ITHACA, N.Y. – Seven players registered multi-point nights for Cornell in the Big Red's 8-4 victory over AIC in men's hockey action at Lynah Rink on Thursday night.

Jack Malone and Ondrej Psenicka each registered three-point nights, while Sullivan Mack recorded his first collegiate multi-goal game, to pace the Big Red offense.

Psenicka finished the night with two goals and one assist, while Malone had a goal and two helpers.

Travis Mitchell, Kyle Penney, and Nick DeSantis each had a goal and an assist on the night. Ben Berard chipped in two assists apiece for Cornell (8-5-0).

Eric Otto and Timofei Khokhlachev both had a goal and an assist for AIC (10-8-4) in the setback.

Ian Shane earned the victory between the pipes for the Big Red, improving his season mark to 7-4-0.

How It Happened

Otto and Oscar Geschwind each scored in the opening eight minutes to give the visiting Yellow Jackets an early 2-0 lead.

In response to AIC's opening tallies, Cornell dominated possession for the remainder of the period while outshooting the Yellow Jackets by an 11-2 margin over the final 12 minutes of the first period.

DeSantis trimmed the Big Red's deficit with a marker late in the first, netting a one-timer on a cross-ice pass by Berard. Gabriel Seger was credited with a secondary helper.

Cornell's momentum carried over into the second period as the Big Red tied the game up following an AIC giveaway. Psenicka scored the first of his two goals in the period when he deposited a one-timer on a feed by Mitchell, who pounced on the loose puck in the neutral zone.

The Big Red took the lead, 3-2, following another AIC giveaway on an errant neutral zone pass. Mack took advantage of a breakaway opportunity thanks to the puck taking a lucky bounce off DeSantis' skate.

AIC evened the contest at 3-all near the halfway point of the contest. The Yellow Jackets had a 2-on-1 opportunity, enabling Jordan Biro to score on a shot that went through Shane's five hole.

Psenicka gave Cornell the lead again when he redirected a shot taken by Malone in the mid slot, proving to be the first of five unanswered Big Red goals.

Just 24 seconds after Psenicka's goal, Penney sent a backdoor pass to Malone to further increase the Big Red's lead.

Mitchell scored late in the second period on another backdoor feed, this time by Berard.

Mack and Penney added third-period goals to give Cornell a five-goal lead, but AIC countered with a goal of its own 18 seconds after Penney's tally.

Game Notes

• Thursday was the second meeting between Cornell and AIC, and the first since the Big Red posted a 7-0 victory on Dec. 3, 1963.

• Cornell extended its unbeaten streak in home games played on Thursdays to 14. The Big Red is 13-0-1 dating back to the beginning of the streak, which began on Nov. 28, 1963. During the stretch, Cornell has outscored its opponents by a whopping 86 goals (115-28), which includes nine games with five-plus goals.

• The eight goals scored by Cornell on Thursday are the most since posting an 11-3 victory over RPI on Nov. 13, 2021. Cornell also recorded its first five-goal period since scoring five goals in the victory over the Engineers.

• With the win, Cornell has now won its last eight games against opponents from the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA). During the win streak, Cornell has outscored its opponent by 18 goals (33-15).

• Psenicka and Mack became the first Cornell tandem to register multi-goal games in the same game since Feb. 19, 2022, when Kyle Betts and Psenicka had two-goal games against Clarkson.

• Malone recorded his first point since March 13, 2022, when he recorded an assist against Colgate in the ECAC quarterfinals. His second-period goal marked his first tally since Feb. 25, 2022, against Quinnipiac, and his three points are a single-game high for the senior forward.

• Mitchell extended his goal streak to three games, becoming the first Cornell defenseman with a three-game goal streak since Nick D'Agostino did so during the 2010-11 season. He is the fourth Big Red blueliner (fifth instance) with a three-game goal streak since the 1990-91 season. Mitchell joins Doug Murray (four-game streak in 2000-01; three-game streak in 2001-02), Mark McRae (2000-01) and D'Agostino.

• Ryan McInchak made his Cornell debut on Thursday playing the remaining 3:19 of the contest.

• Cornell outshot AIC, 34-12, while having a 74-28 advantage in shot attempts. The Big Red dominated at the faceoff circle, winning 38 of the 61 draws taken on the night.

Looking Ahead

Cornell and AIC will conclude its two-game series at Lynah Rink on Friday with another 7 p.m. puck drop. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+. The radio call with Jason Weinstein and Tony Eisenhut will be carried live on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM).