February 3, 2010 E-MAIL PRINT

First-place Cornell turns on the power

by Alan Ginsberg/

Forward and Scituate, Mass., native Joe Devin is third on Cornell in scoring. (photo: Darl Zehr/Cornell Athletic Communications)

Forward and Scituate, Mass., native Joe Devin is third on Cornell in scoring. (photo: Darl Zehr/Cornell Athletic Communications)

You can’t keep a good team down.

Cornell proved that by rising to the top of the ECAC Hockey standings and a No. 5 ranking nationally following a weekend sweep of St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

Senior forward Blake Gallagher and sophomore forward Locke Jillson led the way in a 5-3 victory over Clarkson Saturday night. Gallagher scored the game-winner after assisting on the Big Red’s first three goals, while Jillson and freshman forward John Esposito recorded their first career multi-point games, with Jillson notching a pair of goals and an assist on Gallagher’s tally and Esposito scoring and assisting on Jillson’s first marker.

Both Jillson’s second tally and Gallagher’s goal came on the power play, as Cornell scored three times in seven opportunities overall to break out of an 0-for-30 slump that has pushed its power play down to sixth in the nation at 22.1 percent.

Special teams are still a strength for the Big Red, though, as their third-in-the-nation penalty kill (88.9 percent) has contributed to a combined special teams of 56.2 percent that trails just Merrimack. Cornell is also second in the nation in scoring defense, conceding an average of 2.05 goals per game, and fourth in scoring margin at 1.05

Friday night, senior goaltender Ben Scrivens made 15 saves to become the Big Red’s career saves leader, and junior forward Patrick Kennedy scored with 1:37 remaining in regulation to give Cornell a 2-1 win over the Saints.

NEHJ Player of the Week

Chase Polacek, jr., RPI

The junior became the 60th Engineer to record his 100th career point -- and first since Kirk MacDonald in 2007 -- with a pair of goals and three assists on the weekend. Polacek leads ECAC Hockey with 18 goals, 40 points, 23 power-play points and five shorthanded points; is tied for first with 10 power-play goals and a pair of shorthanded goals; and is second with 22 assists.

Looking Ahead

St. Lawrence at Union, Saturday

Two of the teams closest on Cornell’s heels square off in Schenectady. With both teams tied with Yale for second in ECAC Hockey -- two points behind the Big Red, who have played one fewer game -- the two points at stake are critical to the teams’ conference title chances.

The Saints bounced back from their loss to Cornell with a 3-2 overtime win at Colgate Saturday night, while the Dutchmen tied Brown 2-2 after falling 4-3 at Yale. Union won the teams’ earlier matchup this season, 4-3, but lost 2-0 at home last year.

Around ECAC Hockey

Brown

The Bears’ 4-3 overtime victory over RPI Friday night was their first overtime win since they beat Princeton 4-3 on March 2, 2007 and first at home since a 3-2 win over Yale on Dec. 9, 2006 as well as their first victory of the season when conceding at least three goals.

Clarkson

The Golden Knights have lost six consecutive games and are riding a seven-game winless streak.

Colgate

The Raiders’ secured their first regular-season sweep over Clarkson since the 1999-2000 season with a 6-1 win over the Golden Knights Friday night. The six goals were Colgate’s most against Clarkson since a 6-4 win on Jan. 5, 1996, while the Raiders’ 12 tallies against the Knights in two games are their most since the 1994-95 season.

Cornell

Scrivens leads ECAC Hockey with a 1.94 goals-against average.

Dartmouth

Freshman forward Dustin Walsh scored the Big Green’s first two goals — with his brother Nick, a sophomore forward, assisting each time — as Dartmouth beat Quinnipiac 4-3 Friday night.

Harvard

The Crimson dropped their ninth consecutive Beanpot matchup against Boston College, 6-0, on Monday night. They’ll face Northeastern in next Monday’s consolation game.

Princeton

A weekend sweep at Harvard and Dartmouth has the Tigers on their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Quinnipiac

Senior forward Brandon Wong is tied with Polacek for the ECAC Hockey lead in power-play goals with 10.

RPI

Freshman forward Jerry D’Amigo has eight points in six games since returning from the World Junior Championship.

St. Lawrence

The Saints have killed 29 consecutive power plays, scoring two shorthanded goals in the process.

Union

The Dutchmen’s 2-2 tie with Brown Saturday night was their program-record 11th overtime contest of the season.

Yale

The Bulldogs have scored just once in their last 19 power-play opportunities.

Alan Ginsberg can be reached at feedback@hockeyjournal.com.

E-MAIL PRINT