Photo by Erica Thum/Ithaca Journal Staff

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Senior Blake Gallagher scored his 100th career point as the Cornell men's hockey team defeated Harvard, 3-0, to earn a spot in the ECAC Hockey semifinals next weekend in Albany, N.Y. The Big Red won the quarterfinal series against the Crimson, two games to none.

Cornell also got a goal and an assist from senior captain Colin Greening and two assists from junior Riley Nash, who now has 99 career points. Sophomore Sean Collins scored the third goal for the Big Red (19-8-4), while senior netminder Ben Scrivens stopped all 17 shots he faced for his fifth shutout of the season and the 17th of his Cornell career, one shy of the program record.

Harvard's season ends with a 9-21-3 record. Junior goaltender Kyle Richter stopped 29 shots in taking the loss for the Crimson, who were held scoreless in their only power-play attempt of the night.

After a scoreless first period that saw Cornell out-shoot the Crimson, 7-3, despite plenty of end-to-end action, the Big Red finally got on the scoreboard at the 12:05 mark of the second period. With Cornell on the power play, sophomore Sean Collins hit Gallagher with a cross-ice pass, and the senior buried his shot past Richter to give Cornell the lead with what turned out to be the eventual game-winner. The one goal stood as the only scoring as Cornell took the 1-0 lead into the second intermission.

In the third period, Cornell put the game away with Collins' goal with just over five minutes to play. Greening started the play by bringing the puck from behind the Harvard net and sliding the puck across the crease to Collins. There, the sophomore lifted the shot under the crossbar and into the top netting of the goal for the 2-0 lead. The officials reviewed the goal, only to uphold the call on the ice.

Down two goals in an elimination game, Harvard coach Ted Donato elected to pull Richter with 1:15 to play with his club already down a man due to a tripping call on Pier-Olivier Michaud. Cornell capped the scoring then with Greening's goal with four seconds left on the penalty to Michaud. Nash started the play by winning the puck in the Cornell end and playing it forward to Gallagher. Gallagher then passed to Greening alone behind the Harvard defense, and the senior easily slotted the puck into the open net with 34 seconds remaining in the game.

Cornell will now await its opponent for the league semifinals, awaiting the results of a pair of decisive game threes on Sunday night. The semifinals will be played on Friday at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y.