Cornell, Quinnipiac Battle to Scoreless Tie

Photo by D. Salisbury

Boxscore

HAMDEN, Conn. -- Before last season's scoreless tie against Massachusetts, Cornell had gone nearly 85 years since the last regular-season 0-0 draw. The wait was not nearly as long the second time around, as Cornell and Quinnipiac skated for 65 minutes without scoring a goal for the 0-0 tie. Junior Ben Scrivens picked up his second straight shutout, making 25 saves in helping guide the Big Red to a three-point weekend.

Scrivens' opposite number, freshman netminder Nick Pisellini, was just as sharp, stopping 23 shots of his own for his first tie with the Bobcats.

Coming into the night, Quinnipiac had been the most penalized team in ECAC Hockey, averaging 26.4 minutes per contest, and that certainly held up in Saturday night's contest. The Bobcats were whistled for 24 minutes in penalties, though that only translated to 13:28 of actual power-play time for the Big Red. Cornell got called for seven penalties for 14 minutes, giving the Bobcats 8:03 of power-play action. Cornell finished the game 0-for-9 on the man advantage, while Quinnipiac finished 0-for-6.

Quinnipiac got the game's first power play when Derek Punches, making his Cornell debut, was whistled for interference just 3:49 into the contest. The Bobcats got one shot on goal, a tip by Bryan Leitch, which was saved by Scrivens. After the save, though, Leitch was called for a high-sticking penalty just 16 seconds later, evening the two sides up at four skaters apiece.

While Cornell could not capitalize on the abbreviated penalty on Leitch, the Big Red got its first full chance when Brandon Wong was called for cross-checking at the 11:16 mark of the first period. Cornell was unable to get a shot on, though the Big Red did have a scoring chance with the puck just out of the reach of Sean Collins. Seconds later, a missed clearance by senior Jared Seminoff resulted in a 2-on-0 break for the Bobcats, but junior Joe Scali hustled back on defense to deflect away a cross-ice pass that would have resulted in a wide open net for the Bobcats to fire away at.

Quinnipiac got its second power play chance on a call that left the Cornell bench steamed, as Blake Gallagher, on his knees, was pushed into Pisellini, but it was Gallagher serving the two minute penalty for goaltender interference. Again, though, Quinnipiac's power play did not last the full two minutes as a slashing call on the Bobcats' Spencer Heichman with 1:09 left on Gallagher's penalty resulted in the second four-on-four of the game. This time, off the draw in the Quinnipiac end, Justin Krueger ripped a shot from the point that Pisellini saved, but left a rebound in the center of the ice that danced in front of the crease before finally being cleared way. Again, both teams concluded their shortened power play without finding the back of the net.

With 3.9 seconds to play in the first period, Colin Greening was called for a cross-check. Cornell won the faceoff and cleared the puck out of the zone as the first period ended with the score tied at zero.

Opening the second period on the power play, the Bobcats got one shot off against Scrivens, but the junior was up to the task as Cornell was able to work back to even strength.

With 4:39 gone in the second, Cornell wound up with its fourth power play of the night as Scott Zurevinski was called for boarding in front of the Cornell bench. The Bobcats kept the Big Red from setting up in the offensive end for nearly the first full minute before a boarding call on Riley Nash evened the two sides out at four apiece for the third time in the contest, but again, neither team could get on the scoreboard.

The endless parade to the penalty box continued as a slashing call on Quinnipiac's Sami Liimatainen gave the Big Red its fifth power play chance of the night. With 36 seconds left on the penalty, Evan Barlow was tripped down on a breakaway, giving the Big Red a penalty shot. Unfortunately, the curse of Joe Nieuwendyk continued, as Barlow's wrister from the right circle was saved, continuing the streak of 673 games and the eighth missed attempt since the last made penalty shot, converted by Nieuwendyk on Feb. 27, 1987.

Quinnipiac was able to kill off the remainder of the penalty, but another slasing call, this time on the Bobcats' Mike Atkinson, gave the Big Red yet another power play chance.  Instead, it appeared as though Quinnipiac was on the power play, rattling off a pair of shots, both of which were kicked away by the junior netminder as the Bobcats went a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.

With 2:36 to go in the second, Jared Seminoff was called for holding, giving the Bobcats their fifth power play chance of the night. Cornell held the Bobcats without a shot for the first minute before Scrivens covered the puck just in front of his crease. Cornell then cleared the zone again, and Tyler Mugford deflected a shot into the stands to force another faceoff with 24 seconds left on the penalty. Cornell killed the remainder of the power play, but not without a diving effort from Scrivens to knock the puck out of the air at the back post without it crossing the line. From there, the remaining time expired in the period as the two teams went back to the locker room with the scoreless tie intact.

Just 1:16 into the third period, Mugford was called for a trip in the Cornell end, giving the Bobcats their sixth power play of the night. The Cornell penalty killers kept the Bobcats at bay without allowing a shot to reach Scrivens as the penatly expired, putting the two sides back at full strength.

Shortly afterward, a shot from the point by Jordan Berk was deflected by Riley Nash into the path of the oncoming Locke Jillson with an open net in front of him Pisellini was at the top of his crease. Jillson, however, was tackled from behind by Quinnipiac's Mike Atkinson, who went to the box for hooking. On the power play, Greening tipped a shot from Brendon Nash into the chest of Pisellini, who saved it but nearly fell back into his own net as the whistle blew the play dead. Seconds later, Quinnipiac ended up with a shorthanded breakaway, but Eric Lampe's attempt was poked away by Scrivens, preserving the scoreless tie.

With 12:25 to play, the Big Red went back on the power play on a roughing call on Jean-Marc Beaudoin. Cornell peppered the goal with shots, with Pisellini making two saves and having a pair of shots blocked in the first 35 seconds alone. Another pair of shots, first by Michael Kennedy and the rebound by Colin Greening, were also stopped by the pads of Pisellini with 12 seconds left on the man advantage as Cornell went to 0-for-8 on the power play.

Another Cornell rush led to Greening gaining the blue line, feeding to his right to Jillson, who then made a cross-ice pass to a streaking Seminoff, whose snap shot was stopped by Pisellini.

With 4:13 on the clock in the third period, the two teams went back to 4-on-4 hockey as Blake Gallagher was called for goaltender interference and, in the ensuing scrum, the Bobcats' Eric Lampe went for roughing. With the extra open ice, Tyler Roeszler picked up a loose puck in the offensive zone and ripped a shot that Pisellini stopped with the rebound coming onto the back of the net. After the ensuing faceoff, Roeszler nearly picked up an assist as his pass to a streaking Greening resulted in a shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle into the chin of the freshman goaltender for Quinnipiac.

In the overtime session, the Big Red had a great opportunity, picking up a 5-on-3 with 13.8 seconds left to play, but the Bobcats successfully cleared the zone without surrendering a shot, effectively ending the contest.

Cornell returns to action with its third straight game away from Lynah Rink, making the trip to Hamilton, N.Y., for a 7:30 p.m. contest at Colgate on Thursday. The game against the Raiders will be televised throughout Central New York by Time Warner Sports.