ITHACA, N.Y. — Sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan scored on a power play with 5:01 left in third period, and the Cornell men's hockey team ended the regular season by pushing its unbeaten streak to nine games with a 3-3 tie against Union.
 
Cornell (18-6-5, 13-4-5 ECAC Hockey), which was already locked into the No. 3 seed for the ECAC Hockey Championship playoffs coming into the game, also had goals from junior forward Trevor Yates and senior forward Matt Buckles. Senior goaltender Mitch Gillam made 32 saves to earn the tie, including stops on all six shots on goal during overtime.
 
Five of the game's six goals were scored on the power play, with Vanderlaan's shot from the top of the right circle getting through traffic and trickling over the line after it caught a piece of Union goalie Alex Sakellaropoulos. It was Vanderlaan's team-leading 14th goal of the year, and it gave him goals in five straight games — a first for a Cornellian since Michael Kennedy did it from Dec. 28, 2007 to Jan. 11, 2008.
 
Gillam made several key saves down the stretch to push the Big Red to 6-0-3 in its last nine games. With 3:06 to play in the third, he shrugged off a backhand on a sharp angle from Luc Brown and scrambled back into position to stop the rebound shot from Cole Maier. A couple minutes later, a turnover led to a Union rush and a Spencer Foo shot that Gillam smothered.
 
The frenetic pace started immediately, with Union pressuring early and Cornell countering with a two-on-one at the 2:02 mark that required a save on freshman forward Jeff Malott from Union goalie Alex Sakellaropoulos. The Dutchmen then went to the game's first power and Gillam got involved, making a save with his right arm on a shot from middle of the slot from Brett Supinski. Yates then hit the crossbar — his first of two times hitting iron on the night.
 
Cornell struck first at 11:44 on its first power play of the game. Senior forward Jeff Kubiak won the puck behind the Union net and junior forward Trevor Yates worked toward the left hash mark before dishing off to senior forward Jake Weidner high in the slot. Weidner slid a return pass that teed up Yates perfectly for a one-timer that beat Sakellaropoulos to the near post behind a screen from Kubiak.
 
Union equalized on Mike Vecchione's 26th goal of the year, coming on the power play. A quick zone entry by Supinski sent Jeff Taylor up the left wing, and he threaded a pass to the back door for Vecchione to tap in. Up until that point, Cornell had killed 28 of its opposition's previous 29 power plays.
 
But it didn't take long for Cornell to regain the lead. Junior forward Alex Rauter fed the puck from deep in the left corner to sophomore defenseman Matt Nuttle at the point. He quickly turned a shot on goal that Sakellaropoulos was able to stop, but Buckles worked his way free in the slot to bang in the rebound.
 
Union (23-8-3, 16-4-2), which will be the second seed in the ECAC Hockey playoffs, answered back with a pair of power-play goals from Foo and Supinski to take the lead with 8:27 left in the third before Vanderlaan's tying goal.
 
Cornell will host a best-of-three ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series against an opponent to be determined March 10-12 at Lynah Rink.