TEMPE, Ariz. — Third-period goals by senior defenseman Tim Rego, junior forward Dalton Bancroft, and sophomore forward Jonathan Castagna aided the No. 16-ranked Cornell men's hockey team (6-3-3) to a 4-2 victory over UMass (8-8-2) in the opening game of the Desert Hockey Classic at Mullett Arena on Friday afternoon.

Joining the Big Red trio in netting goals was sophomore forward Ryan Walsh. Sophomore defenseman Hoyt Stanley had the lone multi-point night for the Big Red, his first collegiate multi-point outing, as he logged assists on Cornell's latter two third-period goals. Senior goaltender Ian Shane made 22 saves between the pipes, upping his career win total to 55.

Larry Keenan and Michael Cameron scored in the setback for UMass, who also had a 31-save performance by Jackson Irving in his second career start.

Keenan opened the scoring with 32 seconds left in the first period when he one-timed a shot off a feed from Francesco Dell'Elce that deflected off Shane's glove and trickled into the net.

Neither team found the back of the net across the opening 16 minutes of action before Walsh wristed a shot from the far faceoff circle to tie the game 13 seconds after a Cornell power play had expired.



Cornell had a 2-on-1 short-handed scoring chance with Castagna having his shot shoved aside by Ingram which ultimately lead to Cameron pouncing at a rebound of a one-timed shot by Dell'Elce at the near-side faceoff circle, giving UMass a 2-1 on a power-play marker with 17.2 seconds left.

The Big Red came out in the third period swarming as it out-shot UMass, 16-5, over the 20-minute period. The Big Red ended up tying the game at the 6:52 mark when Rego received a cross-ice pass from sophomore defenseman Ben Robertson at the near half-wall, leading to a wrap-around goal that just beat a sprawling Ingram.



Five-plus minutes later, a nifty deke by Bancroft gave Cornell a 3-2 lead as the shot by the junior forward beat Ingram over his near-side shoulder.



Castagna put the game on ice, winning a defensive zone faceoff with 14 seconds left, and sent a near-150-foot shot down the ice into an empty UMass net to double the Big Red's lead.



GAME NOTES
• Friday was the 11th all-time meeting between Cornell and UMass, as the Big Red increased its lead in the series to 6-3-2. Cornell is unbeaten in six of its last seven matchups with the Minutemen (4-1-2).

• The contest between Cornell and UMass marked the first time the programs played in successive seasons since the 1922-23 and 1923-24 seasons when the Big Red and Minutemen played on Beebe Lake in Ithaca.

• Walsh's second-period goal increased the Big Red's goal-scoring streak to 49 games, tying the fifth-longest streak in Cornell program history, and the fourth-longest under Mike Schafer '86. 

LONGEST GOAL-SCORING STREAKS
Cornell Program History
• 262 games (Dec. 29, 1972 - Dec. 5, 1981)
• 225 games (March 7, 1964 - March 17, 1972)
• 76 games (Dec. 28, 1995 - Jan. 31, 1998)
• 50 games (Jan. 23, 2016 - March 18, 2017)
• 49 games (March 15, 1998 - Jan. 24, 2000)
• 49 games (Feb. 24, 2023 - Present)

LONGEST ACTIVE GOAL-SCORING STREAKS
Division I Programs
• 83 games - Colgate
• 78 games - Minnesota
• 68 games - Arizona State
• 62 games - Denver
• 49 games - Cornell
• 48 games - Wisconsin
• 44 games - Bemidji State

• Bancroft has three of Cornell's six game-winning goals, which is tied for eighth among Division I players entering Friday night's contests.

• Five of the Big Red's 10 points on the night came from defenseman, increasing its percentage of points from blueliners to 32.3 percent (32 of 99 points)

• Jack O'Leary extended his point streak to a career-long five games with his assist on Rego's third-period goal. It is Cornell's longest point streak by a forward since Gabriel Seger '24 had a six-game streak between Jan. 27 and Feb. 16 last season.

• Cornell scored three goals in a single period for the fourth time this season, matching its season high for a period. It scored three goals against North Dakota (Nov. 1 — first period; Nov. 2 — third period) and Princeton (Nov. 23 — first period).

UP NEXT
Cornell will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 4) when it faces No. 19-ranked Arizona State (9-7-1) in the championship game of the Desert Hockey Classic at Mullett Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET (7 p.m. ET). Game action will be broadcast on NCHC.tv and over the airwaves on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM, cortacatoday.com).