CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Freshman defenseman Yanni Kaldis set up three power-play goals, but the Cornell men’s hockey team’s rally came up short in a 4-3 loss to #12/12 Harvard on Saturday at Bright-Landry Hockey Center.
Forwards Trevor Yates, Anthony Angello and Jake Weidner scored for Cornell (0-2-1, 0-1-1 ECAC Hockey), but the Big Red couldn’t dig itself out of a two- and three-goal deficits. Lewis Zerter-Gossage had a hat trick for Harvard (3-0-1, 1-0-1).
“We had too many turnovers in the neutral zone against a good hockey team that can burn you in transition. They did a tremendous job with it,” said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey at Cornell. “But I’m very proud of our guys. We’ve got a lot of guys on the shelf right now with injuries, so it was a really good game for us to find our identity.”
The Big Red got off to a slow start when a turnover by a defenseman in the Harvard zone led to a two-on-one the other way. Ryan Donato’s pass got through to Zerter-Gossage, who scored to give the Crimson a 1-0 lead just 1:25 in.
The Big Red responded by setting up a shot from the slot by Alex Rauter about 10 seconds later, but the puck sailed wide. Cornell enjoyed a fair amount of possession thereafter, then got unlucky when Trevor Yates’ breakaway pass to Rauter with 6:54 left in the frame was — as confirmed by video replay — incorrectly ruled offside.
After going a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill with a shorthanded goal a night earlier at Dartmouth, Cornell generated the first scoring chance on Harvard’s first man advantage. Eric Freschi skated away on a three-on-one break up the left wing and set up Patrick McCarron for a shot in the slot, but it was blocked.
Harvard took possession and countered. While the Big Red had numbers back, the Crimson finished off the rush with Zerter-Gossage redirecting a Tyler Moy shot passed a helpless Mitch Gillam to double the home side’s lead with 2:32 left in the opening frame.
Gillam made a highlight-reel glove save on Donato with 52.1 seconds left before the intermission. The stop essentially kept Cornell in the game.
The Big Red got on the board just 69 seconds into the second period on Yates’ power-play goal. Kaldis’ pass from the center point set up McCarron for a shot from the left circle that Yates tipped past Madsen from the top of the crease. That cut Cornell’s deficit in half and gave the squad life anew, as play opened up throughout the second period.
“Our power play struggled last night (in a 1-1 tie at Dartmouth) and I think it cost us a point,” Schafer said. “The power play was outstanding for us tonight.”
But the Harvard struck twice in a span of 82 seconds late in the second period to open up a 4-1 lead. Donato stuffed in a wraparound at 15:48, then crashed the net to set up Zerter-Gossage’s third of the night on a rebound. Cornell answered with Angello’s flawless one-timer from the bottom of the left circle set up by a slick pass from Kaldis. Beau Starrett drew the secondary assist.
A penalty on Harvard in dying moments of the second period proved beneficial for Cornell early in the third. Kaldis set up Weidner for a one-timer this go around, and his strike just 27 seconds in set up an exciting third period with the Big Red down just one.
Angello beat his defender wide with 2:45 to play and swept across the top of the crease, but the puck caromed away. The Big Red then pulled Gillam in favor of an extra attacker and created a handful of chances in the final minute. Angello’s shot from the right circle was gloved by Madsen with 51 seconds left, then Kaldis threw a puck from the left side that bounced off traffic in front and had to be shrugged away by Madsen to preserve the win for Harvard.
“We just kept putting pucks toward the net, funneling them in that way and hopefully we’d get a bounce, but we didn’t tonight,” forward Mitch Vanderlaan said. “The guys were intense; they didn’t quit. It’s a tough one.”
Kaldis became first time Cornell player to have three assists in a game since Nov. 29, 2014, when John McCarron ’15 did it at the Frozen Apple against Penn State. The Big Red had three power-play goals in a game once last season, Jan. 16 at Union.
Cornell concludes its season-opening stretch of five straight road games next weekend with games at 7 p.m. Friday at Brown and 7 p.m. Saturday at Yale.
