NEW YORK — Making his return from a four-game absence, senior forward Sullivan Mack scored a goal and added an assist to aid the No. 11-ranked Cornell men's hockey team (4-2-3) to a 3-3 tie with No. 18-ranked Quinnipiac (6-6-1) before a crowd of 16,593 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

Joining Mack in having a multi-point performance was sophomore Jonathan Castagna, who chipped in two assists.

Senior forward Jack O'Leary and junior forward Dalton Bancroft also lit the lamp in the draw for the Big Red, who extended its unbeaten streak at Madison Square Garden to five games (4-0-1).

Aaron Schwartz was the lone player for Quinnipiac to have a multi-point night, scoring once and assisting on another Bobcat tally. Cooper Moore and Andon Cerbone also found the back of the net for Quinnipiac.

Cornell's Ian Shane stopped 26 shots in the draw while Dylan Silverstein matched his season high for saves, shoving aside 30 Big Red shots between the pipes.

Saturday's contest was the most attended Cornell hockey game at Madison Square Garden since Red Hot Hockey on Nov. 28, 2015, when Cornell and Boston University played to a 3-3 tie in front of 17,154. It was the second-largest Frozen Apple game in the series history, trailing the inaugural contest on Nov. 24, 2012, when the Big Red posted a 5-1 win over Michigan before a sold-out crowd of 18,200, which was the last of four consecutive sellouts at the venue.

Mack gave Cornell the lead 2:12 into the contest as Castagna weaved through Quinnipiac's defense on a controlled breakout from behind the Big Red's net. Following a shot by Castagna from the bottom of the near faceoff circle, he regained control of the puck behind the Bobcats net, setting up Mack for a one-timer from the right faceoff circle.



Late in the first period, Bancroft netted a short-handed goal to double Cornell's lead. After a Quinnipiac shot that missed the net, sophomore forward Ryan Walsh chipped the puck between two Quinnipiac defenders off the boards to set up a 2-on-0 breakaway where Bancroft one-timed Walsh's pass past Silverstein.



The Bobcats retaliated with a three-goal second period to take a 3-2 lead. Cerbone potted Quinnipiac's first goal 11 seconds into the middle stanza on the power play, which carried over from the first period. Travis Treloar intercepted the puck from behind Cornell's net and quickly set up Cerbone on the edge of the crease.

Schwartz evened the game at 2-all on a delayed penalty, tipping in a pass at the near post from Jeremy Wilmer, who was at the bottom of the far faceoff circle. 

Immediately following the expiration of a 4-on-4 situation, Moore tallied a short-handed goal to give Quinnipiac a 3-2 lead, one-timing a pass by Schwartz on a quick drop pass from Chris Pelosi at the base of the right faceoff circle.

Cornell evened the game 1:12 into the third period as O'Leary pounced on a loose rebound after Mack had a shot saved by Silverstein while drawing a Quinnipiac penalty, which was quickly washed out by O'Leary's tally.



The Big Red out-shot the Bobcats in the third period, 13-6, and both netminders stood tall in goal, forcing a five-minute overtime.

Quinnipiac generated eight shot attempts during the five-minute 3-on-3 period, only three of which were on goal. Cornell's lone chance in the overtime period came with 3.2 seconds left when sophomore defenseman Ben Robertson back-handed a shot on goal that nearly beat Silverstein between his legs.

Bancroft opened the shootout with a goal and Wilmer missed his attempt. Senior defenseman Hank Kempf took Cornell's second shot and beat Silverstein with a deke but could not get the shot off in time. Treloar had his back-handed shot blockered aside by Shane to keep the advantage in favor of Cornell. Walsh had his shot stopped by Silverstein to begin round three of the shootout and Cerbone had his attempt padded away by Shane to give Cornell the shootout victory.

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE


GAME NOTES
• Saturday was the 53rd meeting between Cornell and Quinnipiac, as Cornell's lead in the series now stands at 27-21-5. It was the first tie between the programs since a 2-2 tie in Hamden, Conn., on Jan. 5, 2019.

• Cornell is now 7-1-2 over its last 10 games at Madison Square Garden and 4-1-1 all-time in the Frozen Apple series.

ALL-TIME RESULTS IN FROZEN APPLE
Cornell Program History
• 2012 vs. Michigan (W, 5-1)
• 2014 vs. Penn State (W, 3-1)
• 2016 vs. New Hampshire (W, 3-1)
• 2018 vs. Harvard (L, 1-4)
• 2022 vs. UConn (W, 6-0)
• 2024 vs. Quinnipiac (T, 3-3 — SOW)

• Following his 26-save performance on Saturday night, Shane has a 2-0-1 record with a 1.30 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage over three career appearances at Madison Square Garden, stopping 88 of 92 shots.

• With his first-period goal, Bancroft has scored four goals at Madison Square Garden, tying with Doug Ferguson '65 for the third-most by a Cornell player in program history. Only John Hughes '69 and Brian Campbell '76 had more goals (five).

MOST GOALS SCORED AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Cornell Program History
• 5, John Hughes (1967-69)
• 5, Brian Campbell (1975-76)
• 4, Doug Ferguson (1964-65)
• 4, Dalton Bancroft (2022-24)

• Bancroft's goal was Cornell's second short-handed goal of the season, marking the first time the Big Red has scored multiple short-handed goals in a season since netting three during the 2013-14 campaign.

• Behind his 26-save performance, Shane's 1,848 career saves stand as the 11th-most stops by a Cornell goaltender in program history. Shane's 26 saves on Saturday night surpassed Doug Dadswell (1,824 from 1984-86) and Matthew Galajda (1,844 saves from 2017-20).

MOST CAREER SAVES
Cornell Program History
1. 2,988, Andy Iles (2010-14)
2. 2,872, Ben Scrivens (2006-10)
3. 2,462, Jason Elliott (1994-98)
4. 2,403, Mitch Gillam (2013-17)
5. 2,228, Corrie D'Alessio (1987-91)
6. 2,225, Brian Hayward (1978-82)
7. 2,208, David McKee (2003-06)
8. 2,143, Darren Eliot (1979-83)
9. 2,052, Matt Underhill (1998-02)
10. 1,987, Ken Dryden (1966-69)
11. 1,848, Ian Shane (2021-Present)
12. 1,844, Matthew Galajda (2017-20)
13. 1,824, Doug Dadswell (1984-86)

UP NEXT
Cornell will conclude its 2024 portion of the 2024-25 schedule next weekend when it plays its annual home-and-home series with Central New York rival Colgate (7-7-4, 4-1-1 ECAC Hockey). The series will begin on Friday, Dec. 6, when it hosts the Raiders at Lynah Rink before traveling northward on Saturday, Dec. 7, to the Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton, N.Y.

Puck drop for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m. Both contests will be available on ESPN+ and internationally on Stretch Internet. The contests will also be carried over the airwaves on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM, cortacatoday.com).

The Big Red's weekend finale with Colgate will be the first of Cornell's upcoming seven-game road trip, as it will travel to Tempe, Ariz., to participate in the annual Desert Classic Invitational, hosted by Arizona State on Jan. 3-4 before playing a two-game series against Sacred Heart (Jan. 10-11) and traveling to Princeton (Jan. 17) and Quinnipiac (Jan. 18).