CANTON, N.Y. — Two extra-attacker goals by junior forward
Ondrej Psenicka over the final 1:31 in the third period avenged a 2-0 deficit to force overtime before the No. 11-ranked Cornell men's hockey team took the extra point in the standings with a shootout victory following a 2-2 tie with St. Lawrence before 1,579 at Appleton Arena on Saturday night.
Along with Psenicka's multi-goal performance — his first since doing so against AIC on Dec. 29, 2022 — junior goaltender
Ian Shane made a season-high 36 saves between the pipes for the Big Red (16-5-6, 11-5-4 ECAC Hockey)
Greg Lapointe and Drake Burgin scored power-play goals for St. Lawrence, and goaltender Ben Kraws stopped 32 shots in the draw for the Skating Saints (10-17-5, 8-9-3 ECAC Hockey).
Lapointe gave the Saints the lead with a power-play goal with five seconds left on the infraction. Shane made an initial save on Will Arquiett, but St. Lawrence kept possession inside in its offensive zone, leading to a pass from Mason Waite to Lapointe at the top of the left faceoff circle that found its way into the Big Red's net.
Another St. Lawrence power-play goal, this time 2:14 into the middle period, gave the Saints a two-goal lead. Burgin took a shot from the middle of the point that deflected off a Cornell defender and into the net.
Trailing by two, Cornell peppered Kraws in the third period with 29 shot attempts, 14 of which were on target.
With under two minutes left in regulation and playing with an extra attacker, Psenicka deflected a shot from the point by freshman defenseman
Ben Robertson to make it a one-goal game with 1:31 left.
In the waning seconds, senior
Gabriel Seger wristed a shot from the top of the slot that grazed the shaft of Psenicka's stick in front of Kraws to tie the game up with 6.8 seconds remaining.
Freshman forward
Jonathan Castagna made a brilliant move to get by a Saints defender in overtime but Kraws made a miraculous save to keep the game tied.
St. Lawrence appeared to have scored the overtime winner with 1:08 remaining in the extra period, but following a Cornell challenge, the call was overturned due to the play being offside. Due to the offside call, the clock was reverted to the time of the offside, resulting in 34 seconds being added back on.
Shane kept Cornell in the game throughout overtime, stopping all eight shots he faced in the extra five-minute period.
Following a missed attempt by St. Lawrence's Jan Lysak to begin the shootout, sophomore forward
Dalton Bancroft used a last-second deke to beat Kraws to put Cornell ahead. Tyler Cristall followed suit with a backhanded shot to tie the shootout at 1-all. After Seger had his chance saved, Lapointe scored to force a sudden-death attempt.
Ryan Walsh took the shot for the Big Red, which was converted to extend the skills challenge.
Both teams did not convert on their fourth- and fifth-round attempts before Arquiett scored in round six. Taking another sudden death attempt, Robertson converted to force another round. Shane stopped Logan Ritchie's shot, which led to junior defenseman
Hank Kempf's shootout-winning goal to give Cornell the extra point in the ECAC Hockey standings.
GAME NOTES
• Saturday was the 125th all-time meeting between the Empire State rivals. Cornell's record now stands at 69-47-9 against St. Lawrence with the draw. The Big Red is now unbeaten in 12 of its last 14 against the Saints (11-2-1). Saturday's result was the first tie between the programs since Jan. 24, 2014, at Lynah Rink and was the first in Canton since Jan. 16, 2010.
• Cornell has gone to overtime in three consecutive contests for the second time this season (Dec. 29, 2023 - Jan. 13, 2024). It is the 13th overall instance in program history in which the Big Red has played in three consecutive games that have gone to overtime, matching a program record.
Longest Streak of Consecutive Overtime Games
Cornell Program History
• 3 games (Feb. 5, 1972 - Feb. 12, 1972)
• 3 games (Feb. 4, 1983 - Feb. 11, 1983)
• 3 games (Nov. 22, 1985 - Nov. 30, 1985)
• 3 games (March 8, 1986 - March 15, 1986)
• 3 games (Jan. 10, 1998 - Jan. 19, 1998)
• 3 games (Dec. 5, 1998 - Dec. 28, 1998)
• 3 games (Dec. 4, 2010 - Dec. 30, 2010)
• 3 games (Jan. 14, 2012 - Jan. 21, 2012)
• 3 games (Jan. 30, 2015 - Feb. 6, 2015)
• 3 games (Jan. 29, 2016 - Feb. 5, 2016)
• 3 games (Jan. 22, 2022 - Jan. 29, 2022)
• 3 games (Dec. 29, 2023 - Jan. 13, 2024)
• 3 games (Feb. 17, 2024 - Present)
• Seger's assist on the game-tying goal was his 34th point of the season, marking the most points by a Big Red player since Morgan Barron (15-19—34) in 2018-19. It is the fifth time since 1990-91 that a player has had 34-plus points in either of his first two seasons with the program, joining Ryan Hughes (18-34—52) in 1990-91, Matt Moulson (18-17—35) in 2003-04, Riley Nash (13-21—34) in 2008-09 and Barron in 2018-19.
•
Robertson's third-period assist on Psenicka's first goal was his 16th helper, tying Mark McRae (16 in 1999-00) for the third-most assists by a Big Red freshman defenseman. The helper also increased his season total to 19 (three goals, 16 assists), matching Bruce Frauley (1-18—19 in 1987-88) for the third-most points by a Big Red freshman defenseman. It is the most points by a Cornell first-year blueliner since Mark McRae (5-16—21) in 1999-00.
MOST ASSISTS BY A FRESHMAN DEFENSEMAN
Cornell Program History (Since 1975-76)
• 19, Chris Norton (1984-85)
• 18, Bruce Frauley (1987-88)
• 16, Mark McRae (1999-00)
• 16, Ben Robertson (2023-24)
MOST POINTS BY A FRESHMAN DEFENSEMAN
Cornell Program History (Since 1975-76)
• 23, Chris Norton (4-19—23 in 1984-85)
• 21, Mark McRae (5-16—21 in 1999-00)
• 19, Bruce Frauley (1-18—19 in 1987-88)
• 18, Ben Robertson (3-16—19 in 2023-24)
UP NEXT
Cornell will return home for its final pair of regular season home games next weekend, welcoming Union (14-15-3, 8-9-3 ECAC Hockey) and RPI (9-19-4, 6-11-3 ECAC Hockey) to Lynah Rink. The puck drop for both nights' contests is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+ and over the airwaves on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM, whcuradio.com).
Friday's contest against Union will kickstart Reunion Weekend and serve as Cornell Staff Hockey Night. Saturday night will be the program's annual Senior Night, where seniors
Gabriel Seger and
Ryan McInchak will be honored in a postgame ceremony.
