TROY, N.Y. – After not scoring a goal in 65 minutes last weekend against Dartmouth, the Big Red women’s hockey team made up for it with a four-goal showing and a win on Friday night.
No. 3 Cornell scored two times on the power play in a commanding second period, got an even-strength goal in the first period by Hayleigh Cudmore and anAlyssa Gagliardi empty-netter to claim a 4-1 victory over Rensselaer at Houston Field House.
The Big Red (22-5-1, 17-3-1 ECAC Hockey) got more good news on Friday night as Harvard and St. Lawrence tied 2-2 in Cambridge, Mass. The Big Red gained a point on the Crimson, and now it only needs to win tomorrow and a Harvard tie in one of its last two games of the season to potentially win the ECAC Hockey regular season title for the fourth consecutive year.
The Engineers (10-19-4, 8-11-2), who had locked up the No. 7 seed in the ECAC Hockey Tournament before the night began, may see Cornell again next weekend at Lynah Rink for their first round best-of-three series if Cornell does not get the help it needs from Harvard. Cornell and Rensselaer could potentially play each other four times in eight days.
“Rivalries are always fun in hockey,” said Cudmore, who also had an assist in the game. “If you can play a team before you have to play them in the playoffs, that’s just fun. That adds fuel to the fire.”
Lauren Slebodnick was terrific in net, turning away 24 of the 25 shots she faced to earn her 19th win of the season. She was a Big part of the penalty kill unit, making 11 saves on the kill alone and 10 in the third period.
Cornell got on the board toward the end of the first period after nearly scoring on multiple occasions before that. Cudmore picked up the goal thanks to a traffic jam in front.
At the start of the play, Emily Fulton brought the puck from behind the net through the crease but was unable to get a shot off as sticks and bodies were in the way. Rensselaer goalie Kelly O’Brien went down to cover the puck in the crease, but multiple players were in front of her and the puck squirted free into the slot before she could get on top of it. That’s where Cudmore was waiting, and she fired high over the prone O’Brien to give Cornell a 1-0 advantage. Jessica Campbellearned the secondary assist on the goal, giving her 30 assists in her career.
“I’m not a defenseman always known for being down there,” Cudmore said. “But I saw a major pileup and not a lot of people facing out from the net. “I thought, “Here’s an opportunity to go down low, and I was lucky enough to have the puck squirt out to me.”
Cornell really got going in the second period, a dominating 20 minutes that saw it outshoot the Engineers 22-3. Part of that huge margin in shots on goal came thanks to two Big Red power plays. Entering the game with just a 16.5 percent success rate with the man advantage, Cornell scored on consecutive power plays to extend the lead to 3-0.
With Mariana Walsh in the box for holding midway through the period, Cornell saw fine skating from senior defenseman Lauriane Rougeau result in its second goal of the night. Taking a pass at the left half boards from Cudmore, Rougeau skated around the outside of the faceoff circle, cut in toward the net and beat O’Brien five hole.
With 1:30 left in the frame, Madison Marzario went committed a tripping penalty, giving Cornell the opportunity to convert on the power play again. With just 1.6 seconds left in the period, a persistent shooting effort paid off. Alyssa Gagliardi had the puck in the high slot, and she attempted a spinning backward shot that O’Brien stopped with her pads. The rebound when out to Jessica Campbell, whose shot was also saved by O’Brien. But Campbell’s rebound went farther to the right for Emily Fulton, and she converted through O’Brien’s legs to make it a 3-0 advantage just before the period came to a close.
“It’s always nice when special teams are on,” Cudmore said. “I think both our PK and PP were good tonight. It’s really nice to see the power play back on track heading into the playoffs soon.”
The third period saw three consecutive penalties taken by the Big Red, and the Engineers finally converted on the third. A shot taken by Jordan Smelker rebounded off Slebodnick to Mari Mankey, and her second shot went off Slebodnick and into the back of the net.
That set up a frantic final two minutes where Cornell – again on the penalty kill – faced a six-on-four as Rensselaer pulled O’Brien. Multiple close chances came for the Engineers, but Cornell held firm and got a three-quarter ice goal from Gagliardi with just 0.4 seconds showing on the final clock.
Friday night was the team’s 11th consecutive victory over the Engineers and moved Cornell to 10-1 against New York state teams in 2012-13. Cornell is also on a four-game unbeaten streak.
The Big Red closes out its regular season on Saturday when it faces Union at 4 p.m.
