ITHACA, N.Y. — Freshman forward Ben Berard scored a power-play goal 3 minutes, 23 seconds into the third period, and for a second straight game the Cornell men's hockey team erased a third-period deficit to salvage a tie — this time by a score of 2-2 against Northern Michigan on Friday night at Lynah Rink.

Playing for the first time since it gained the top spot in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine nation polls, Cornell (12-1-3) killed off two major penalties to remain unbeaten in its last five games. Berard's goal came on a one-timer set up by junior forward Brenden Locke after 17th-ranked Northern Michigan (13-7-3) had taken its second lead of the game late in the second.

Sophomore forward Michael Regush scored the Big Red's first goal during four-on-four play in the first period, set up by Berard and freshman defenseman Sebastian Dirven. Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda made 24 saves.

More to come ...

The Big Red's Lineup:

How The Goals Were Scored:

Northern Michigan's 1st Goal
1st period, 12:20  •  Newhouse 3 (Schultz, Ghantous)  •  Northern Michigan 1, Cornell 0
•  Ghantous forced a turnover on the forecheck in the corner to Galajda's right, then he went to work in a one-on-one battle against Kaldis. With Kaldis effectively containing him, Ghantous passed behind the net to Schultz, who then picked out Newhouse with a diagonal pass to the top of the left circle. Newhouse then picked a spot over Galajda's right shoulder to open the scoring.
 
Cornell's 1st Goal
1st period, 15:04  •  Regush 7 (Dirven, Berard)  •  Cornell 1, Northern Michigan 1
•  With the teams skating four-on-four, the Big Red started to patrol the perimeter with possession in the offensive zone. Dirven worked to the left point and then fed Berard in the high slot, who then sent a return pass back to Dirven cutting into outside of the left circle. From a sharp angle, Dirven sent the puck toward the goal mouth, where Regush was posted up. His first shot was stopped, and his next found its way into the feet of Kent before eventually slithering over the goal line.
 
Northern Michigan's 2nd Goal
2nd period, 17:09  •  de May 13 (Slattery, Readman)  •  Northern Michigan 2, Cornell 1
•  The Wildcats broke out of their own zone with de May feeding Slattery with speed up the wall into the neutral zone. Dirven tied up Slattery in front of the Wildcats' bench, but de May trailed the play and picked up the puck. Readman beat two backchecking forwards up ice to then create a two-on-one as de May entered the right circle. The last remaining defender sprawled to the ice, but de May dragged back for a shot from the slot that went high to the glove side.
 
Cornell's 2nd Goal
3rd period, 3:23 (pp)  •  Berard 4 (Locke, Kaldis)  •  Cornell 2, Northern Michigan 2
•  Playing with a man advantage, Kaldis worked the puck from the bottom of the left circle back to Locke at the left point. With the Wildcats' forwards hanging back toward the slot, Locke sent a pass across to Berard just above the right faceoff dot for a one-timed blast that went against the grain and zipped past Kent's right shoulder.

Up Next:

•  Cornell and Northern Michigan will clash again at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink, marking the end of the Big Red's non-league schedule in the regular season.