LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — The No. 14-ranked Cornell men's hockey team scored five goals in the third period to guide the Big Red to a 6-3 victory over Dartmouth, clinching its spot in the ECAC Hockey championship game for the first time since 2019.
Sophomore forward
Nick DeSantis registered a team-high three points (two goals, one assist) and was one of six Cornell players with multi-point nights. He was joined by junior forwards
Kyle Penney and
Ondrej Psenicka and sophomore forward
Dalton Bancroft (one goal, one assist apiece), and senior forward
Gabriel Seger and freshman defenseman
Ben Robertson each tallied two assists in the victory for the Big Red (20-9-9), marking the 14th 20-win season under
Mike Schafer '86's tenure.
Junior goaltender
Ian Shane stopped 27 shots for Cornell in its victory, matching Mitch Gillam for the ninth-most wins by a Big Red goaltender (47).
John Fusco scored two of Dartmouth's three goals in the second period, while Sean Chisholm (one goal, one assist) and Braiden Dorfman (two assists) also had multi-point nights for the Big Green, which concludes the 2023-24 season with a 13-10-9 overall mark.
Dartmouth sophomore goaltender Cooper Black also made 27 saves in the setback.
Chisholm scored the game's first goal to give Dartmouth a late first-period lead, lasering a wrist shot over Shane's near shoulder from the right faceoff dot. Dorfman set up Chisholm's opening tally after collecting a loose puck in the far corner and sending the pass to Chisholm from behind Cornell's cage.
Cornell drew even with a goal from Psenicka as the 6-foot-6 forward deposited his shot between the legs of the 6-foot-8 Black. Freshman forward
Jake Kraft chipped the puck from the neutral zone into the Big Red's offensive zone, leading to Psenicka's shot. Robertson, Kraft's classmate, tallied the secondary assist, giving him his 18th helper of the year.
Just 70 seconds later, Dartmouth retook the lead on a shot from the point by Fusco before he added his second goal of the night at 12:18 of the second period with 12 seconds left on a Big Green power play to up its lead to 3-1.
A late boarding penalty to Dartmouth's Oskari Vuorio in the second period led to Cornell trimming Dartmouth's deficit 43 seconds into the third period with a power-play goal by Bancroft. After the puck stuck to the ice a couple of times before the Big Red entered the neutral zone, Seger and Robertson combined to set up Bancroft for a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.
Two goals over 50 seconds turned Cornell's one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead, as Penney netted the game-tying goal and Walsh potted the go-ahead tally.
The first Cornell goal in the sequence came on a backhanded pass by Seger from the half-wall to a wide-open Penney in the mid-slot, sending his shot between Black's legs.
Following a missed shot by Psenicka, he fed Walsh the puck at the base of the left faceoff circle, and Walsh one-timed his shot past Black to give Cornell its first lead of the night.
DeSantis tallied a pair of empty-net goals 1:23 apart from each other to increase the Big Red's lead further.
GAME NOTES
• Friday was the 147th all-time meeting between the Ancient Eight rivals and just the seventh to occur at a neutral site. Cornell increased its lead in the series with Dartmouth to 88-50-9 and is now unbeaten in its last eight games against the Big Green (5-0-3).
• Cornell improved to 7-1 all-time in playoff games against Dartmouth and has won its last five postseason games against the Big Green, dating back to the 2007-08 season.
• Cornell's five-goal third-period was its first time scoring five-plus times in a single frame since Feb. 4, 2023, when it scored six times in the first period of a 10-1 win over Union. It was also Cornell's first five-goal period at a neutral site since March 16, 1985, against Clarkson, when it also scored five third-period goals in a 5-3 victory over the Golden Knights in the third-place game of the 1985 ECAC Hockey Championship at the Boston Garden.
• It was Cornell's first five-goal period in the ECAC Hockey Championship since scoring six goals in the second period of a 9-1 victory over Quinnipiac on March 9, 2018, in the first game of a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink.
• After trailing 3-1 heading into the third period, Cornell recorded its first victory after trailing by two goals since Dec. 29, 2022, in an 8-4 win over AIC at Lynah Rink. Cornell is now 2-3-1 when trailing heading into the third period, while Dartmouth suffered its first loss when leading after two periods of play (11-1-1).
• Seger's two assists were his 40th and 41st points of the season, making him the first Cornell player with a 40-point season since Matt Moulson (22-20—42) during the 2004-05 season. The 40-point season by Seger is the sixth time a Cornell player has had 40-plus points under Mike Schafer '86's tenure as the Big Red's bench boss, joining Brad Chartrand (24-21—45 in 1995-96), Kyle Knopp (10-32—42 in 1998-99), Stephen Bâby (8-33—42 in 2002-03), Ryan Vesce (19-26—45 in 2002-03), and Moulson.
40-POINT SEASONS UNDER MIKE SCHAFER '86
Since 1995-96
• Brad Chartrand (24-21—45) in 1995-96
• Kyle Knopp (10-32—42) in 1998-99
• Stephen Bâby (8-33—42) in 2002-03
• Ryan Vesce (19-26—45) in 2002-03
• Matt Moulson (22-20—42) in 2004-05
• Gabriel Seger (14-27—41) in 2023-24
• With his two-assist night, Seger increased his assist total to 27, signifying the most by a Cornell player since Stephen Bâby's 33-assist season during the 2002-03 campaign. Only Bâby and Kyle Knopp (32 assists in 1998-99) are the other two Big Red players with at least 27 seasons under Schafer's tutelage.
MOST ASSISTS BY A PLAYER UNDER MIKE SCHAFER '86
Since 1995-96
• 33, Stephen Bâby (2002-03)
• 32, Kyle Knopp (1998-99)
• 27, Gabriel Seger (2023-24)
• Robertson's two assists increased his season total to 19, matching Chris Norton for the record for most points by a freshman defenseman in program history. The two helpers also increased his point total to 24, the most by a Big Red first-year blueliner.
MOST ASSISTS BY A FRESHMAN DEFENSEMAN
Cornell Program History
• 19, Chris Norton (1984-85)
• 19, Ben Robertson (2023-24)
• Psenicka's goal gave him 20 points on the season, making him the seventh player to register 20-plus points. This is the first time Cornell has had seven players with 20-plus points since the 2002-03 season and the seventh instance since the 1981-82 season.
• Bancroft's power-play goal in the third period was his seventh of the season, the most by a Cornell player in a season since Tristan Mullin had seven during the 2019-20 season.
• Walsh's game-winning goal was his fifth of the season, entering him in a seven-way tie for the eighth-most game-winners by a Cornell player in a season. It is the first time a Big Red player has logged five game-winning goals since Anthony Angello in 2017-18. The game-winning game makes Walsh one of two Big Red players in the modern era, since 1957-58, to have five game-winning goals in his first season with the Big Red, joining John Hughes (five in 1967-68 as a sophomore).
UP NEXT
Cornell, which will appear in its 23rd ECAC Hockey championship game on Saturday, will face St. Lawrence (14-18-6) in the 2024 ECAC Men's Hockey Championship at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y., on Saturday at 5 p.m. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+ and on TSN+ for Canadian viewers.
The Big Red is seeking its first Whitelaw Cup since shutting out Union, 3-0, on March 20, 2010, at the then-called Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. Cornell's last time hoisting the Whitelaw Cup in Lake Placid came in 1997.
Saturday's clash for the Whitelaw Cup will be the first time the Empire State rivals will face each other in the ECAC Hockey playoffs since St. Lawrence defeated Cornell, 3-1, in the championship game of the 2001 ECAC Hockey Championship, also held at Herb Brooks Arena. It will be the 10th time the Big Red and Saints will play in a playoff setting and the third time the two will play in the ECAC Hockey championship game (1992 and 2001).
