ITHACA, N.Y. — The 17th-ranked Cornell men's hockey team squandered a three-goal lead before rallying to defeat Omaha 6-4 at Lynah Rink on Friday night, improving to 8-4-0 overall and 5-0-0 at home this season.

Six Big Red players recorded multi-point efforts, highlighted by freshman forward Aiden Long netting the first two goals of his collegiate career and junior forwards Ryan Walsh, fresh off his appearance at the Spengler Cup with the U.S. Collegiate Selects, and Jonathan Castagna each added a pair of assists. Freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux, junior defenseman George Fegaras, and freshman forward Gio DiGiulian each contributed a goal and an assist.

For Omaha (7-12-0), Trevor Wong and Spencer Sova each had multi-point nights, with Wong tallying a goal and an assist and Sova recording two helpers.

Cornell opened the scoring with three goals in the first 9:16 to build a 3-0 advantage. Fegaras broke the ice just 4:19 into the contest, snapping a 28-game goalless streak dating back to last season. Receiving a pass from sophomore defenseman Luke Ashton at the point, Fegaras fired home his first goal of the season with freshman Jonathan Castagna earning a secondary assist.

"It's a good feeling," Fegaras said. "It was great pass by Ash at the top there and just happy it went in. Very nice to finally get that feeling again."

Not even three minutes later, Veilleux doubled the Big Red's lead with a power-play goal before Long gave Cornell a commanding 3-0 lead just over two minutes after Veilleux's tally, finishing off a give-and-go with classmate Caton Ryan.

"I saw him and kind of had a 2-on-2 there. He did a good job of cutting behind the 'D'," Long explained. "I tried to find him, then he did a good job of getting it back to me and just tried to get the puck to the net."

The Mavericks responded late in the period, cutting the deficit to 3-2 on goals by Samuel Huo and Jacob Slipec. Omaha then carried its momentum from the first into the second, scoring twice by the halfway point to take the lead. Wong netted his second goal of the season just 2:20 into the frame before Tyler Rollwagen completed the Mavericks' comeback with a power-play goal to put Omaha ahead 4-3. The goal came after Cornell took a penalty for holding, one of several crucial penalties that shifted momentum away from the Big Red.

"I take some credibility and ownership on that," Fegaras admitted, referencing his cross-checking penalty late in the first period. "I got a stupid penalty there and they kind of got momentum from the power play."

Casey Jones '90, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey, acknowledged his team lost its edge in the middle frame. "I thought we really loosened up [early]," Jones said. "We lost our physicality when we got the lead early. We weren't physical and then we look like we're off a little bit. We kind of lost our sorts. We were playing so fast, so quick, so direct and simple early and had a ton of success with it, we just kind of went away from it."

Cornell regrouped between periods and came out with renewed purpose in the third. DiGiulian tied the game 4-4 early in the period with a power-play goal, his first tally since Nov. 14. Fegaras and freshman forward Chase Pirtle provided assists on the crucial goal.

The game-winning goal came at 10:09 when freshman forward Reegan Hiscock broke the 4-4 deadlock. An aggressive forecheck by DiGiulian behind Omaha's net created the opportunity and Hiscock capitalized with his fourth goal of the season.

"I think we kind of got away from our physicality in the second," Long said. "Right off the hop in the third, we started to hit a little bit more and that kind of gives the rest of the guys the juice we need to get going."

Long sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with under two minutes left, assisted by Walsh, that gave Cornell a two-goal cushion.

"Felt really good," Long said of his two-goal performance. "I kind of felt like I was in and around the net a bunch in the first half and just couldn't get one to go. It was nice to finally get one. Hopefully it's the first of many."

Cornell freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer made 14 saves on 18 shots to earn his seventh win of the season (7-3-0). Omaha's Dawson Cowan stopped a season-high 37 of 42 shots in the loss, facing a heavy barrage of Cornell offense throughout the game. The Big Red held a 43-18 advantage in shots on goal, including a 19-5 edge in the third period.

GAME NOTES
• Cornell upped its record over Omaha to 3-1-1, while registering its first win over the Mavericks since a 4-3 triumph at the Omaha Civic Auditorium on Oct. 26, 2013.

• The Big Red improved its home record to 5-0-0, marking the 17th time in program history, and the first since 2021-22, that it has won its first five home games in a season. After winning its regular-season finale and first-round playoff game last season, Cornell's active seven-game home win streak is tied with Princeton for the longest active streak in Division I hockey. Both Quinnipiac and RIT are close behind with six-game home winning streaks.

LONGEST ACTIVE HOME STREAKS
Division I Hockey
• 7 games, Cornell
• 7 games, Princeton
• 6 games, Quinnipiac
• 6 games, RIT
• 5 games, Holy Cross

• After defeating St. Lawrence 7-2 on Dec. 6, Cornell has scored at least six goals in consecutive games for the first time since defeating Union (Jan. 6, 2023) and RPI (Jan. 7, 2023) by respective scores of 6-1 and 6-4.

• Cornell capitalized on two of its five power-play opportunities on Friday, improving to 9-of-25 (36.0 percent) on the man advantage since Nov. 14. The Big Red, who has scored at least one power-play goal in seven of its last eight games, owns the fourth-best power play in the nation over that span, trailing only Minnesota (9-for-22 – 40.9 percent), Notre Dame (6-for-15 – 40.0 percent), and Minnesota Duluth (7-for-19 – 36.8 percent).

TOP POWER-PLAY UNITS SINCE NOV. 14
Division I Hockey
• 40.9 percent, Minnesota (9-for-22)
• 40.0 percent, Notre Dame (6-for-15)
• 36.8 percent, Minnesota Duluth (7-for-19)
• 36.0 percent, Cornell (9-for-25)
• 34.6 percent, North Dakota (9-for-26)

• Veilleux posted his second consecutive multi-point night after having a pair of assists at St. Lawrence on Dec. 6. The freshman blueliner has points in each of his last three games (1-4–5) and in five of his last six (2-5–7).

• Walsh now has points in six of his last eight games, amassing 12 points during the stretch (3-9–12), which includes having assists in four of his last five outings. Castagna also has points in six of his last seven, logging 10 of his 12 points on the season (4-6–10) during the stretch.

NEXT UP
Cornell will look to sweep the two-game series against Omaha on Saturday, January 3. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET with game action streamed live on ESPN+.