ITHACA, N.Y. — Senior goaltender Ian Shane recorded 24 saves en route to his Division I-leading 12th career shutout as the No. 8-ranked Cornell men's hockey team (4-2-2, 2-2-2 ECAC Hockey) defeated Princeton (1-4-1, 1-4-1 ECAC Hockey), 5-0, before a sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink on Saturday night.

Aiding Shane in his shutout, four players registered two-point nights, highlighted by senior forward Ondrej Psenicka, sophomore defenseman Ben Robertson and sophomore forward Ryan Walsh, who all had a goal and added an assist. Robertson's classmate and fellow blueliner George Fegaras chipped in two assists.

Princeton's Ethan Pearson made 19 saves in the setback for the Tigers.

The Big Red went 2-for-5 on the power play on Saturday night and killed all four of Princeton's power-play opportunities, which included seven shots on goal. 

"Special teams got the job done," said Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey. "Penalty kill, Ian made some big saves for us when we needed it, the power play generated some chances and scored some goals. So far this year, we've lost every special teams game except for this one. It's something good to build on.

"We changed lines up, changed power plays up. Maybe they got comfortable playing with the same players, but tonight, they had to get their heads up, read each other, look around and make some decisions we didn't do last night."

Cornell staked out to a 3-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes of play as junior forward Dalton Bancroft, sophomore forward Jake Kraft, and Psenicka all found the back of the net during 5-on-5 action.

Bancroft opened the scoring with a wrist shot from the top of the slot after receiving a pass from Major at the near half-wall. 



Over two minutes later, Kraft doubled up Cornell's lead when he one-timed a shot at the base of the crease on a wrap-around pass by senior defenseman Tim Rego, extending his point streak to three games and matching his career high. Senior forward Jack O'Leary earned the secondary helper.



With under four minutes remaining in the period, a wrist shot from the point by senior defenseman Michael Suda deflected off the torso of Psenicka and past Pearson to give the Big Red a 3-0 lead.



Neither team scored in the second period despite a combined eight penalties being called and each team having three power-play opportunities.

Both of Cornell's third-period goals came on the power play, with the first one coming on a threaded pass by Robertson from the top of the near faceoff circle to Walsh at the far post for a tip-in one-timer.



Following a Princeton penalty and a faceoff win by Walsh, Robertson netted Cornell's fifth goal of the night, blazing a wrist shot from nearly the same spot in the faceoff circle.



GAME NOTES 
• Saturday was the 163rd all-time meeting between Cornell and Princeton. The Big Red increased its lead to 101-54-8 all-time over the Tigers, which includes a 20-4-0 record over the last 24 meetings.

• Cornell has scored three-plus goals against Princeton in 10 of its last 11 games against the Tigers (4.00 goals per game) and in 20 of the previous 24 matchups (3.83 goals per game). Over the prior 24 meetings with Princeton, the Big Red has scored at least four goals on 17 occasions. 

• The five-goal margin of victory was the Big Red's largest win since defeating Union, 6-1, at Messa Rink at Achilles Center last Feb. 10. It was the largest win at Lynah Rink since beating Clarkson, 7-2, last Feb. 3. Cornell's last win of five-plus goals over Princeton was Jan. 5, 2018, when it won 7-1.

• Under Mike Schafer '86, the Big Red has a 168-4-3 record when scoring at least five goals in a game. Cornell has won the last 110 games when netting five-plus goals.

• Over the last five seasons, the Big Red is 57-5-5 when leading after the first period and 72-0-3 when leading after 40 minutes of play. Cornell is also 70-8-10 when scoring the first goal during the span.

• Shane's shutout broke his tie with Dave LeNeveu and Mitch Gillam '17, placing him in sole possession of fifth place for the most shutouts by a Cornell goaltender. With his next shutout, Shane would tie Cornell Athletics and Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden '69 for the fourth-most shutouts in program history.

CAREER SHUTOUTS
Cornell Program History
T1. Ben Scrivens (2006-10) — 19 shutouts
T1. Matthew Galajda (2017-20) — 19 shutouts
3. Dave McKee (2003-06) — 18 shutouts
4. Ken Dryden (1966-69) — 13 shutouts
5. Ian Shane (2021-Present) — 12 shutouts
T6. Dave LeNeveu (2001-03) — 11 shutouts
T6. Mitch Gillam (2014-17) — 11 shutouts

• Fegaras' two assists was his first game with multiple helpers in his collegiate career and his second multi-point game, joining a two-point outing at Brown on Nov. 4, 2023. Robertson's two-point night matched his career high for the fourth time and was his first two-point game since scoring twice against Harvard in the final game of the best-of-three quarterfinal round of the 2024 ECAC Hockey Championship.

• Sophomore defenseman Hoyt Stanley blocked a team-high four shots, marking his third game with at least four blocks this season.

• Bancroft and sophomore forward Jonathan Castagna blocked three shots on Saturday night. The blocked shot total was one off of matching Bancroft's single-game high, which came on Dec. 30, 2023, against Arizona State. It was Castagna's highest blocked shot total in a game and his third multi-block game.

• Walsh won a team-high 15 faceoffs, going 15-of-21 at the faceoff dot while Castagna went 10-of-14, both computing to 71.4 percent clips. Over the last two weekends, Castagna has won a team-high 63.5 percent of draws (40-of-63) while Walsh has a 62.7 percent win rate (52-of-83).

UP NEXT
Cornell will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 30, when it hosts No. 18-ranked Quinnipiac (6-6-0, 3-3-0 ECAC Hockey) at Madison Square Garden for the biennial Frozen Apple game in New York City.

Puck drop is scheduled for 8 p.m. and game action will be broadcast on ESPN+ and over the airwaves on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM, cortacatoday.com). Canadian fans can also stream the game on TSN+. All other international viewers can stream the contest on Stretch Internet.