By Warren Kozireski–
Cornell and Clarkson each won their ECAC hockey semi-final games to advance to Saturday’s final marking the fourth time in history the two have met with a conference championship on the line.
Cornell took advantage of a five-minute major penalty handed out just 2:03 into the game and netted a pair of power play goals by Marilla native and ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year Matt Nuttle and Noah Bauld to launch them to a 6-0 victory over Brown.
Clarkson also jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by junior Haralds Egle along with freshmen Anthony Callin and Nick Campoli all came at even strength on their way to a 5-2 victory over Harvard.
The Big Red led 3-0 after one and another power play tally by New York Ranger draft pick Morgan Barron made it 4-0 after a second period that saw the Big Red block 13 shots. Freshman defenseman Joe Leahy netted his first collegiate goal in the third before an empty-netter on a Brown power play marked Cornell’s first shorthanded goal of the season.
“At this point of the year it’s just survival…so I’m just glad I get to play another game,” the senior Nuttle said. “We’ve pretty much had our backs up against the wall and playing for our season for a couple of weeks now it seems like, so I couldn’t be more excited.”
Cornell goaltender Matthew Galajda made 30 saves in net to register fifth shutout of the season and 14th of his career.
Clarkson’s 3-0 lead didn’t last long as Jericho native Adam Fox scored 59 seconds later to cut the lead to 3-1. And Jack Rathbone opened the third period with a goal just 73 seconds in to make it a one goal game, but Golden Knights sophomore Jack Jacome took a pass from Nico Sturm and charged toward the net to score a scrappy goal before junior defenseman Jordan Schneider hit a stick with his shot, which them floated over the Harvard goaltenders’ shoulder and into the net for his third career tally.
“We were here (the championship game) last year and it gave us an incredible experience about what it takes to win an ECAC championship,” junior goaltender Jake Kielly said. “We came really close losing in overtime last year and it’s a bitter feeling, but I think that gives us a little bit of an edge going forward. We’re looking forward to the battle tomorrow night and all the experience will be huge for tomorrow.”
The Big Red advance to the ECAC championship for the fourth time in the past ten years and second in the last three and will be vying for their 13th conference crown while the Golden Knights will appear in their 14th title game winning five times.
It is the 15th time in conference history that two New York teams have met in the final and 18th time since 2000 that at least one NY-based team has made it.
