Men’s hockey scores 11 goals, dismantles RPI to complete weekend sweep

This article has been updated.

Coming to beat Union College (3-7-2, 2-3-1 CEAC) 4-1 in their first home conference game on Friday night, No.13 Cornell looked to continue his undefeated home streak against the conference and in the state. rival of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The Red didn’t disappoint, posting a dominant performance against a decent engineering squad to keep their unbeaten streak at Lynah intact. The Reds’ offensive offense featured five goals from Cornell in the first period and a four-goal effort from senior forward Max Andreev en route to an 11-3 victory.

Cornell’s eleven goals marked the Reds’ highest offensive production in over forty years and the highest in head coach Mike Schafer’s 25 years in ’86.

“We had all four lines in place, we had input from all the guys… we followed the game plan and they just had that energy on the bench,” said ’86 head coach Mike Schafer. “I think you can be sloppy going out of your own zone and out of the neutral zone or trying to be cute and I didn’t think we did. We kept pushing the pucks forward, we played cool.

Junior forward Ben Berard, the Reds’ leading scorer (5-1, 3-1) before the game, opened the scoring just 4:22 from the start of the first period, taking a pass from the first forward. year Justin Ertel and sneaking past Engineer (5-5-1, 3-3) goaltender Linden Marshall, who was left defenseless in the two-man breakaway, led the score.

The Engineers responded a minute and a half later when center Rory Herrman pushed the puck past first-year goaltender Joe Howe with a pass from forward Jack Brackett and defenseman Simon Kjellberg.

After a mad run behind the Engineers’ goal, junior forward Zach Tupker and junior defenseman Sebastian Dirven pushed the puck out of the squad in front of goal, where junior forward Ben Tupker waited to hit it and give the lead back to the team. Red. with 10:54 to go in the first period.

Cornell refused to take his foot off the gas pedal, scoring another goal and extending his lead to 3-1 just 49 seconds later. Andreev shot the puck past Marshall from the right circle, while first-year defenseman Hank Kempf and junior forward Matt Stienburg received credit for the pass.

The score marked the first goal of the season for Andreev, who scored the fifth most points for the Rouge in the shortened 2019-2020 season, scoring five goals and fifteen assists for a total of 20 points.

“I was really happy for Max, he was really down at the start of the week. He thought he had played really well in the first four games, but just hadn’t been rewarded, ”Schafer said. “Matt Stienburg showed great poise to bring him to Hank [Kempf] and then Hank found [Andreev] through the seam… it’s good to see him being rewarded for it.

The Red continued to pick up the pace offensively, hitting Marshall several hard times.

With 4:50 to go in the period, Andreev had a one-on-one with an RPI defenseman and fell trying to pass him, sending the puck drifting towards Marshall – who tried to cut the puck and the missed before trying to grab the puck, mistakenly returning it to his own goal. The score went to first-year forward Ondrej Psenicka, who smashed the puck into the net as it was about to smash the plane.

“I think we’ve finally figured out our offense and how to use our defense effectively in the attacking zone… how to get those rebounds, how to get those dirty goals,” said Andreev.

Now down 4-1, the Engineers started playing more physical hockey against the Reds, earning multiple penalties in the last four minutes of the period. RPI forward Shane Sellar earned a penalty to cut with 3:06 left, giving the Reds their first power play opportunity of the night.

The Red quickly capitalized 40 seconds in the power play. Captain and senior forward Brenden sent a pass to Stienburg over the goal line, which sent the puck to the ice where Andreev was waiting at the top of the right circle. Andreev threw a laser slap shot into the upper left corner of the net, giving the Reds a 5-1 lead.

With just under two minutes to go in the period, RPI defender Anthony Baxter was penalized for a double failure. The Red were unable to deliver on the power play, maintaining their lead to 5-1 going into the second period.

Remarkably, the second period of action was just as exciting as the first. Cornell continued to deploy his offensive firepower, building on his already four-point lead during the period.

At 3:04 of the period, Zach Tupker fired a successful shot from the center of the ice and gave the Reds a 6-1 lead. Tupker’s brother Ben, as well as first-year forward Sullivan Mack, were credited for the assist.

The goal marked the second of the match in which the Tupker twins connected for the score. Even though the twins saw their teammate before changed from Union College’s game, they managed to regain success.

“They are twins, they have an innate gaze for each other on the surface of the ice,” Schafer said. “I thought their line was playing really well both nights and it doesn’t matter who we put on the other side with them… they just have that innate chemistry between them and they’re hard to go up against.”

Down five, the Engineers responded with 12:43 left in the period. Center captain Ture Linden scored his team’s second goal of the game, reducing Cornell’s lead to four.

Following Harvard and Dartmouth’s comebacks last weekend, the Red weren’t too keen on keeping the game within reach of RPI. A minute after Linden’s goal, Andreev, assisted by junior defenseman Travis Mitchell and second defenseman Tim Rego, sent a shot from the center of the ice past Marshall. The goal gave frontline center Andreev a hat trick on the game.

“[The hattrick] I obviously felt amazing in front of Lynah’s followers, ”said Andreev. “I couldn’t get a lot of offense in the first two weekends of the season so it’s really an amazing feeling and I kind of let the weight off my shoulders.”

Andreev’s goal highlighted the resilience of the Rouge, who refused to let RPI change the pace of the game in the second period.

“We just kept our feet on the gas pedal,” Schafer said. “Zach Tupker came out and scored early in the second and as soon as they scored we came back and scored again… it’s a sign that we kept our focus in the game and also in the discipline. “

The offensive attack continued eighteen seconds later when Rego scored an unassisted goal from the center of the ice, giving the Reds an 8-2 lead.

“I kind of got closer to the lunge and was just trying to keep it,” Rego said. “The goalkeeper was busy with Ben Tupker in his face and I found a way to the back of the net. “

Although there was no more goal for the remainder of the period, Cornell refused to release the pressure. With less than a minute to go, Stienburg had a breakaway opportunity but couldn’t get the puck past the goalie. Just before the end of the period, Stienburg had another fantastic opportunity, this time just missing the goal on an assist after a 3-1 opportunity.

The third period was more marked by round trips. Barely 57 seconds into the period, Stienburg scored his first goal of the game thanks to an assist from Andreev and junior defender Sam Malinski.

The engineers countered Stienburg’s score with one of their own. Forward TJ Walsh scored the puck in front of Howe for the third goal of the RPI game. Baxter and forward Justin Addamo were credited with the assist. The Reds lead was 9-3 with 16:59 to go in the final period.

Just over six minutes later, Engineer defenseman Louie Helsen was flagged for detention, giving the Reds his third power play chance of the evening. RPI managed to kill the penalty, keeping Cornell’s lead at six.

With 5:26 left in the game, Andreev scored his fourth goal, bringing a pass from Stienburg well behind the right circle, quickly turning around and sending a float that sank into the net just in front of Marshall. With Andreev’s score, the Red now had double-digit goals, leading RPI 10-3.

Cornell’s clean game ended shortly thereafter, and the team were fined their first penalty of the game on a delayed face-off violation with 5:08 to go. The Red managed to kill the penalty.

The Red once again added another goal with 1:21 to go. Locke passed the puck to Rego, who scored his second score of the game and Cornell’s eleventh overall.

Howe continued his flashy play into the goal, ending the game with a total of 23 saves for the Reds. On the other hand, Marshall made 19 total saves for the Engineers on Cornell’s 30 shots on goal, which equates to a save percentage of 0.633.

Cornell will look to build on its momentum on the conference roster by hosting Brown and Yale next weekend at Lynah Rink.