CORNELL 3, @Princeton 1
@Quinnipiac 2, CORNELL 0
We had another tough weekend on the road but it was anticipated. And, this was especially hard for me because another bout with Covid kept me at home. I thought the team played very well at Princeton, generating many chances and giving up very few, though we still needed an empty net goal to put the game away.
At Princeton, we came out firing in the first period and though the first 20 minutes were scoreless, we out-shot them, 17-6. In the second period, junior forward Gabriel Seger converted a loose puck in front of the net to give us a 1-0 lead. Thirty seconds later, junior defenseman Tim Rego made it 2-0 on a wrap-around-goal on the power play and that’s the way it stayed going into the third period.
In the third, Princeton cut the lead in half with a power-play goal from the point that traveled through traffic. With 20 seconds remaining, senior defenseman Travis Mitchell added an empty-net goal for the 3-1 victory. Ian Shane made 15 saves in goal, while the Princeton goaltender stopped 34 shots. We were 1-for-3 on the power play and Princeton was 1-for-5.
Saturday night, it was a typical Quinnipiac – Cornell low-scoring game with few scoring chances. Quinnipiac has played seven games and is firing on all cylinders. We will get to that point too. Their defense and goal-tending is very sound and we were only able to generate nine shots-on-goal all night. The Bobcats scored at 15:01 of the first period and with 12 seconds remaining in the game … with the same player scoring both goals.
Our penalty kill was outstanding and had we capitalized on our power plays, we might have tied the game. Early in the second period, we killed off a 5-minute major penalty allowing just three shots on goal. Ian Shane had 26 saves in net for us.
This weekend, we make a road-trip to the North Country before returning to Lynah the following weekend. Friday we play St. Lawrence (5-4 overall, 2-0 ECAC) and on Saturday we face Clarkson (3-6 overall, 1-1 ECAC), so competition continues and games aren’t getting easier. I sometimes wonder how our league generates the schedules … other Ivy schools have played their first four games against other Ivy opponents but strong competition early in season will make us better at the end.