Greening's Hat Trick Sparks Cornell to Victory

Boxscore

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Sophomore Colin Greening scored a hat trick and classmate Ben Scrivens collected 31 saves for his third shutout of the season and fourth of his career as the Cornell men's hockey team scored a 6-0 victory over Dartmouth on Friday night at Lynah Rink.

Justin Krueger, Riley Nash and Raymond Sawada each added a single goal for the Big Red, while Brendon Nash picked up three assists and Topher Scott, Michael Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy each added a pair of helpers to send the Big Red to the victory. The win keeps the Big Red in the thick of the hunt for a first-round bye in the upcoming ECAC Hockey tournament.

Greening got the Big Red on the board in the first period with what turned out to be the game-winner. With the Big Red on the power play, Brendon Nash ripped a shot on Dartmouth goalie Mike Devine that the senior netminder stopped, but the rebound popped off to Greening's stick, and the sophomore jammed the puck into the net to send the Big Red to a 1-0 lead after the first period.

In the second, it was more power-play magic for the Big Red, as Scott hit Michael Kennedy with a pass, and the junior saw Krueger streaking up the weak side. Kennedy made a pass to the sophomore in stride, and Krueger one-timed the puck past Devine with 7:11 to play in the second period. The assist for Scott was the 100th point of his career, making him the 44th player in Cornell history to hit the century mark.

A minute and a half later, the Big Red made it 3-0 with Riley Nash's 11th goal of the season. Again on the power play, Brendon Nash ripped a one-timer from the blue line that was stopped by Devine, but again the puck came off to a wide-open Big Red player on the back post, this time Riley Nash, who easily slotted the puck into the back of the open net.

Cornell made it 4-0 three minutes later as Greening scored his second goal of the night, taking a pass from Patrick Kennedy off a give-and-go and skating around Devine before sliding the puck into the open net and ending the night for the senior netminder from Dartmouth.

In the third period, Sawada scored his fourth goal of the season after taking a pass from Michael Kennedy, with Scott picking up the second assist on the play. Just 17 seconds later, Greening completed the hat trick, picking up a feed from Patrick Kennedy and ripping a shot past Joe Grossman, who finished the game for the Big Green.

The hat trick for Greening was the first by a Big Red player since Matt Moulson accomplished the feat on Feb. 19, 2005, a span of 101 games. In all, nine different players collected a point, with six players collecting a multi-point game.

For the night, the Big Red went 3-for-4 against the Dartmouth penalty killing unit, while Cornell killed off all three of Dartmouth's power-play chances. Scrivens stopped 31 shots in his third shutout of the season, while Devine stopped 15 shots in 37:13 and Grossman made six saves in 22:47.

Cornell closes out the regular season against Harvard on Saturday night at Lynah Rink. Saturday's game will be Senior Night for the four Cornell seniors, who will be honored following the contest. Cornell enters the final game in a three-way tie with Harvard and Union for the two final first-round byes of the upcoming ECAC Hockey playoffs. Cornell can clinch a bye with a win over Harvard, or with a tie against the Crimson and a Brown victory over Union on Saturday night.