Box Score / Post-Game Comments

ITHACA, N.Y. – Senior Patrick Cullen notched a pair of points, including the game-winner in overtime, to lift the Rensselaer men's hockey team to a, 2-1, victory over 11th-ranked Cornell, in the final regular ECAC Hockey contest for both teams. With the win the Engineers improve to 10-21-3 overall (7-12-3 ECAC Hockey), while the Big Red drop to 15-7-7 (12-4-6 ECAC Hockey).

Rensselaer finishes the regular season in 10th place in the league standings and will travel to seventh-seeded Clarkson next weekend for a best-of-three ECAC Hockey playoff series, beginning Friday at 7pm.

Trailing by a goal late in the third period, Cullen (Washington, DC/Indiana Ice) threw the puck towards goal where it was redirected by sophomore Matt Tinordi (Severna Park, MD/Olds Grizzlys) past Cornell sophomore goaltender Andy Iles (U.S. National Dev. Team), tying the game at 1-1. The tally, which came at 17:40 of the frame, was Tinordi's fourth of the season.

The Engineers came out flying in overtime, outshooting the Big Red 7-1 in the stanza. With the clock ticking down in the extra session, sophomore Brock Higgs (Kingston, ON/Kingston Voyageurs) worked the puck into the corner for Tinordi, who found Cullen all alone in the slot. Cullen whipped the puck into an open net for his fourth of the year, with 19 seconds left in overtime.

Cornell opened the scoring at 8:18 of the third period, when freshman John McCarron (Macomb, MI/Lincoln Stars) swatted home a rebound from point-blank range at the side of the Engineers net. The initial shot from the left circle by classmate Joel Lowry (Calgary, AB/Victoria Grizzlies) was saved, but the carom fell to McCarron, who buried his fourth of the season.

RPI junior netminder Bryce Merriam (Bethel Park, PA/Topeka RoadRunners) made 15 saves to earn the victory, while Iles finished with 21 stops at the other end of the ice.

The win for the Engineers was the first at Lynah Rink since game 1 of the 2008-09 ECAC Hockey playoffs – a 1-0 RPI victory.