ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior defenseman Matt Nuttle scored a pair of goals, including the first of four for the Cornell men’s hockey team in the third period of a 7-1 drubbing of Guelph on Saturday night at Lynah Rink. The game was the first of two exhibitions for the 18th-ranked Big Red, which will host Ottawa in the other dress rehearsal at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Cornell surged to three goals in a five-minute span late in the first period to take control of the game. Nuttle’s goal on the power play opened the scoring, then freshman forward Tristan Mullin scored at even strength a little less than two minutes later to double the lead. Freshman defenseman Alex Green’s back-door goal with 15.7 seconds left in the opening stanza also came on the man advantage, on which Cornell was 2-for-9 on the night.
Guelph, which competes in Ontario University Athletics, countered in a penalty-filled second period on a Trevor Morbeck goal the was an easy conversion after Mathieu Henderson’s drive from the point thumped off the backboards and back in front of the net.
But the Big Red pulled away in the third, starting with Nuttle’s second of the night on a shot from the right circle with 13:17 to play. Freshman Cam Donaldson knocked in a pin-balling puck from the slot to make it 5-1, then sophomore forward Noah Bauld tipped in freshman defenseman Matt Cairns’ shot from the left point and junior defenseman Trent Shore capped the scoring on the rush.
Cornell used all three of its goaltenders, with senior Hayden Stewart earning the victory after making eight saves in about 30 minutes of action. Freshman Matthew Galajda faced a few quality chances, but stopped all six shots he saw — then classmate Austin McGrath played the final 12 minutes with two stops.
In all, 15 of the Big Red’s 20 skaters had points on the night. Cornell improved to 25-1-3 in exhibitions since 2000.
