Scoring summary

ITHACA, N.Y.- Cornell scored three power-play goals as it skated to a 4-1 win over travel partner Colgate on Friday night at Lynah Rink.

Stephen Baby got the Big Red on the board early with Cornell’s first extra-man goal at 3:15 of the first period. Mark McCrae passed the puck to Doug Murray at the right point, then Murray fed it to Baby at the left point, and Baby ripped a knucklepuck over Colgate netminder David Cann’s right shoulder.

Cornell upped its lead to two going into the first intermission with its second power-play goal of the period. The set-up was a carbon copy of the first goal, with Sam Paolini tipping in Baby’s point shot at 17:08 of the first period.

The Big Red was still hot when they came out of the lockerroom. A Dave Thomas penalty gave Cornell its third power-play chance of the game 26 seconds into the period, and 11 seconds after that Ryan Vesce took a centering pass from the right-side boards and jammed it at Cann. Although that attempt did not result in a goal, Cornell’s second try of the same play, 39 seconds after the thwarted attempt, gave the team its third straight power play goal of the night. This time, it was Mark McCrae on the doorstep, redirecting a pass from Murray along the boards.

The Raiders finally found their footing partway through the second. After surviving two quality Big Red chances – one of which hit the pipe – Colgate put Cornell goaltender Matt Underhill to work.  At 6:17, Raider sophomore Kyle Doyle thought he had put Colgate on the board, but the official blew his whistle before the puck crossed the goal line as the net was off its moorings.

At 14:50 of the second, the Raiders did get on the board.  Scooter Smith skated the puck into the zone and passed it to Patrick Farrell along the right boards.  Farrell jammed it at the net, and Paul Kelley found a hole in the scramble that followed to cut Cornell’s lead to two.

Colgate continued to press, and had their best scoring chance of the game with three minutes left in the second period.  Etienne Morin and Doyle broke on a two-on-one, and Morin crossed the puck to Doyle, who one-timed at the left of the goalmouth.  Underhill barely caught it with the tip of his pads to preserve Cornell’s two-goal lead.

In the third period, the twenty minutes in which the Raiders usually excel, Colgate could not get anything going.  The Raiders gave the Big Red their fourth power-play opportunity of the night at 6:29 of the last stanza.  After avoiding a fourth Big Red power-play goal, Colgate cleared the puck with 29 seconds remaining in the penalty, and chased it into Cornell’s end.  Krzysztof Wieckowski lost the puck behind his own net, and it squirted out in front to Scooter Smith who fired it right into Underhill’s chest. 

That was the last of Colgate’s chances for a while as the rest of the period was a game of dump-and-chase, until Colgate head coach Don Vaughan decided to pull Cann in favor of the extra skater at 18:20 after calling a time-out.  The strategy backfired though, as Vesce made a headman pass to Shane Palahicky who outskated Colgate defender Rob Brown to score the empty-net goal at 19:10.

With the game out of reach for the Raiders, heated tempers rose to the boiling point, and with 22 seconds left in the game, a fight broke out in Cornell’s end involving every player on the ice except Cann.  After 12 penalty minutes were handed out, the clock ran down to a 4-1 Cornell win.

Underhill earned the first star of the game by making 23 saves.  Cann took the loss after making 21 saves.

The two teams will meet for the rematch on Saturday at Starr Rink.  Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.