Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – The Cornell University Big Red scored twice in the second period and hung on for a 2-1 victory over the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s men’s ice hockey team in an ECAC Hockey contest in front of 3,451 at the Houston Fieldhouse.

With the win, the Big Red improve to 7-5-2 and 5-2-0 in the ECAC. The Engineers fall to 8-11-3 and 3-3-2 in the ECAC.

In the second period senior Raymond Sawada (Richmond, BC/Naniamo Clippers) picked up the puck inside the blue line and fed a pass to senior Topher Scott (Buffalo Grove, IL/Chicago Steel), whose backhanded pass left junior Michael Kennedy (Dorchester, ON/St. Thomas Stars) all alone in front of the RPI goal. Kennedy then ripped a snap shot that beat RPI goaltender Mathias Lange (Klagenfurt, Austria/New York Apple Core) for the 1-0 lead. The goal was Kennedy’s sixth of the season.

Scott put the Big Red up 2-0, after Kennedy stole the puck in the offensive zone and found Sawada who sent it back to Scott for the goal, his fifth of the season.

The Engineers closed the gap to 2-1 at the beginning of the third period as sophomore Garrett Vassel (Westhampton, NY/New York Apple Core) took a shot that buried into the midsection of Cornell goaltender Ben Scrivens (Spruce Grove, AB/Spruce Grove Saints). The momentum of the shot pushed Scrivens over the goal line for the goal. Vassel was fed by senior Andrew Lord (W. Vancouver, BC/Vernon Vipers) and freshman Jeff Foss (Moorhead, MN/Moorhead HS).

The game stayed even through the rest of the period as the Big Red hung on for the win.

RPI’s defense held Cornell to 13 shots on goal with Lange (4-6-2) saving 11 of the shots. Scrivens (7-3-2) saved 29 of the 30 shots that he faced.

Both teams were unsuccessful on the power play as the Big Red had five chances and the Engineers had four.

Both teams are in action on Saturday evening as RPI will host Colgate and Cornell will travel to Union. Both games begin at 7:00pm.