ITHACA, N.Y. — Beau Starrett scored twice, and the Cornell men's hockey team exploded for a season-high single-game goal total on 52 shots on goal in a 6-1 drubbing of Arizona State on Friday night at Lynah Rink.
 
Brenden Locke scored on a passing play involving all Big Red skaters on the ice, then Cam Donaldson's team-leading seventh goal doubled the lead in the final minute of a first period in which it produced 26 shots on goal. Morgan Barron assisted on both tallies, giving him six points over a scoring streak that's been pushed to four games.
 
Cornell (8-5-1) survived some ominous moments late in the second period before a burst of four more goals in the third to start the non-league series with a bang.
 
"We did what we want to do in a home series. We really came out strong in the first period," said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey at Cornell. "It's a good solid win for us. We've talked about treating this like a playoff series where we want to come back and be ready to play tomorrow night. I know they'll be ready to play."
 
Although used to seeing a fair amount of action despite leading the country in victories (16) and shutouts (six), Arizona State (16-8-1) goaltender Joey Daccord was under siege from start to finish. Another tic-tac-toe passing play led to Starrett's first goal with about 15 minutes to play.
 
Johnny Walker ruined the Big Red's shutout bid on a breakaway a little more than a minute later, pushing his national lead in goals to 19. But Cornell answered right back with a rebound goal by Connor Murphy – his first strike in more than two years – and Starrett's second of the night chased Daccord for the first time this season.
 
"It's a matter of being gritty," Schafer said. "Big block by Joe Leahy at the end of the game; the gritty goal by Connor Murphy down by the net. Those kinds of things as a team, that's the way we need to play. We weren't perfect in any way, shape or form. Our compete level was good, and we'll need to bring it again."
 
Reigning ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week Austin McGrath made 24 saves to earn the victory. Over starts in the Big Red's last five games, McGrath is 3-1-1 with a 1.78 goals against average and .936 save percentage.
 

The Big Red's Lineup:

How The Goals Were Scored:

Cornell's 1st Goal
1st period, 17:17  •  Locke 2 (Donaldson, Barron)  •  Cornell 1, Arizona State 0
•  All five of the Big Red's skaters touched the puck consecutively, starting with Yanni Kaldis' trek down and around the Arizona State goal. As he came up from the right corner, Cody Haiskanen swooped in from the point and made a pass to Barron posted up on the crease. His one-touch pass to Donaldson near the inside hash mark was then steered across to Locke at the far post for a slam dunk.
 
Cornell's 2nd Goal
1st period, 19:09.5  •  Donaldson 7 (Barron, Nuttle)  •  Cornell 2, Arizona State 0
•  The Big Red won a faceoff in the defensive zone with Nuttle whipping the puck off the end wall up the right side. Donaldson advanced it to the neutral zone toward Barron, with the puck skipping off his stick and into the Arizona State end. With Barron and his defender engaged, Donaldson turned on the jets to be first to the puck in the right circle, then he deftly flipped a backhand over Daccord's glove.
 
Cornell's 3rd Goal
3rd period, 4:23  •  Starrett 4 (Vanderlaan, Mullin)  •  Cornell 3, Arizona State 0
•  Mullin sped up the left wing into the neutral zone on a three-on-two. He drew a defender while gaining the ASU zone, sliding a pass inside to Vanderlaan. With the last defender committing to the Big Red's captain, he spun to his backhand and slid the puck across the slot to a wide-open Starrett. He deked Daccord to the ice, then roofed a backhand.
 
Arizona State's Goal
3rd period, 5:38  •  Walker 19 (Hollman, Maniscalco)  •  Cornell 3, Arizona State 1
•  Cornell held possession in the Sun Devils' zone. With one of the defenseman activated, a puck was poked away from a Big Red forward breaking toward the slot. ASU quickly transitioned, with Hollman picking out Walker on the weak side. Cornell's last defenseman gambled in an attempt to cut down the pass near center ice, but he missed – leaving Walker on a clean breakaway, which led to a move to the forehand and a goal under McGrath's left pad.
 
Cornell's 4th Goal
3rd period, 8:58  •  Murphy 1 (Regush, Andreev)  •  Cornell 4, Arizona State 1
•  Cornell possession in the offensive zone saw McCrea engaged in a scrum by the right half wall. Andreev fished the puck out of the pile and slipped it back to Regush, who was covering the right point. He took space given toward the high slot before unleashing a shot that hit a descending Daccord in the right shoulder. The puck landed softly in the crease undetected by the goalie, and Murphy won his battle with a defender to swat it in.
 
Cornell's 5th Goal
3rd period, 11:40  •  Starrett 5 (Andreev, Nuttle) (pp)  •  Cornell 5, Arizona State 1
•  Working on the power play, Locke made a pass from the left circle to Nuttle at the top of the right circle. He slid the puck in to Andreev toward the high slot, where he shifted to his backhand to attempt a feed back for Locke breaking toward the far post. The puck instead clanked off a defender's skates and within the reach of Starrett, who shoveled in the rebound to end Daccord's night.
 
Cornell's 6th Goal
3rd period, 19:39.9  •  Vanderlann 2  •  Cornell 6, Arizona State 1
•  Playing out the string as time wound down, ASU relief goalie Evan Debrouwer eluded pressure from Mullin in the left circle by ringing the puck behind his own vacated goal. The puck went directly to a defender, but caromed off his skates and into the path of Vanderlaan near the bottom of the right circle for an easy conversion.
 

Special Threads

•  Cornell wore special red jerseys for the game, which were auctioned off at a previous date to raise funds for a service trip to the Dominican Republic through the Portal de Belén Foundation. Members of the Big Red and assorted friends and family have made similar trips in 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016.
 

Up Next:

•  The Big Red wraps up the non-league portion of its regular season with a rematch against the Sun Devils at 7 p.m. Saturday.