Home College Cornell Play 1-1 Tie Against Dartmouth

Cornell Play 1-1 Tie Against Dartmouth

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HANOVER, N.H. — Sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan scored a shorthanded goal and senior goaltender Mitch Gillam made 28 saves as the Cornell men’s hockey team started ECAC Hockey and Ivy League play with a 1-1 tie Friday night against Dartmouth at Thompson Arena.

Vanderlaan’s unassisted goal came at the 4:26 mark of the third period on a broken play on the rush, putting an exclamation point on the Big Red’s perfect 6-for-6 night on the penalty kill.

A Dartmouth defender swatted a bouncing puck forward at the center point in the Cornell zone, and Vanderlaan gloved it down and skated up the left wing. With a backchecker cutting off a potential pass to Eric Freschi crashing the net, Vanderlaan pulled up on his defender in the faceoff circle to Big Green goalie Devin Buffalo’s right. After briefly losing the handle, Vanderlaan sent a shot along the ice through Freschi’s screen and by Buffalo’s left pad to open the scoring with his second goal of the young season.

But the lead didn’t last for long. Cornell (0-1-1, 0-0-1 ECAC Hockey) had numbers back on a line break for Dartmouth (1-0-1, 0-0-1), but Corey Kalk cut to the middle and placed a perfect shot beyond a defender and Gillam’s blocker to tie the game.

“There are so many things as a coach running through your head, because we’re so far away from being a polished team,” said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey at Cornell. “But the compete level and battle level to get a point was what we needed.”

The brief burst of offense came in contrast to the rest of a hard-fought game that seemed to yield more scoring opportunities as time wore on. The Big Red penalty kill was on particularly prominent display in the first period, when the visitors survived three Dartmouth power plays in the opening 17 minutes to keep the game scoreless.

The game’s only four-on-four scenario opened up play considerably early in the second period. First, Gillam made a pair of saves of Grant Opperman on the rush. Cornell broke back the other way a short time later and Jake Weidner ripped a shot that caromed so hard off the post, it cleared the screen behind the net and went off the roof of Thompson Arena.

But perhaps Cornell’s best chances came after its fourth penalty kill of the game at the midway point of the period. Malott made a move to the outside of his defender and centered a pass for Trevor Yates, but his shot hit Buffalo in the chest at the 11:21. About 90 seconds later on the power play, Weidner’s cross-crease pass was anticipated by Buffalo, who pushed hard to his right to get a toe on a point-blank shot from Beau Starrett. Buffalo finished the night with 23 saves.

“It was a tough college game with a lot of young guys on the ice for both teams,” Schafer said. “We’ve got a ton of injuries right now with (Jeff) Kubiak — our leading scorer — out; Dwyer Tschantz out and Ryan Bliss out. So we’re going to have to find ways like this to get points on the road here and survive, doing the best we can until we can get those guys back.”

Dartmouth pressured Gillam immediately after its goal, but he was sharp to track Alex Jasiek’s deflected shot shortly thereafter. After Cornell earned a couple of late power plays in the third period, Dartmouth created most of the scoring opportunities in overtime. Gillam made six stops in the extra frame.

“Mitch (Gillam) played well. It was a good bounceback game for him after getting pulled at Merrimack,” Schafer said. “I thought he played well and did a great job on the penalty kill. When he was called upon, he made some big saves.”

Cornell continues its season-opening stretch of five straight road games at 7:05 p.m. Saturday with a visit to rival Harvard. The Ivy League Digital Network broadcast of the game against the Crimson will be simulcast on ESPN3.

Notes: Vanderlaan’s strike was the Big Red’s first shorthanded goal in a span of 40 games, dating back to a goal by John Knisley ’16 against Union on Feb. 21, 2015. … Cornell is 3-1-3 in its last seven visits to Thompson Arena, having killed off 26 of 71 Big Green power plays in those games. … Freshman forwards Noah Bauld and Connor Murphy made their collegiate debuts Saturday.