ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men’s hockey team’s hot start came to a close Saturday night with a 4-0 loss to Clarkson in a battle of top-10 teams at Lynah Rink. The Big Red was the nation’s final team to suffer its first loss after the program’s best start in 36 years.
Clarkson (10-3-1, 6-0 ECAC Hockey), which entered the weekend ranked seventh and eighth in the two major national college hockey polls and boasted the nation’s best combined special teams percentage, took advantage of severe penalty trouble from #5/6 Cornell (7-1, 5-1). The Big Red entered the game having surrendered just two power-play goals in its first seven games, but it yielded two more on Saturday.
The first came in the game’s third minute with Jack Jacome setting up Jere Astren’s one-timer, then Jacome doubled the lead less than three minutes later.
Cornell answered with pressure shortly thereafter, but Jake Kielly got a blocker to senior forward Alex Rauter’s shot from the left circle, then another Rauter shot later in the shift hit the post.
The Big Red got a couple of big penalty kills early in the second period and then made a push to gain some traction. With 7:37 to play in the second, freshman forward Kyle Betts chopped a puck out of the zone that sailed over the Clarkson defense and sent senior forward Jared Fiegl away on a breakaway — but his shot bounced off the far post. A couple minutes later, junior forward Anthony Angello had a shot from the right circle saved by Clarkson goalie Jake Kielly.
Clarkson slammed the door shortly thereafter with a pair of goals in a span of 28 seconds apart. Sheldon Rempal scored the first on a delayed penalty, then Terrance Amorosa stretched the lead to four on the ensuing power play.
All six of the Golden Knights’ power plays came in the opening 40 minutes, then the visitors killed Cornell’s three in the third period to complete a shutout. Kielly made 15 saves.
How The Goals Were Scored:
Clarkson’s 1st Goal
1st period, 2:53 • Clarkson 1, Cornell 0
• With just three seconds remaining on the game’s first power play, Clarkson used a lot of high movement on the blue line, then Jacome came down the left half wall. With the defenders drawn down low, he sent a pass back to Astren at the left point. With the puck off his front foot, he sent the baseball equivalent of a change-up that sailed through a screen and over Galajda’s glove.
Clarkson’s 2nd Goal
1st period, 5:21 • Clarkson 2, Cornell 0
• The Golden Knights advanced through the neutral zone, but a Cornell defenseman poke-checked Jacome at the blue line. Josh Dickinson won a 50/50 battle from there and wheeled through the right circle. With his defender opting to slide, Dickinson took the puck low and curled it back around toward the front, where Jacome converted a rebound from in tight.
Clarkson’s 3rd Goal
2nd period, 15:38 • Clarkson 3, Cornell 0
• Brosseau created a turnover with an extended stick on the forecheck, then gained possession along the left wing wall. He drew a holding penalty as he beat his man off the wall, then shoveled an aerial cross-ice pass to Rempal in the right circle. He took his time to pick a spot high to near post.
Clarkson’s 4th Goal
2nd period, 16:06 • Clarkson 4, Cornell 0
• Working off the power play drawn on the previous goal, the Golden Knights gained the zone on the right wing. Rempal slid a pass back to Amorosa at the center point, and he beat Galajda with a shot past the catching glove.
Up Next:
• Cornell wraps up its five-game home stand with a 7 p.m. Tuesday game against Niagara at Lynah Rink.
• It’s the first of five straight non-league games for the Big Red, which follows that game up with a trip to New York for the biennial Red Hot Hockey game against Boston University on Saturday, Nov. 25 at Madison Square Garden.
