ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men’s hockey season is young, but we’ve already learned that junior forward Ben Berard has a propensity to rise to a challenge.
Mere minutes after an overly generous pass that resulted in a missed opportunity for a game-clinching empty-net goal, Berard atoned for the mistake with the winning goal to punctuate his second collegiate hat trick with 6.2 left in the third period of the Big Red’s 5-4 win at Dartmouth.
It was actually the fourth time Berard put the puck in the net during the run of play, and he’d be the first to admit it should have been five. But for the three goals that did count — plus his assist on junior forward Matt Stienburg’s power-play goal Friday at Harvard — Berard was named ECAC Hockey’s Player of the Week on Monday.
“Ben’s responded to every challenge. Ever,” Mike Schafer ’86, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey, said after the wild finish against the Big Green. “The more he’s challenged, the more he plays. He’s one of our best players.”
The challenge in this instance was to mentally rebound after eschewing a shot into an empty net that would have given Cornell a two-goal lead with two minutes remaining, essentially salting away a game that the Big Red dominated early, only to have a frustrating second period that allowed Dartmouth to hang around.
Among the frustrations was what appeared to be a Berard goal at 4:29 of the middle frame. Stienburg beat a defender one-on-one to create a chance from senior forward Max Andreev in the slot. Dartmouth goaltender Cam Stevenson made the initial save, then Berard converted on the rebound.
But the officials sent the play to video review, where it was deemed the Big Red had interfered with Stevenson to wash out the goal. The Big Green tied the score 1:25 seconds later.
Berard would go on to score later in the period to restore Cornell’s lead, then his second strike to count came with 7:26 remaining in the third. He then had a yawning net in front of him with about two minutes left in the third period to essentially ice the game — but instead of tapping it in, he tried to lay off a pass for Kyler Kovich to hand the freshman forward his first collegiate goal.
A backchecking Dartmouth defender broke up the play, and the hosts would go on to tie the score 39 seconds later.
“It was ridiculous. I don’t know what was going on there,” Berard said. “I knew it was (Kovich), and I knew he hadn’t scored yet. But it’s obviously not the time to be looking for that type of thing.”
For devout Cornell hockey fans, it may have triggered memories of a playoff game against Providence in 1979. The Big Red rattled off three straight goals in the third period to pull within one when the Friars’ Randy Wilson skated in on an empty Cornell net with about 20 seconds remaining. His shot from point-blank range missed, and the Big Red immediately countered and tied the game on a slap shot from Lance Nethery with 13 seconds left.
Fortunately for the Big Red 42 years later, history did not repeat itself. The 1979 team would go on and win its game in overtime, but the rallying team on Saturday would not have the same opportunity — Berard scored the winner in the waning moments of regulation time.
The fact that Berard was even on the ice was noteworthy. Having taken the shift immediately after the Big Green’s tying goal with his normal linemates, Berard was tapped to hit the ice with Andreev and Stienburg a couple shifts later.
“I had a different line going up, but decided to go with him,” Schafer confirmed.
Part of the reasoning is Berard’s skill set, but another is his track record for answering the proverbial bell. Rewind to what was ultimately the final weekend of the 2019-20 season. The Big Red was coming off consecutive shutouts, but the coaching staff was underwhelmed by Berard’s performances in those games. So the decision was made to scratch Berard for the weekend’s first game against St. Lawrence and see if he would apply constructive criticism the following night against Clarkson.
The response? Berard’s first collegiate hat trick.
More recently, the Big Red found itself tied with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program Under-18 team late in the final exhibition to prepare for this season, and Schafer again challenged Berard to rise to the occasion. The response this time was two power-play goals in a span of just 18 seconds, fueling Cornell’s 4-2 victory.
“I didn’t like some of the things he was doing and kind of jumped on him a little bit,” Schafer said after that game. “Maybe it was a little bit too hard, but, man, does he ever respond. He came out and he executed in the third period and scored those goals.”
Berard now has six goals in his last five collegiate games, plus three in the two exhibition games leading up to the start of this season. He becomes the first Big Red play to earn a weekly ECAC Hockey award this year, and the second of his career. While this is Berard’s first time being named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week, he was named the league’s rookie of the week on Nov. 25, 2019.
(Cornell Men’s Hockey Photo)
