ITHACA, N.Y. — Sophomore defenseman Michael Suda's wrap-around goal 1:13 into the third period proved to be the difference maker as the No. 12-ranked, and No. 3-seeded, Cornell men's hockey team posted a 2-1 victory over the No. 6 seed Clarkson in the opening game of the best-of-three quarterfinal round of the ECAC Hockey Championship.

Junior forward Gabriel Seger made his return to the lineup felt as he opened the scoring for the Big Red with a power-play goal one second past the six-minute mark of the opening frame, sending 3,752 of the Lynah Faithful into a frenzy.

Clarkson's Mathieu Gosselin cut the Big Red's deficit in half over four minutes after Suda's goal when he deflected a shot from the top of the slot by Ryan Richardson.

Ian Shane, Cornell's sophomore goaltender, made 13 saves to earn his 18th victory of the season for the Big Red (19-9-2).

"Our power play got us one to get us the lead and then we killed off the rest of their power plays, and that's where we lost the game against these guys earlier this year," said Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Ice Hockey. "To get the first one and make it 2-0, then it was a little bit of a shemozzle. We gave up the one [goal], they had a couple chances, and Ian made some big saves for us. We will refocus and get it going for tomorrow."

Shane's counterpart, Ethan Haider, made 18 saves between the pipes for the Golden Knights (16-16-4).

How It Happened

Cornell dominated possession in the opening 20 minutes, generating 24 shot attempts to Clarkson's 14 and outshooting the Golden Knights by an 11-2 margin.

A minor cross-checking penalty to Clarkson's Luke Mobley was challenged by Cornell and overturned to a five-minute major and a game misconduct following a video review just over five and a half minutes into the contest.

Seger capitalized on the five-minute power play with a goal 29 seconds into the man advantage. Freshman forward Dalton Bancroft and senior defenseman Sam Malinski were credited with the helpers.

Clarkson's penalty kill limited Cornell's scoring chances on the remainder of the five-minute power play, and its other opportunity in the period.

Neither team mustered much offense in the second period as Clarkson outshot Cornell by a 6-4 margin in the frame.

The Golden Knights did not capitalize on either of their power plays and Cornell failed on its lone attempt in the middle stanza.

Suda increased the Big Red's lead when he brought the puck in from the near-half wall, putting a shot on goal that was stopped by Haider. The sophomore blueliner gathered his own rebound and scored on a wrap-around to put the Big Red ahead by two goals just over a minute into the final period of regulation.

Clarkson challenged the ruling of a good goal on the ice, but following the review it stood as previously called.

"It felt awesome, to be honest," Suda said. "I blacked out after it went into the net, and then my heart was racing a bit when they were reviewing it. Just great timing and happy it came."

Just over four minutes later, Clarkson responded with a goal of its own as a wrist shot from the top of the slot by Richardson deflected off of Gosselin in front of the net, cutting the Golden Knights' deficit in half.

While still leading by one goal, Clarkson won a faceoff in its offensive zone with six minutes left and Shane made a remarkable windmill glove save on Alex Campbell to keep the game in favor of the Big Red.

"That's just coming up clutch when your teammate needs you," Suda said. "Everyone makes mistakes, everyone loses guys sometimes, so you need saves like that. He showed out tonight."

Senior forward Ben Berard had a chance to ice the game with an empty-net goal, but his 85-foot shot rang off the left post and out.

Fellow senior Travis Mitchell made a crucial block of a shot by Trey Taylor in the waning seconds to preserve the victory in game one for Cornell.

"It's playoff hockey. It's tough to get pucks to the net. It's what you have to do in the playoffs," Schafer said.

Game Notes

• Cornell and Clarkson met for the 148th time on Friday night and the 34th instance in the ECAC Hockey Championship.

• With the win, the Big Red improved to 71-58-19 all-time over Clarkson and has a 22-11-1 mark against the Golden Knights in playoff action.

• The Big Red is now 45-20 in one-goal games in the ECAC Hockey Championship, and is 67-28-4 in games decided by two goals or less.

• Suda became the first Cornell defenseman to score in an ECAC Hockey playoff game since Joe Leahy and Matt Nuttle both scored in the Big Red's 6-0 victory over Brown in the semifinal game of the 2018 ECAC Hockey Championship in Lake Placid.

• Along with his first collegiate goal, Suda became the first Cornell blueliner to register a game-winning goal in the playoffs since Nuttle's opening goal in the 2018 semifinal game against Brown.

• After missing the last two regular-season games, Seger returned to the lineup and the scoresheet with his first-period marker. Seger now has eight points (one goal, seven assists) over his last six appearances. The goal was his first since January 21 against Princeton, snapping an eight-game goalless drought.

• Seger's goal marked Cornell's fifth time scoring during a major penalty this season. The other four came in the Big Red's 10-1 rout of Union, in which it scored five power-play goals in the first period.

• Cornell blocked 18 Clarkson shots on the night, highlighted by four blocks by Mitchell. His blueline mate, junior Tim Rego, blocked three Golden Knight shots. In total, 12 different Big Red players blocked at least one shot on the night.

• The Big Red dominated in the faceoff circle on Friday night, winning 30 of the 46 draws taken. Senior Max Andreev went 10-of-16 at the dot, while Seger won eight of the nine draws he took.

• After going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill, Cornell has killed off its last 11 penalties dating back to its Feb. 17 meeting with Clarkson.

Looking Ahead

Cornell and Clarkson will return to Lynah Rink for game two of the best-of-three series in the ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal round.

The Big Red will look to punch its ticket to Lake Placid for the first time since 2019 with a win. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m., and game action will be broadcast on ESPN+ and on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM).