ITHACA, N.Y. – Brown goalie Katie Jamieson had a terrific day in stopping 35 shots, but the No. 2 Big Red offense was able to sneak one past her and went on to defeat Brown 2-0 in both teams’ ECAC Hockey opener.
The Big Red (3-1, 1-0 ECAC Hockey) got a second-period power play goal in front of the net by freshman Taylor Woods, and an empty netter by Jillian Saulnier with 27 seconds left sealed the Big Red’s 12th consecutive victory over the Bears.
In net for Cornell, junior Lauren Slebodnick had her first shutout of the season and stopped all 12 shots she faced.
“It is surprisingly easier and a little bit more fun, too, when you don’t get a lot of shots,” Slebodnick said. “It was more of a focus battle. You really have to be ready for each shot.”
The Bears, playing in their season opener, were completely dominated for most of the game and did not test Slebodnick much. The junior had to make a few dangerous saves, and the defense was excellent in front of her to hold Brown to 0 for 6 on the power play.
The Big Red peppered the Brown net throughout the first period and emerged with a 16-4 shot advantage through 20 minutes. But Cornell was unable to get a puck past Jamieson even with four full minutes on the power play.
A Brown penalty with 10 seconds left in the period, though wound up resulting in Cornell’s goal later in the second.
With just a few ticks remaining on the power play, Kelly Murray took a shot from the blue line. Woods was standing right in front of the net and deflected the puck past Katie Jaimeson for the 1-0 Big Red lead.
“We needed to get more people in front of [Jamieson],” Cornell coach Doug Derraugh said. “I felt like she saw too many pucks tonight. It’s pretty tough to make saves when you can’t see it coming through, and our only goal on her the whole night was a result of that.”
The rest of the period saw plenty of power play opportunities for the Bears, as they had six minutes of the man advantage. But Cornell played a stifling penalty kill, holding Brown to just one shot on its three power plays in the period. When 40 minutes had elapsed, Cornell was ahead 25-6 in shots.
The third saw more of the same with each team getting two power play opportunities and neither converting. As the Big Red killed off a Brown advantage with about a minute to go, the Bears pulled Jamieson to get a 6 on 5.
The plan backfired, though, as Lauriane Rougeau started Cornell up the ice and found Brianne Jenner who got the puck over to Saulnier for the empty netter.
The Big Red is now 1-0 in conference play for the fourth consecutive year and has scored a goal in 86 consecutive contests.
