ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men’s hockey team scored three goals within a span of five minutes in the third period to run its winning streak to four games on Friday with a 4-3 non-league victory over Miami (Ohio) at Lynah Rink.
Sophomore forward Anthony Angello had a goal and an assist, and senior forward Eric Freschi and senior defenseman Patrick McCarron had two assists apiece. Senior goaltender Mitch Gillam made 28 saves to earn the victory, with most of them coming in the first half of the game as the visiting RedHawks built a 2-0 lead on goals by Carson Meyer and Grant Hutton.
Cornell (6-3-1) finally got a boost with just 1:55 left in the second period with freshman forward Noah Bauld’s second goal of the season. McCarron started the play from his own zone, then Freschi sprung Bauld into space on the right side of Miami’s zone with a great pass from the neutral zone. He pulled the puck toward the middle, then snapped a shot over the left shoulder of the RedHawks goalie Ryan Larkin.
The Big Red pulled even just past the midway point of the third period on sophomore forward Beau Starrett’s second goal of the year. Again, it was Freschi who set up the play — this time teeing up a Starrett from the top of the crease after junior Alex Rauter’s pass gave Freschi space to enter the zone on the left side.
Just 73 seconds later, Cornell jumped out in front for the first time on a similar play. Sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan beat his defender wide on the left side, then started to sweep in toward goal at the bottom of the circle before dishing off to Angello for the slam dunk from in tight.
Junior forward Trevor Yates scored the eventual winner on a power play with 5:02 remaining. Senior forward Jake Weidner won a faceoff in the Miami zone, then Angello set up McCarron for a shot from the right point. Yates redirected the shot off the near post, but scored on the rebound.
With 5:50 to play, Miami’s Josh Melnick set up leading scorer Anthony Louis in the slot with an open net, but junior defenseman Dan Wedman dropped down and blocked the shot. That turned out to be a game-saver after the RedHawks’ Karch Bachman cut the visitors’ deficit to one goal with 3:04 to play.
Gillam made 20 of his 28 saves in the first 25 minutes of the game. Playing its first games since a pair of road ties against second-ranked Denver two weeks, Miami (3-7-4) came out of the gates flying. Gillam made a couple of stops on Bachman in the opening moments of the middle frame, needing to reach behind him at the end of the play to keep the puck from squibbing over the line. He then made a huge save on Zach LaValle from in tight on a two-on-one.
Notes: Cornell is now tied with top-ranked Minnesota-Duluth for the most wins in the nation for teams that have surrendered the game’s first goal (five). … McCarron extended his points streak to eight games, which is the most for a Cornell defenseman since Mark McRae during the 2002-03 season. … The Big Red has now killed 15 consecutive power plays.
