ITHACA, N.Y. — Matt Buckles scored twice and the six other members of the Cornell men’s hockey team scored in an 8-1 rout of Brock on Saturday night at Lynah Rink in the Big Red’s final exhibition leading next week’s start to the regular season. Cornell blew the game open with four goals in a span of 3 minutes, 20 seconds in the second period. Trevor Yates had four assists on the night and led the team with six points on the weekend.
Cornell shook off a sluggish start and killed off four Brock power plays in the first period, and Beau Starrett opened the scoring with an unassisted power-play goal when he bodied down a clearing attempt up the wall, stepped into the circle and rifled a shot inside the far post. Starrett also added two assists on the night.
The Big Red then chased Brock starting goaltender Alex Brooks-Potts with an offensive onslaught early in the second period. Buckles and Anthony Angello scored 46 seconds apart, then Eric Freschi and Noah Bauld added another two goals 66 seconds apart to give the home side a 5-0 lead before the halfway point of the game.
Long-range strikes from defensemen Matt Nuttle and Holden Anderson pushed the lead to seven goals, then Buckles closed the scoring by converting his own rebound on the man advantage with 5:11 to play. The Big Red power play enjoyed a strong performance, accounting for four goals on just seven opportunities.
Hayden Stewart started in goal for the Big Red and stopped all nine shots he saw over 40 minutes. He then yielded the crease to Ryan Coon, who made six saves before a rebound with less than a minute left bounced off the mid-section of a forward stationed on top of the crease and into the net.
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.
