ITHACA, N.Y. — A two-assist night from freshman forward
Jonathan Castagna and a 21-save performance from junior goaltender
Ian Shane lifted the No. 13-ranked Cornell men's hockey team to a 3-1 victory over RPI in front of 3,723 on Senior Night at Lynah Rink on Saturday night.
The victory for the Big Red (17-6-6, 12-6-4 ECAC Hockey) solidified Cornell as the No. 2 seed for this year's ECAC Hockey Championship, denoting Cornell will host the second-lowest remaining seed after next weekend's opening-round matchups.
Junior forwards
Jack O'Leary and
Sullivan Mack and freshman forward
Jake Kraft all scored in the victory for the Big Red.
Tyler Hotson spoiled Cornell's bid for a shutout with a goal late in the third period. Jack Watson stopped 25 shots in the setback for the Engineers (9-21-4, 6-13-3 ECAC), who will enter the ECAC Hockey Championship as the No. 12 seed and travel to Clarkson for a 7 p.m. puck drop on Saturday, March 9.
O'Leary gave Cornell the lead almost seven minutes into the contest, depositing a loose rebound from a shot taken by
Jonathan Castagna that Watson saved.
After players from both teams were battling for possession behind RPI's cage, Kraft gained control and tucked the puck inside Watson's left pad to put the Big Red up by two.
An aggressive forecheck by Cornell and a takeaway from Mack led to Cornell's lead being increased to 3-0 just over the halfway point of the second period. After Mack forced the defensive zone turnover, Castagna shoveled the puck to Mack, who whipped the puck on a quick wrap-around into the far bottom corner of the goal.
Cornell appeared to have scored a goal early in the third period to make it a 4-0 contest, but RPI bench boss David Smith elected to challenge the ruling, resulting in the Big Red goal being wiped off the scoreboard.
Nearing the midway point of the third, RPI found the back of the net on a rebound shot. Cornell challenged the ruling of the goal, also resulting in a goal being overturned and keeping the Engineers without a goal.
With a potential shutout inching closer for Cornell, RPI's Jimmy Goffredo ripped a shot from the right faceoff circle that Shane saved, but Hotson pounced on the rebound to trim the Big Red lead with 1:44 remaining.
RPI attempted to score with an extra attacker, but Shane was able to stop the final three shot attempts over the final seven seconds of the contest.
POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM MIKE SCHAFER '86 AND SENIORS GABRIEL SEGER AND RYAN MCINCHAK
GAME NOTES
• Saturday was the 120th all-time meeting between the Empire State rivals. Cornell improved its record over RPI to 70-39-11, while improving to 7-1-0 over its last eight against the Engineers.
• The victory increased Cornell's streak to consecutive 12-win seasons in ECAC Hockey play to seven. It is also the 18th time the Big Red has won at least 12 conference games in a season under
Mike Schafer '86, dating back to the 1995-96 campaign.
• With his two-assist night, Castagna registered his fifth multi-point night and his third multi-assist outing of the season. His point total also increased to 22 (nine goals, 13 assists), marking the most points by a Cornell freshman since Anthony Angello (11-13—24) in 2015-16.
• Cornell improved to 15-2-0 when scoring at least three goals this season and is 12-0-1 when allowing one goal or less.
UP NEXT
Cornell will have next weekend off before it hosts a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink from March 15-17. Fans can purchase tickets for all three potential games now at
BigRedTix.com.
