LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Sophomore forward
Dalton Bancroft and senior forward
Gabriel Seger scored in the best-of-three-round shootout, lifting the No. 17-ranked Cornell men's hockey team to a shootout victory over No. 11-ranked UMass, following a 2-2 tie in the opening game of the 2023 Adirondack Winter Invitational on Friday afternoon at Herb Brooks Arena.
Bancroft and freshman
Hoyt Stanley scored in regulation for the Big Red, which now has an overall record of 6-4-2. Freshman forward
Ryan Walsh factored on both goals in regulation to notch his first career multi-assist game and second multi-point effort of the season.
Michael Cameron and Ryan Lautenbach potted the markers for the Minutemen (11-4-2), who will play Clarkson in the consolation game at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Junior goaltender
Ian Shane made 23 saves between the pipes for Cornell, while his counterpart Cole Brady shoved aside 24 Big Red shots.
"I thought overcoming only having two practices before we got up here, we were good in spurts and sloppy in spurts," said
Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey. "Overall, I was happy we didn't give up a power-play goal. Just that long of a break [from games], pretty happy with it."
Both teams were held scoreless in the opening 20 minutes of play after UMass had a goal late in the period called back due to a high stick. A Minutemen player knocked a loose puck from atop Cornell's net toward a teammate near the crease, resulting in the disallowed goal.
Cornell eventually tallied the game's first goal early in the second period when Stanley registered his first collegiate tally. A battle against the boards behind UMass' net resulted in Walsh gaining control of the puck and sending a pass to Stanley at the right point, where the freshman blueliner lasered his shot past Brady.
UMass leveled the game just over four minutes later when Lautenbach knocked freshman defenseman
George Fegaras off the puck deep in Cornell's defensive zone, leading to a one-timed shot by Cameron in the low slot.
Bancroft gave the Big Red the lead later in the second period when he chipped in a loose puck following a point shot by freshman defenseman
Ben Robertson off a faceoff win by senior forward
Gabriel Seger.
UMass evened the game late in the third period when Lautenbach potted a goal on a loose rebound with 2:02 remaining in regulation.
Neither team ended up scoring in overtime, forcing the best-of-three-round shootout. Cornell outshot UMass, 5-2, in the five-minute frame.
Cornell opened the shootout with a goal as Bancroft deposited a snap shot past Brady. Seger scored Cornell's second shootout goal on a wrist shot following a miss by UMass' Aydar Suniev, sending the shootout into sudden death. Cameron's attempt also missed the net, sending Cornell to its shootout victory and the Adirondack Winter Invitational championship game.
GAME NOTES
• Friday marked the 10th meeting between Cornell and UMass and the first game against the Minutemen in 11 years (Dec. 29, 2011). The Big Red's record over the Minutemen now stands at 5-3-2. It was the first tie between the two programs since playing to a scoreless draw at Lynah Rink on Nov. 30, 2007.
• Cornell's record against opponents ranked No. 11 in the USCHO.com poll is now 9-7-7 following Friday's tie. It is the first time Cornell tied with a team with a No. 11 ranking in the USCHO.com poll since playing to a 3-3 tie with Boston University at Madison Square Garden at the biennial Red Hot Hockey game on Nov. 28, 2015. The Big Red is now unbeaten in seven of its last eight contests against opponents ranked No. 11 (4-1-3).
• It is Cornell's first tie in a neutral site game since Jan. 4, 2020, when it played to a 2-2 draw with Providence at the Fortress Invitational in Las Vegas, where the Friars went on to win the shootout 1-0 in three rounds.
• Cornell won a shootout on a neutral site for the first time since defeating Maine in the championship game of the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla., exactly 11 years to the day (Dec. 29, 2013).
UP NEXT
Cornell will play No. 13-ranked Arizona State in the championship game of the 2023 Adirondack Winter Invitational at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Herb Brooks Arena, as the Sun Devils defeated Clarkson, 5-2, in the nightcap of Friday's contests.
Saturday's meeting will be the fifth all-time contest between the Big Red and Sun Devils and the first-ever game at a neutral site. The previous four meetings have been split evenly, with the home team sweeping two-game series back in 2019 (Cornell) and 2021 (Arizona State).
Playing the Sun Devils will mark Cornell's seventh time in program history in which it will play an opponent three consecutive times in the regular season. It will be the first instance since the 1997-98 season when it played Colgate on Jan. 10, 1998, in Uniondale, N.Y., before its traditional home-and-home series on Jan. 17, 1998 (Ithaca) and Jan. 19, 1998 (Hamilton).
Three-Plus Consecutive Games Against Same Opponent
Cornell Program History
Penn (Dec. 31, 1908, Jan. 1, 1909, and Jan. 2, 1909) — Elysium Arena in Cleveland, Ohio
Yale (Jan. 1, 1910, Jan. 3, 1910, and Jan. 4, 1910) — Elysium Arena in Cleveland, Ohio
Yale (Dec. 30, 1910, Dec. 31, 1910, and Jan. 2, 1911) — Chicago Ice Palace in Chicago, Ill.
Yale (Jan. 1, 1912, Jan. 2, 1912, Jan. 3, 1912) — Arena Ice Rink in Syracuse, N.Y.
Princeton (Dec. 26, 1912, Dec. 27, 1912, Dec. 28, 1912 — Arena Ice Rink in Syracuse, N.Y.; and Jan. 11, 1913 — St. Nicholas Rink in New York City)
Colgate (Jan. 10, 1998 — Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.; Jan. 17, 1998 — Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y.; Jan. 19, 1998 — Starr Rink in Hamilton, N.Y.)
Arizona State (Dec. 30, 2023 — Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y.; Jan. 12, 2024, and Jan. 13, 2024 — Mullett Arena, Tempe, Ariz.)
