ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team sent its seniors out in style on Saturday night, rallying for a riveting 3-2 victory over Yale in front of a raucous sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink.
 
Freshman forward Tristan Mullin scored twice, including the winner with 1 minute, 47 seconds remaining in the third period. It was the Big Red's first lead of the night after senior forward Jared Fiegl tied the game earlier in the third.
 
"We came back with a better effort tonight, one that is reflective of our team – seniors included," said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey at Cornell.
 
With the weekend sweep, fourth-ranked Cornell (22-3-2, 16-2-2 ECAC Hockey) stayed four points ahead of Union for first place in the league standings with just two games remaining in the regular season.
 
The win also gave the Big Red a 9-0-1 record in Ivy League play this season, marking the first time Cornell has gone undefeated in Ancient Eight play since the 1995-96 season. The team celebrated its 22nd Ivy League championship when the trophy was presented before the team's annual Senior Night ceremony.
 
In the early going, it didn't necessarily look like it would be such a festive night. Yale (14-12-1, 9-10-1 ECAC Hockey) came in on a five-game winning streak and looked the part, attacking with speed and employing no shortage of physicality against a depleted Cornell defense. The teams battled through a scoreless first period, though it was clear special teams would play a part with so many whistles.
 
"We weren't that disciplined. First period, we took a (penalty on the) power play, an undisciplined power play," Schafer said. "We took another undisciplined one in the second period."
 
Cornell was whistled for a five-minute major early in the second period, which led to Phil Kemp's power-play goal to get Yale on the board. Meanwhile, Bulldogs goaltender Corbin Kaczperski continued to make big saves at the other end of the ice.
 
The Big Red finally broke through on a power play of its own, when Mullin redirected a shot from freshman forward Brenden Locke past Kaczperski's right pad late in the second.
 
Yale struck again in the dying moments of a power play just 1:28 into the third on a solo dash through three zones by Charlie Curti. Fiegl's equalizer came about seven minutes later on a lengthy shot through traffic after some of Cornell's patented extended possession in the opposition's zone.
 
The goal not only reignited the crowd, it gave Fiegl four goals over the last six games after he entered this month with just four goals in his collegiate career.
 
"Sitting on the bench before that play, I noticed that when the defense would roll there was an open lane to the net," Fiegl said. "I figured just throw something to the net, you'll never know what will happen, it just happened to go in. I was lucky to have big Dwyer Tschantz around there screening the goalie. … It's impossible to see around that guy."
 
Mullin's winner came in similar fashion, with Tschantz getting a touch on a rebound of a point shot before Mullin finished it off. Two of his three goals this season have proven to be game-winners, with the other coming in the Red Hot Hockey contest against Boston University at Madison Square Garden.
 
 "We just have to keep playing our game," Mullin said. "We haven't quite played to our potential lately, but tonight was a better effort."

The Big Red's Lineup:

How The Goals Were Scored:
Yale's 1st Goal
2nd period, 5:29 (pp)   •  Kemp 2 (Snively, DeMontis)  •  Yale 1, Cornell 0
•  Working on a five-minute power play, the Bulldogs set up Snively for a shot from the top of the right circle. Galajda made the save, but the puck popped out and DeMontis sent the puck airborne. Snively grabbed it and circled around at the left point and picked up Kemp on the far side. He had time in the left circle to line up a shot that missed an attempted shot-blocker and beat Galajda to the near post.
 
Cornell's 1st Goal
2nd period, 18:09 (pp)   •  Mullin 2 (Locke, Green)  •  Cornell 1, Yale 1
•  The Big Red power play set up shop in the Yale zone with Kaldis passing to Green on the right point. Green then went all the way back across the ice to Locke, who had room to walk in from the left point. He ripped a shot toward the near post, where Mullin was posted up to redirect the puck past Kaczperski's pads.
 
Yale's 2nd Goal
3rd period, 1:28 (pp)   •  Curti 3 (Larkin, Kaczperski)  •  Yale 2, Cornell 1
•  In the waning moments of a power play, Yale made one last rush up ice with Curti starting along the left halfwall in his own zone. He kept a step ahead of the backchecking forward, then made a little move to the inside of the defenseman before slipping a backhand inside the far post as he was falling to the ice.
 
Cornell's 2nd Goal
3rd period, 8:08   •  Fiegl 4 (Kaldis, Starrett)  •  Cornell 2, Yale 2
•  With Tschantz on the forecheck, Yale's defense just rung the puck around the wall to the left wing where Starrett gained control. His attempted pass to Fiegl misfired, but Kaldis regained possession inside the left point and started to roll down the halfwall. After regrouping in the corner, he cut back up before dishing off to Fiegl at the top of the left circle. He simply whipped a one-timed wrister through Tschantz's screen and over Kaczperski's glove.
 
Cornell's 3rd Goal
3rd period, 18:13   •  Mullin 3 (Tschantz, Kaldis)  •  Cornell 3, Yale 2
•  Starrett collected the puck near the left halfwall and passed to Kaldis at the point. With no clear lane toward the net, Kaldis intentionally wristed the puck wide of the near post at an angle so that it would pop out toward the goal mouth. Tschantz was first to it, backhanding a shot that Kaczperski saved. But the lively rebound popped back into the slot, where Mullin gathered before ripping a shot off the goalie's left shoulder and into the net.

Up Next:
Cornell wraps up the regular season with a road trip to the Capital District, taking on Rensselaer at 7 p.m. Friday before shuttling across Route 7 to visit Union at 7 p.m. Saturday.