ITHACA, N.Y. — Sophomore forward Charlie Major broke open a 1-1 tie with 1:49 remaining in the second period, and the No. 19-ranked Cornell men's hockey team staved off a late push by No. 20 Union to post a 2-1 victory at Lynah Rink on Friday night.

Major's game-winner came off an aggressive forecheck deep in Union's zone. After dumping the puck in, Major intercepted a pass at the far half-wall and wristed a shot from the left faceoff circle past Union goaltender Cameron Korpi for his second goal of the season.

"Big time goal by Charlie there," said Casey Jones '90, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Hockey. "It was a great forecheck. He turned that puck over and was a big time shot. In games like this, you need your playmakers to step forward."

Sophomore defenseman Xavier Veilleux scored the equalizer for Cornell (5-2-0, 4-1-0 ECAC Hockey) just five seconds into the Big Red's first power play on the night, responding to Will Felicio's power-play tally for Union (8-3-1, 2-3-0 ECAC Hockey) nearly three minutes earlier. Following a faceoff win by junior forward Jonathan Castagna, junior defenseman Hoyt Stanley fed Veilleux at the right point, and his one-timer found the back of the net.

Union had struck first at 9:50 of the opening period when Felicio found space at the left point, taking a pass from Tyler Dunlap and skating to the top of the left faceoff circle before beating freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer. The goal snapped Cornell's streak of 10 consecutive successful penalty kills.

The Garnet Chargers entered the night averaging 4.00 goals per game, third-best in the nation, but the Big Red's stingy defense limited Union to just 19 shots on goal and a single tally. After Union's 10 shots in the opening period, Cornell clamped down defensively, allowing just nine shots on goal over the final 40 minutes.

"I probably thought the most about that second, third period — to give up four shots and five shots respectively to a good offensive team," Jones said. "I thought we hunted and traveled in packs. We use that term a lot ... not just one guy. We were collective in the process."

Cornell dominated third-period action for the first 15 minutes, yielding only five Union shot attempts and one shot on goal. Cournoyer shoved aside four Garnet Chargers shots in the final five minutes, two of which came in the final 30 seconds, preserving the one-goal lead.

"At that point in time, they need to take the risk, right?" Jones said of protecting the third-period lead. "That was a good third period and a step in the right direction for us. A team like that they usually put a lot of shots on net, so to only give up five shots in the third, it shows that we respected the game, played the right way. I thought our 'D' got pucks out of the zone for us pretty quickly."

Cournoyer finished the night with 18 saves, improving to 5-1-0 on the year. Korpi made 21 saves for Union in the losing effort.

POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM CASEY JONES '90 AND CHARLIE MAJOR


GAME NOTES
• Cornell snapped its three-game losing streak to Union, improving its all-time record to 50-25-11. The Big Red are 9-3-1 over its last 13 against the Garnet Chargers, outscoring Union by a 53-25 clip during the span.

• Friday's contests bucked a recent trend between Cornell and Union, as the one-goal decision marked the first game to be decided by one goal or fewer since the Big Red fell, 3-2, at Lynah Rink on March 1, 2024. Entering Friday's game, eight of the last nine games had been decided by at least three goals.

• Cornell was 1-for-2 on the power play while Union finished 1-for-3. The Big Red have scored a power-play goal in each of its last three games, marking its longest streak since scoring with a man advantage in both quarterfinal games against Harvard (March 15-16) and in the semifinals against Dartmouth (March 22) of the 2024 ECAC Hockey Championship.

• After allowing one goal Friday, the Big Red have allowed 10 goals through its first seven games, tied for the fifth-fewest goals conceded in program history and the fewest since 2017-18 (9).

FEWEST GOALS ALLOWED THROUGH FIRST SEVEN GAMES
Cornell Program History
• 7 goals, 1965-66
• 9 goals, 1967-68
• 9 goals, 2004-05
• 9 goals, 2017-18
• 10 goals, 1910-11
• 10 goals, 1968-69
• 10 goals, 2002-03
• 10 goals, 2025-26

NEXT UP
Cornell concludes its four-game homestand Saturday, Nov. 22, when it hosts RPI (3-10-0, 2-3-0 ECAC Hockey). Puck drop from Lynah Rink is scheduled for 7 p.m., with game action broadcast on ESPN+.

RPI is coming off its own 2-1 loss to Colgate on Friday night at the Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton, N.Y. Rainers Rullers scored the Engineers' lone goal in the second period on a power play. Nate Krawchuk made 28 saves in the setback.