right wing and plowed through traffic to get a shot on net. The puck bounced out to junior Alex Rauter — playing just his third career game on defense — and he settled it and passed across to Weidner at the top of the left circle. With Vanderlaan and senior Eric Freschi creating havoc in front of the Clarkson net, Weidner guided a shot between a would-be shot blocker and the near post to give the visitors the initial lead.
 
But the Golden Knights proved to be opportunistic, playing its Senior Night. Cornell answered late in the first period on Devin Brosseau's goal. As a quick two-on-two developed in the neutral zone, a Cornell defenseman fell to the ice. That set up a late-breaking two-on-one, and Nico Sturm fed Brosseau for a slam-dunk goal before the remaining defender could adjust.
 
Clarkson then took the lead 3:38 into the second period when Josephs stripped a Cornell defenseman in the neutral zone and skated in one-on-one. The other Big Red defender jammed Josephs' shot, but the puck fluttering up and over Gillam's glove and into the top corner of the net.
 
The Golden Knights couldn't hold on to a two-goal lead when it first played the Big Red this year on Jan. 10 back at Lynah Rink, with that game ending also ending in a 3-all tie. It took a while, but the Big Red was able to repeat history — and it can largely thank Gillam for the opportunity. He made 18 of his 28 saves in the third period and overtime, including glove saves on Haralds Egle's semi-breakaway and Brosseau's shot on a two-on-one to keep the Big Red's deficit minimal.
 
Cornell drew even on Vanderlaan's team-leading 12th goal of the season with 7:13 left in the third. Freshman defenseman Yanni Kaldis outworked a Clarkson forward at the offensive blue line, then calmly set up a one-timer for Vanderlaan to slam home from the right circle.
 
The Big Red then put itself in position for its first North Country road sweep since the 2004-05 season with Nuttle's second goal of the year with 3:15 left. Freschi earned his second assist of the night on the play, with Weidner teeing up Nuttle for a shot from the top of the right circle that sailed by the glove of Clarkson goalie Jake Kielly.
 
But the Golden Knights struck the final blow, after a failed Big Red clearing attempt allowed James de Haas to get off a shot from the center point that was tipped in by Josephs on top of the crease.
 
"To have an opportunity to be in first place in the league and to come out with that kind of effort is pretty disappointing," Schafer said.
 
Cornell (27 points) remains in solo possession of third place in the ECAC Hockey standings, but it lost ground on first-place Union (30) and second-place Harvard (29). The Big Red now returns home for its final two games of the regular season, hosting Rensselaer at 7 p.m. Friday and Union at 7 p.m. Saturday.