Sports
Cornell hockey season ends in conference playoffs T
he Cornell men’s hockey team largely did what it needed to by territorially dominating an ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series
against Colgate over the weekend, except there was one problem — Mitch Benson. The goaltender made 36 saves on Sunday to backstop Colgate to a 2-1 victory over Cornell in Game 3 of an ECAC Hockey
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Cornell lost to Colgate in the playoffs. (Photo: Provided)
Championship quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink, sending the Raiders on to Lake Placid while ending the Big Red’s season. The series finale was the third straight game in which Cornell (1810-4) outshot Colgate (18-17-4), yet it was another occasion in which the hosts found itself chasing the game. Of the series’ 180 minutes on the weekend, the Big Red only held a lead for 1 minute, 28 seconds despite holding a cumulative advantage in shots on goal of 107-56. At the forefront of that effort was Benson, who made 36 saves on Sunday — only conceding a goal with 7.7 seconds remaining to junior forward Ben Berard on a wild scramble in the crease on a six-on-five advantage created by the hook on freshman goaltender Ian Shane in favor of an extra attacker. Whereas the Raiders’ power play had struck for six goals in the teams’ first four goals of the season, it was the visitors’ five-on-five play that proved to be difference in Sunday’s series finale. The key play came just after the midway point of the second period when Josh McKechney walked a faceoff to the left of Shane, then fed Matt Verboon for a tap-in from the top of the crease to give Colgate a 1-0 lead. Cornell, which entered the tournament as the fourth seed while holding down a national ranking of 18th in the USCHO.com poll, continued to keep the pressure on fifth-seeded Colgate up until a breakaway goal from Ross Mitton midway through the third. Printed with permission from CornellBigRed.com.
