ITHACA, N.Y. — The path to Lake Placid went through Lynah Rink on Sunday afternoon, and the Cornell men’s hockey team earned a berth in the ECAC Hockey’s championship weekend with a 2-1 victory over Clarkson in Game 3 of a grueling quarterfinal series.
Third-seeded Cornell (20-7-5) won the series, 2-1, and advances to play second-seeded Union in the ECAC Hockey semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. It will be the Big Red’s seventh trip to the league’s showcase event in the last 10 years — the highest total among all of the circuit’s 12 teams.
Sixth-seeded Clarkson (18-6-5) struck first Sunday with Juho Jokiharju’s goal in the 12th minute, but Cornell answered back a little more than two minutes later. Freshman Jeff Malott scored his fifth goal on a wraparound to tie the game.
Sophomore Anthony Angello scored the winner at the 10:17 mark of the second period with his career-high 12th goal of the season. He tipped senior Jeff Kubiak’s pass through into neutral zone all the way down ice, then sophomore Beau Starrett hustled to negate a potential icing goal by winning the race for the puck. Starrett shrugged off his defender while working behind the net, then slid a pass across to Angello on the far post to slam in. Of Cornell’s 20 victories this season, this was the eighth in which the opposition was first to score.
Stellar throughout the three-game series, senior Mitch Gillam answered the call again Sunday. He made 31 saves to earn the victory, though the Big Red defense kept most of those offerings to the perimeter. Cornell’s power play was a perfect 3-for-3 on the night with two of those opportunities coming in the final 20 minutes.
Clarkson’s biggest threat to send the game to overtime came with 41.8 seconds left on the clock. Gillam made a save of Clarkson’s Jordan Boucher from the bottom of the right circle, but the puck squirted behind him and went off the inside of the far post. With numerous defenders diving on the ice to salvage the play, sophomore Alec McCrea was able to sweep the puck out of harm’s way before the whistle blew with the puck covered outside of the crease.
