OXFORD, Ohio — Miami (OH) scored on its only two power-play shots of the night, then held on to hand the Cornell men’s hockey team a 2-1 loss on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Cady Arena.
Senior forward Alex Rauter scored the lone goal for Cornell (9-2) in just the fourth minute of the game. A major penalty gave Cornell a 5-minute power play a short time later, but the Big Red could not convert — on that man advantage or any of the three that followed. The Big Red has now scored once in its 21 power plays over the last five games.
In a game with very few five-on-five scoring chances in either direction, Miami got all the offense it needed on its two power plays. Casey Gilling scored the first with 3:25 left in the first, then he set up Gordie Green’s winner in the final minute of the second period.
“We missed our chances, they scored on their chances,” said Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey at Cornell. “Our power play let us down, and they capitalized on the couple chances they got on the power play. That was the difference in the game. Hockey’s like that.”
Miami (7-6-2) mustered just 13 shots on goal all night and absorbed a hard push from Cornell late. Freshman forward Brendan Locke set up Jeff Malott on the door step at the 3:32 of the third, then senior forward Trevor Yates worked a give-and-go with junior forward Mitch Vanderlaan a couple minutes later — but Ryan Larkin stopped both among his 29 saves to earn the victory. The Big Red’s last surge came with its goalie pulled in favor of an extra attacker for the last 2:17, but the RedHawks held on.
How The Goals Were Scored:
Cornell’s 1st Goal
1st period, 3:59 • Rauter 3 (Bauld, Nuttle) • Cornell 1, Miami 0
• Noah Bauld created a turnover behind the Miami net on the forecheck, then Matt Nuttle activated down the right boards to help keep possession. Bauld took the puck back up the half wall and dished off to Rauter, who was covering for Nuttle at the right point. With Kyle Betts posting up in front of the net, Rauter snapped off a shot that beat Larkin.
Miami’s 1st Goal
1st period, 16:35 (PP) • Gilling 3 (Belpedio, Green) • Cornell 1, Miami 1
• Working on its first power play of the game, the RedHawks won the ensuing faceoff in the Big Red zone and possessed for 33 seconds before Casey Gilling wristed a shot from the top of the right circle that went over Matthew Galajda’s blocker and under the crossbar.
Miami’s 2nd Goal
2nd period, 19:06.8 (PP) • Green 6 (Gilling, Melnick) • Miami 2, Cornell 1
• With the long change in the second period, the Big Red got hemmed in its own zone on Miami’s second power play of the night. The RedHawks whipped the puck from one half wall to the other, and a Big Red forward followed in pursuit. Gilling got to it first and started drifting back toward the blue. He faked as though he was going to dump the puck back down the wall, but then slid the puck back across the ice. That caught the Big Red’s other forward flat-footed, and Gordie Green had a clear lane toward goal. Just as he past the faceoff dot, he zipped a shot over Galajda’s blocker to give the RedHawks the lead.
Up Next:
• The Big Red closes out its semester with a rematch against Miami, with faceoff set for 7:05 p.m. Saturday.
• Cornell then takes a four-week hiatus for final exams and the holiday break before starting its unofficial second half of the season on Saturday, Dec. 30 against Canisius.
