ITHACA, N.Y. – As the preseason favorite in ECAC Hockey, it’s easy to make the analogy that the Cornell men’s hockey team had to be looking over its shoulder early this year. But that expression took on a whole new meaning Friday night after Quinnipiac’s bizarre game-winning goal at Lynah Rink.
Midway through the third period of a tie game, the Bobcats’ Chase Priskie took a shot from the neutral zone that sailed wide only to spin off the seamless glass and carom back toward goal. The puck then hit Cornell goalie Matthew Galajda in the back and dropped into the net. An empty-net goal sealed it, and Quinnipiac recorded a 4-2 victory.
Yanni Kaldis helped set up Morgan Barron’s team-leading fifth goal to stake Cornell (4-3, 2-1 ECAC Hockey) to an early lead, then Kaldis scored a four-on-four goal in the second. But Quinnipiac (8-2, 3-2) scored three unanswered goals in the third, including the fluky winner. It marked the first time the Big Red has trailed in November.
“It’s an unfortunate break, but it’s something we need to forget quickly,” said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey at Cornell.
It always figured to be an uphill battle for the 17th-ranked Big Red, which suited up every healthy player its had on its roster. Cornell played its second straight game without two of its top four defensemen, and the depleted roster took a further hit when senior stalwart center Beau Starrett was ejected for a major penalty in the second period.
“I’m proud of our guys. When you look at the guys we have out (of the lineup), and then we lose Beau. … We had guys who have never played center tonight. Those guys filled in and did a great job,” Schafer said.
Quinnipiac, which had six of the night’s eight power plays, took advantage of the lengthy man advantage with Brogan Rafferty’s goal to tie the game early in the second. Kaldis pulled the Big Red back ahead less than two minutes later, but the Bobcats equalized with Joe O’Connor’s first goal of the season in the third period’s fifth minute.
In a rematch of a 2018 ECAC Hockey Championship semifinal and a potentially pivotal Ivy League contest, Cornell hosts Princeton at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink.
