CORNELL 1, @ Sacred Heart 1 [SOW] … Box Score | Game Recap | Video Highlights
@ Sacred Heart 4, CORNELL 2 … Box Score | Game Recap
What a difference a week makes … I was really pleased with how we played in Arizona but coming out of Sacred Heart with a tie and a loss, I must keep things in perspective. The only analytic I didn’t like was the scoreboard. I like the formula of how little chances we gave up and how many we created. The problem is that we are not capitalizing on our chances. And that’s been a problem over the last three games.
On Friday night, we created a lot of scoring chances; their goalie played well (40 saves), but we need to capitalize on our opportunities. Sacred Heart took a 1-0 lead 5:46 into the first period on their second shot on goal. We tied the game with 2:34 remaining in the first period. Senior forward Ondrej Psenicka fired a shot from the half wall that it made it through a crowd and into the back of the net.
There were no goals in the second period, although we had a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity. We had good chances but weren’t shooting at the right spots. We have to get the puck into the upper part of the net and really lean on it. And I think that we’re hoping to score instead of burying it. We out-shot them, 13-6, in the second period.
In the third period, we drew another 5-on-3 power play but only managed three shots on goal. We continued the offensive pressure in the 5-minute overtime with their goalie stopping seven shots. We won the shootout, as senior defenseman Michael Suda scored the lone goal to grab the extra point.
Senior goaltender Ian Shane made 17 saves. We were 0-for-5 on the power play to Sacred Heart’s 0-for-2. We created a lot of chances to score on Friday night, but we have to capitalize on our opportunities.
I felt we were ready to play on Saturday night. The first goal against Ian was a fluke but our guys stayed on course. Sacred Heart scored two more goals one minute into the 2nd period to quickly take a 3-0 lead, chasing Shane out of the game. We brought in junior goalie Remington Keopple, and right away he did a good job facing a breakaway. It is the first time we have cheated the game trying to score and it backfired. When faced with a lack of goals, we have turned our attention to details and defense because the lack of offense has led to some guys cheating the game looking for offense. This was the case on Saturday. On a good note, in the first period, our penalty killers held Sacred Heart to one shot on two power plays.
At 4:56 of the second period, we scored to make it 3-1. Sophomore forward Ryan Walsh scored on a wrist shot for his team-leading seventh goal of the season with the assist to freshman defenseman Nicholas Wolfenberg. With 4:11 remaining in the game, sophomore forward Jake Kraft’s one-timer narrowed the gap to 3-2, with an assist to Walsh and sophomore forward Nick DeSantis.
We pulled Keopple with two minutes remaining, and we fired five shots on goal in 32 seconds, but couldn’t score. Sacred Heart made it 4-2 with an empty-net-goal with 34 seconds remaining.
Shane made seven saves in 20:55 of playing time, and Keopple made ten saves in 37:03. The Sacred Heart goalie stopped 27 shots. We were 0-for-2 on the power play, and they were 0-for-3.
Our power play has been a problem even though we hit three posts on the weekend. We have a couple more injuries to our forwards, which will be a challenge going forward. I thought it would never happen in my coaching career, but I might have to dress nine or 10 defensemen for a game. We will not get anyone back from injury soon, so we need to find ways to win in January and get some players back in February.
On Friday night, we play at Princeton, Saturday evening at Quinnipiac. As always, we appreciate and encourage your support when we are on the road.