ITHACA, N.Y. — Six different goal scorers found the back of the net for the No. 11-ranked Cornell men's hockey team as it defeated Toronto Metropolitan, 6-1, in a chippy exhibition game on Saturday night at Lynah Rink.
Senior forward Gabriel Seger, junior defenseman Michael Suda, sophomore forward Winter Wallace, and freshmen forwards Jake Kraft, Ryan Walsh, and Jonathan Castagna all recorded the markers for the Big Red in the program's first game against opposing competition this season.
Kraft, one of four players to log a multi-point night, had a team-high three points (one goal, two assists) for the Big Red. Seger logged a goal and an assist, while junior forward Jack O'Leary and freshman defenseman George Fegaras chipped in two assists each.
Despite Cornell's explosive offense, the game turned chippy — especially in the third period — as a combined 17 penalties were assessed. Eight of the 17 penalties came in the final frame.
"It's good to get back into a game. We needed it bad," said Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey. "Just see different circumstances that aren't scripted in practice. It will provide us great video as we prepare for next week."
Cornell scored early, netting its first three goals over the opening 4:47. Castagna was the first to find twine, lasering a wrist shot off a toe-drag from the right faceoff circle just 2:10 into the contest. Kraft and Seger tacked on a pair of goals 39 seconds apart to increase the Big Red's lead to three.
Following a lull in scoring, the game became more chippy after the horn sounded for the first period. Toronto Metropolitan was assessed as a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for slew-footing.
The Big Red took advantage of the five-minute power play, scoring three times in the first 3:58 of the second period to give the Big Red a six-goal advantage. Wallace, Suda, and Walsh were the goal scorers for Cornell who chased Toronto Metropolitan's starting goaltender, Kai Edmonds, out of the game.
In relief of Edmonds, Ryan Dugas shoved aside all 23 shots he faced in the final 36:02 for the Bold.
Junior goaltender Ian Shane earned the start for Cornell, logging 30:52 of action, stopping all five shots he faced. Shane gave way to sophomore Remington Keopple, who stopped 11 saves during his 28:46 in between the pipes.
Cornell's shutout bid was thwarted when TMU's Ian Martin's toe-dragged wrist shot beat Keopple to his glove side near the midway point of the third period.
GAME NOTES
• Cornell and TMU met for the third time in program history on Saturday night. The Big Red has won all three meetings, scoring at least four goals in all contests.
• The Big Red has won its last nine exhibitions, outscoring its opponents during that stretch 50-8.
• Along with its nine-game win streak, Cornell has not lost any of its previous 25 exhibitions, posting a 128-32 margin in goal scoring (plus-96), leading to an average margin of victory of 3.84.
UP NEXT
Cornell will play its final exhibition of the season when it welcomes the United States National Team Development Program Under-18 Team to Lynah Rink next Saturday. Puck drop between the two teams is scheduled for 7 p.m. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The U.S. NTDP Under-18 Team, who will play Utica on Friday before its contest with Cornell, is coming off an impressive 8-2 victory over top-ranked Boston University on Saturday night.
"We better be ready for them. They beat BU pretty handily," Schafer said on next weekend's opponent. "They've got a lot of talent and they're very skilled. That's the thing about them: they have flat-out God-given talent. We'll have our hands full with these guys, and that's good."
