PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Freshman forward Ondrej Psenicka scored his ninth goal of the season to give the Cornell men's hockey team some late hope in Tuesday's matinee against Brown, but the Bears staved off a late flurry around their goal mouth to hang on for a 2-1 victory at Meehan Auditorium.

Jake Harris scored on the power play midway through the first period to stake Brown (5-14, 5-8) to a lead that it would not relinquish — though Cornell (13-5-3, 8-3-3 ECAC Hockey) seemed poised to break through several times as it continued to turn up the heat throughout the game. But at the heart of Cornell's inability to tie the game was an 0-for-6 performance on the power play. 

The Bears finally got a sorely-needed insurance goal on Justin Jallen's breakaway with 3:45 left in third period. That goal would turn out to be the winner after Psenicka swatted in a loose puck from the post to the right of Brown goaltender Mathieu Caron. Senior forward Kyle Betts and freshman forward Justin Ertel were credited with the assists.

That created a wild finish that saw the Big Red pull goaltender Ian Shane (21 saves) in favor of an extra attacker for the final two-plus minutes, and several scrums at the top of Caron's crease and up the slot proved unsuccessful.

Cornell returns to the Empire State for its next games against ECAC Hockey rival Colgate. The teams start the home-and-home with a game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Colgate before a rematch scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink.