NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Cornell has been no stranger to winning rallies, as it had won three times this season when trailing by two goals entering Friday’s game at Yale.
The No. 4 Big Red had a fourth comeback win within reach, but the Bulldogs’ Ryan Hitchcock scored an extra-attacker goal in the final minute of the third period to force a 3-3 tie before a packed crowd at Ingalls Rink.
“That’s the game of hockey,” Big Red coach Mike Schaefer said. “Yale competed very hard and blocked a lot of shots. We had a lot of opportunities, but we didn’t finish, and that’s why hockey is such a beautiful game.”
Sam Tucker made 34 saves for the Bulldogs, (7-8-1), while Matthew Galajda stopped 26 shots for Cornell. With the tie, each team preserved a streak of solid play; Cornell is now unbeaten in five straight games, while Yale is 4-1-1 over its last six games.
“We didn’t start the [season] way we wanted to,” Hitchcock said. “Our team motto is ‘push back.’ We found a way to get a point against a really good hockey team.”
Yale led 2-0 late in the second period thanks to goals by Robbie DeMontis and Evan Smith, but the Big Red scored in the closing seconds of the middle period and then again in the opening seconds of the third to tie the game.
Brendan Smith’s rebound goal cut the Bulldogs lead to 2-1 with 33 seconds left in the second, while Alex Rauter scored 1:09 into the third to tie the game.
Alex Green put the Big Red up 3-2 at 10:46 in the third. Green’s go-ahead goal came just minutes after Galajda denied Yale’s Dante Palecco on a penalty shot.
“It says a lot about our team; I was really happy with the fight in our bench all night long,” Yale coach Keith Allain said of the Bulldogs staying composed as Cornell rallied to take the lead. “They didn’t get crazy when we scored, and they didn’t get down when Cornell scored. They just kind of stuck with it and chipped away at it.”
Cornell trailed 1-0 after one period and had several chances to tie the game in the second, but couldn’t get the equalizer. The Big Red killed off a Brenden Locke boarding call in the opening minutes of the period and then ripped shot after shot on Tucker, but to no avail.
“He gave us a chance to win tonight,” Hitchcock said of Tucker. “That point [we earned] is in a lot thanks to him.”
The Yale junior denied Morgan Barron off the rush, and then had some help from a teammate to preserve the Bulldog’s lead.
With Tucker pulled out of the net, forward Ted Hart slid in the crease to knock away a Cornell shot and keep the Big Red off the board.
Tucker was on point later in the period during a Cornell power play, robbing Jeff Malott’s one-timer from point-blank range.
“A tie was probably a just outcome,” Allain said “I thought both teams put it all on the line.”
Cornell travels to Brown Saturday, while Yale hosts Colgate. Both games start at 7 p.m.
