By Brandon Thomas
Cornell Athletic Communications
 
ITHACA, N.Y. — While the Cornell men's hockey team was never really threatened in its win over Union on Friday night, Mike Schafer '86 still thought his team could be more effective in finishing off an opponent in the future. Little did he know to what magnitude that measure would take 24 hours later.
 
Senior forward Max Andreev scored four goals and added two assists on Saturday to headline the Big Red's offensive barrage against Rensselaer, which resulted in the program's best offensive output in 42 years for an 11-3 victory at Lynah Rink. Junior forward Matt Stienburg added a goal and three assists, and Cornell scored 11 goals for the first time since a Feb. 21, 1979 decision over Harvard by the same score.
 
"I thought, really – for the first time – we had all four lines going and contributions from all of the guys that played with poise and followed the game plan," said Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey at Cornell. "They just had that energy on the bench to play. And we obviously got a couple of fortunate bounces that opened up the game, but then we kept our feet on the gas pedal."
 
Acceleration is one thing, but this wasn't just lighter fluid on charcoal – it was an all-out inferno. Fourteen of the Big Red's 19 skaters had at least one point, and Andreev gave Cornell its first scorer of four goals in a single game since eventual NHLer Ryan Hughes '93 accounted for all of the team's offense as part of a 19-game scoring streak in a 5-4 setback against Boston College on Jan. 29, 1991.

Junior forwards Ben Berard and Ben Tupker had already helped the Big Red take the lead by the time Andreev struck for the first time, giving the hosts a 3-1 lead inside 10 minutes.
 
Among the zaniest plays you'll ever see led to Cornell's fourth goal. An RPI defenseman beaned a teammate with a pass on an attempted breakout before the goaltender kicked the puck onto his own goal post a tap-in tally. Andreev was originally credited with the goal – which led to visions of a natural hat trick after his power-play goal about two and a half minutes later, but video review revealed freshman Ondrej Psenicka would be credited with the fourth goal.
 
Junior forward Zach Tupker pushed the lead to 6-1 early in the second, then RPI scored its second goal. It was at that point that visions of the previous night's cruise-control finish began to haunt the home side, but it was also an opportunity to better handle the situation. That started with a quick response to the Engineers' goal on Andreev's (actual) third goal 58 seconds later, and sophomore defenseman Tim Rego's first collegiate goal 18 seconds after that.
 
"We want to remain aggressive, you want to remain disciplined, and you don't want to be taking any penalties," Schafer said. "And we want to remain above people (defensively), and we didn't do that last night. We got underneath with Union … and we just didn't execute last night. Tonight, we did a much better job."
 
Just as it had in the second, Cornell (5-1, 3-1 ECAC Hockey) outscored RPI (5-5-1, 3-3) by a 3-1 margin in the third. Stienburg's goal came on a second rebound, then Andreev's fourth strike was a redirection of a Berard shot to push the Big Red into double digits for the first time since 1999. Rego then capped the scoring with his second goal after a clean faceoff win from senior forward Brenden Locke with 1:21 left. It was a night when Cornell could do no wrong offensively.
 
"I've been on the other end of it, when every tip-in ends up in the net," Schafer said. "We made some good plays, but it just happens like that in hockey."
 
Andreev's six-point effort was a first for Cornell in a span of 566 games since Ryan Vesce had three goals and four assists in a game against Princeton on Nov. 8, 2003. He was also the Big Red's top faceoff man with a 11-5 edge on draws. In addition to his first two collegiate goals, Rego added an assist. Freshman forwards Justin Ertel and Sullivan Mack each added their first collegiate points on assists.
 
The victory moves the Big Red alongside the Engineers for second place in the ECAC Hockey standings with nine points – though Cornell has two league games in hand on RPI and one on first-place Harvard (11 points).
 
The Big Red continues its home stand with visits from Ivy League and ECAC Hockey foes Brown (7 p.m. Friday) and Yale (7 p.m.) in what will be the team's final appearances at Lynah Rink until Jan. 21.

Assistant director of athletic communications Brandon Thomas is in his 11th year as his office's primary contact for Cornell men's hockey. Follow him on Twitter at @BT_unassisted.