ITHACA -- The ECAC Hockey playoffs are next week, but it sure felt like they started Friday night at Cornell's Lynah Rink.
Cornell put together a stirring third-period effort against first-place Union, scoring twice to take the lead and then shutting the high-flying Dutchmen down in the final minutes to earn an electrifying 3-2 victory and move into a first-place tie with one game left in the regular season.
Fourth-line winger Rodger Craig scored the game-winning goal, his first of the season, with 9:16 to play, and goalie Andy Iles was at his best in the final moments, making 13 of his 28 saves in the final period.
"It was a great effort by the guys. Now we've got to win (tonight) and good things will happen for us," said Craig, whose first trip to the post-game press conference was attended by the rest of the Big Red squad, who cheered wildly for the popular sophomore as he got up from the table.
John McCarron and Greg Miller also scored for Cornell, which improved to 15-6-7 overall, 12-3-6 in the conference. The Big Red owns the tie-breaker over the Dutchmen (19-7-7, 13-4-4), so if the teams have the same result tonight -- the Red hosts Rensselaer, while Union travels to Colgate -- Cornell would win the Cleary Cup as the regular-season champion and top seed for the playoffs.
Jeremy Welsh scored both goals for the Dutchmen, his 21st and 22nd, while sophomore goalie Troy Grosenick -- the nation's leader in goals-against average (1.54) and save percentage (.942) -- stopped 17 of Cornell's 20 shots.
The win extended Cornell's unbeaten streak to seven games (4-0-3), and snapped Union's win streak at five games and unbeaten streak at seven.
Welsh staked the visitors to an early 1-0 lead, banging home his own rebound of a backhand shot right on the doorstep at the 1:12 mark.
Union had a slight edge in shots, 7-6, with Cornell's best chances coming late in the period. The Dutchmen's power play, ranked fifth in the nation at 24.8 percent, got three chances and came up empty.
Cornell evened the score on the power play midway through the second period. After coming up empty on two earlier man-up chances, and having trouble even getting shots off, the Red finally started peppering Grosenick and got the payoff when Sean Whitney's point slapshot was redirected by McCarron past the sophomore goalie at the 9:32 mark.
Union nearly made it 2-1 in the final minute of the period, but Iles stoned senior center Kelly Zajac after a neutral-zone giveaway. Zajac received the puck in stride coming in from the left point and got off a qujick wrist shot that Iles managed to lunge in front of and cover up to the delight of the capacity crowd.
Cornell hit a post early in the third, and Union responded seconds later with its second goal. Welsh beat Iles with a low wrist shot from the slot. But just 11 seconds later, Miller batted home a loose puck in the crease for his team-leading 14th goal.
The intensity had been ratched up in just a matter of seconds, and Cornell capitalized on it.
Six minutes later, Craig made a beautiful individual effort. He took the puck at the Union blue line, eluded two defenders and walked in on Grosenick. His wrist shot sailed just inside the far post, sending fans into a frenzy.
"It was kind of a lucky play," he said. "I don't have the best hands out there, but I got the puck through the guy's feet, got a shot on net, and it went in."
The final few minutes featured end-to-end hockey, with Iles making at least four stops in the final two minutes.
Source: http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20120224/SPORTS03/202240394/1128/
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