NEW YORK -- Freshman Dalton Bancroft recorded his first collegiate hat trick as the Cornell men's ice hockey team cruised to a 6-0 win over No. 6 UConn on Saturday evening in the Frozen Apple at Madison Square Garden.

Sophomore Ian Shane stopped all 27 shots he faced to earn his fourth career shutout, leading the Big Red (6-4-0) to its fourth consecutive win.

"Obviously another great environment by our alumni being here," said Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey. "It was fantastic to come back to New York City and see the environment that exists for college hockey. When you look up in the stands, as alumni, you're proud to see how many people follow our sport. It means a big difference at Cornell and how important athletics are to a university.

"We obviously got out to a great start in the game and Dalton got us off to that start with some good effort by the guys. We did a good job. [UConn is] a dangerous hockey team. We knew they forced a lot of pucks at the net and Ian did a good job of controlling rebounds."

Logan Terness made 24 saves for the Huskies, who slipped to 10-3-3 on the season.

Cornell scored twice in the first 74 seconds as Bancroft and sophomore Ondrej Psenicka quickly found the back of the night for the Big Red, giving Cornell a huge jolt of momentum.

It was all the Big Red would need as 11 different players entered the scoring column on the night. Seniors Max Andreev and Matt Stienburg each had a goal and an assist, while sophomore Sullivan Mack added two helpers.
 
Stienburg also scored in the first period, giving Cornell a 3-0 lead heading into the dressing room after 20 minutes of play.

Bancroft tallied the next two goals for Cornell, the latter coming on a deflection off a shot by Sam Malinski on the power play. Cornell went 1-for-3 on the power play against one of the more stingier penalty kill units in college hockey.

"Going into the game we all we talked about earning it, that's our slogan this year. Going against a team like UConn, we just had it in ourselves to think we're going to do whatever we can to win this game," Bancroft said. "The bounces were there tonight and I had some great play for my teammates, so all the kudos to the boys."

Andreev potted the sixth Cornell goal over halfway through the third period.

Game Notes

• Cornell and UConn played for the first time ever Saturday at the World's Most Famous Arena.

• With the victory, Cornell improved to 17-8-2 all-time at Madison Square Garden and is 5-3-2 against Hockey East opponents at the venue. All five of the Big Red's victories against Hockey East foes have come in succession, dating back to its first win over New Hampshire in the 2016 Frozen Apple.

• Cornell has scored six goals in each of its last two games at Madison Square Garden. It is the first time since 1975 in which the Big Red have posted consecutive six-goal performances at the venue. The Big Red posted a 10-7 victory over Boston College on Jan. 3, 1975, before following that up with a 7-4 win over St. Lawrence on Jan. 5, 1975, in the ECAC Hockey Holiday Tournament.

• Saturday marked the third time in program history Cornell registered a shutout at Madison Square Garden. The others came against RPI (Dec. 22, 1969 - 9-0) and Boston University (Nov. 30, 2019 - 2-0).

• Bancroft, with his hat trick, became the second Cornell player in program history to score three goals at Madison Square Garden, joining Dick Bertrand (Dec. 23, 1969 vs. St. Lawrence).

• With his hat trick, Bancroft also extended his season-long point streak to four games, having recorded seven points (four goals, three assists) in the span.

• The hat trick by Bancroft is the first by a Cornell freshman since Ben Berard did so in the 2019-20 regular season finale against Clarkson on Feb. 29, 2020.

• Junior Gabriel Seger and sophomore Sullivan Mack each extended their point streaks to career-long four games on Saturday. Both players have had one goal and four assists in the stretch.

• Zach Tupker won a team-high 15 faceoffs on Saturday, going 15-of-21 at the faceoff dot. Andreev (10-of-14) and Seger (10-of-15) also registered 10-plus faceoff wins in the victory. As a team, Cornell won 41 of the 66 draws taken on the night.

Looking Ahead

The Big Red returns home for a key ECAC Hockey weekend when it welcomes Harvard to Lynah Rink on Friday, Dec. 2, for the first of two meetings on the year. Puck drop between the Crimson and Big Red is slated for 7 p.m. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the radio call can be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM).