ITHACA, N.Y. — Senior forward Jake Weidner and sophomore defenseman Dan Wedman staked the Cornell men’s hockey team to an early lead, then the Big Red hung for a 2-1 victory over Miami on Saturday night to complete a two-game sweep of the non-conference series at Lynah Rink and give Cornell (7-3-1) a five-game winning streak heading into the semester break.
The teams played a fairly even first period in which both goalies needed to make a few quality saves. Cornell had the frame’s only goal, coming at the 10:53 mark from Wedman. Senior forward Eric Freschi worked the puck along the boards to freshman forward Jeff Malott, and he set up Wedman near the center point. His shot sailed through traffic and over the glove of Miami goalie Ryan Larkin for his first career goal at Lynah Rink, giving Wedman his first career goal at Lynah Rink and the Big Red a 1-0 lead.
The Big Red doubled the lead early in the second period on Weidner’s quirky goal. Just 1:38 into the period, sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan put a puck on net from the outside hash marks on the left circle with Weidner stationed in front. He tipped the puck 6 feet into the air, and it descended over Larkin’s two-armed wave and under the crossbar for the captain’s second goal of the year.
After being held to just four shots on goal in the middle frame, Miami (3-8-4) came to life early in the third and finally got on the board with a bizarre goal of its own. Josh Melnick won a faceoff back to Grant Federic at the right. His shot missed to the short side, but the puck kicked off the back wall and Carson Meyer quickly swatted the puck off the arm of Cornell goalie Mitch Gillam and just over the goal line.
The RedHawks’ third and final power play of the game came with 8:17 left, but Holden Anderson blocked a slap shot early on and Gillam stopped a couple other shots from distance to help the Big Red avert danger. Cornell has now killed 18 consecutive power plays.
