ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior forward Trevor Yates and sophomore defenseman Brendan Smith scored power-play goals, and the men’s hockey team got its exhibition weekend off to a strong start on Friday night with a 3-1 victory over Ontario Institute of Technology at Lynah Rink.
The Big Red dominated the game territorially and stayed disciplined, drawing eight of the night’s 10 power plays. That helped Cornell outshoot UOIT by a wide 38-12 margin, though UOIT took the lead just 4 minutes, 22 seconds into the game with Anthony’s Latina rebound goal on a three-on-two break caused by a neutral-zone turnover on the breakout.
The Ridgebacks — who are 5-0 to start their Ontario University Athletics season and entered the week ranked fifth among all Canadian Interuniversity Sport teams — then ran into penalty trouble a few minutes later, and perimeter passes from senior defenseman Patrick McCarron and junior forward Dwyer Tschantz set up Yates’ for a one-timer from the left circle that splashed the net just inside the near post. Senior goaltender Mitch Gillam then made a key save on a one-time shot from Mike Robinson at point blank range to keep the teams even with less than a minute left before the intermission.
Cornell then had six power plays in the second period alone, with Smith’s one-timed slap shot from the center point sailing over the shoulder of UOIT starting goalie Brendan O’Neill to give Cornell the lead with 4:33 left in the frame. Sophomore defenseman Alec McCrea and senior forward Matt Buckles drew assists on the play, then McCrea helped set up the Big Red’s insurance goal on a pretty passing play in the third. He worked the point from the right point to sophomore forward Beau Starrett in the right circle, who then tapped a blind backhand pass to the slot for Rauter to bury over the glove of relief goaltender Tyson Teichmann.
The Big Red plays its final exhibition of the season at 7 p.m. Saturday against Brock University at Lynah Rink before opening the regular season on Friday, Oct. 28 with a non-league game at Merrimack.
