@CORNELL 6, Nipissing 2 (exhibition)
It was great to do some hitting against an opponent and I was pleased overall with the way we handled the game. We had only practiced five times and this led to some mishaps in a lot of different areas but all are correctable with additional practice.
Four of our six goals came on the power play and that’s a good sign. Junior Matt Cairns and sophomore Max Andreev led the offensive charge with a goal and two assists apiece. The offensive output was encouraging because we had a lot of guys who would normally play that weren’t in the lineup. It was an excellent opportunity to take a really good look at the young guys to see what they can do. We have quite a few early injuries but most are of the nagging type.
Goals by junior Morgan Barron and Andreev gave us a 2-0 lead within 12 minutes during the first period when we out-shot Nipissing by a 16-3 margin. You have to give Nipissing credit because they struck twice shorthanded to tie the game by the 4:36 mark of the second period. This was just early stuff. The people away from the puck have to anticipate the play more. We’ll definitely work on that part of the game soon.
At the start of the third period, Cairns and junior Tristan Mullin put us up again, 4-2. We added two more goals by sophomore Michael Regush and freshman Jack Malone in the first 6:23 of the third period. Encouraging is seeing three freshmen earn multiple points this afternoon: Malone with 1-1, Sam Malinski and Ben Berard recording a pair of assists. Eight of our nine freshmen played during the game.
We played all three goaltenders; sophomore Nate McDonald had the most action making nine saves in the third period.
We were 4-for-12 on the power play but a 33 percent conversion doesn’t tell the full story. We used many different combinations especially when we were ahead in the third period.
Home action continues this weekend when USA National Team Development Program Under-18 team comes to Lynah for a 7 pm Saturday face-off. See you at the rink!
Mike Schafer, Head Coach, Cornell Men’s Hockey