ITHACA, N.Y. — Sacred Heart scored twice in a 2:59 span of the third period, and freshman goaltender Jack Spicer made 42 saves as the Pioneers rallied past the No. 15 Cornell men's hockey team for a 3-2 win Saturday night at Lynah Rink.
Spicer stopped the final 20 shots he faced for his first collegiate win, earning the Pioneers (4-4-0) a series split despite being outshot 44-22 by the Big Red (1-1-0). He became the first opponent to make 40 saves against Cornell since his teammate Ajeet Gundarah on Jan. 10, 2025, at Sacred Heart.
Diego Buttazzoni gave Sacred Heart its first lead of the weekend 5:18 into the game, taking a long stretch pass from Gavin Bryant in the Pioneers' defensive zone and beating sophomore goaltender Mathis Rousseau to his blocker side on a breakaway.
After killing off a penalty midway through the period, Cornell pulled even at 16:21 when sophomore forward Gio DiGiulian pounced on a rebound after Spicer stopped a shot from the blue line by freshman defenseman Ryland Randle. Sophomore Aiden Long added the secondary assist.
With his assist, Randle became the 10th Big Red freshman defenseman to open a season with points in multiple games, and the first since Ben Robertson began 2023-24 with a seven-game point streak.
Cornell took its first lead of the night at 6:42 of the second. Sophomore forward Reegan Hiscock found senior forward Tyler Catalano in the low slot, and Catalano wristed a shot over Spicer's glove into the near-side top corner. Freshman forward Coco Armstrong picked up the secondary assist, his first collegiate point in his debut.
The Big Red's fourth line drew praise from Casey Jones '90, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey. Catalano centered Hiscock, while freshmen Charlie Arend and Armstrong alternated shifts on the other wing.
"I thought they were physical," Jones said. "I thought they were effective. They got a goal."
Despite Cornell outshooting Sacred Heart 17-9 in the second, Spicer kept the margin at one. Thirteen of his 16 saves in the period came with the Big Red on the power play, including seven during Cornell's first man advantage.
In the third period, Sacred Heart tied it at 9:34 following Landon Hanson's backhanded centering pass from below the goal line to Aiden VanRooyan, who beat Rousseau low to his blocker side from the left hash of the right circle. Spicer then robbed Hiscock with a cross-crease save at 10:25.
The Pioneers went ahead at 12:33 as a Cornell clearing attempt from behind its net deflected off Hanson to freshman Ethan Semeniuk at the left post. Semeniuk lofted the puck over Rousseau's left shoulder for his first collegiate goal. Hanson finished with two assists, the only multi-point effort of the night.
"We turned a lot of pucks over while we were exiting," Jones said. "That was our biggest problem."
Jones added that his team "didn't have the same energy and same intensity and attention to detail we had last night."
The Big Red doubled the Pioneers in third-period attempts (26-13) and led 14-5 in shots on goal. Cornell pulled Rousseau for a 6-on-4 advantage with 2:02 left but was unable to net the equalizer.
Cornell finished 0-for-4 on the power play, with 16 of its 44 shots on goal coming on the man advantage. The Big Red went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and allowed two shots. Rousseau finished with 19 saves.
Senior forward and captain Ryan Walsh went 26-for-36 on faceoffs, winning the game's final six draws and the last nine he took. His 26 wins are the most by a Division I player in regulation since Denver's Cole Guttman went 29-for-34 against Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 12, 2022.
"Learning how to close two games on the weekend is going to be crucial down the stretch," Catalano said. "When we get into ECAC league play, everyone shows up, especially at Lynah. This is everyone's Super Bowl, so it's coming ready to play every night."
The Big Red opens ECAC Hockey play at Lynah Rink next weekend, hosting No. 10 Quinnipiac (5-2-0) on Friday, Nov. 6, and Princeton (2-0-0) on Saturday, Nov. 7. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts. Tickets for the conference-opening weekend are available at bigredtix.com.
