Cornell Assumes Top Spot with Win Over Clarkson
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Sophomore Locke Jillson recorded his first
career multi-point game and senior Blake Gallagher had a goal and
three assists as the Cornell men's hockey team scored a 5-3 victory
over visiting Clarkson on Saturday night at Lynah Rink in Ithaca.
The win moves Cornell atop the ECAC Hockey standings, two points
clear of a three-way tie for second with one fewer game played.
Cornell also got goals from freshmen John Esposito and Chris
Moulson, with Moulson's coming in just his third career game.
Junior Mike Devin added a pair of assists, while Esposito also
added an assist for his first career multi-point game. Brendon
Nash, Sean Whitney and Nick D'Agostino each added an assist for the
Big Red (12-5-3, 9-2-2 ECAC Hockey).
Clarkson got a goal and an assist from Corey Tamblyn, with Tim
Marks and Adam Pawlick both adding a goal. Matt Beca added an
assist for the Golden Knights, who fell to 5-18-3 on the year and
1-11-2 in league play.
Cornell netminder Ben Scrivens stopped 18 shots on the night for
the victory, while Clarkson's Paul Karpowich made 37 saves in
taking the loss. Cornell broke out of an 0-for-30 slump on the
power play with three goals in seven chances, while holding
Clarkson scoreless in four opportunities.
Clarkson took the lead midway through the first period when Pawlick
gloved down a clearance attempt in the Cornell end and skated in on
Scrivens, ripping a wrist shot into the upper left corner of the
goal for the early lead. The Big Red responded nearly four minutes
later when Jillson got his first of two goals, picking up the puck
along the side boards, skating in front of the goal and using a
screen from a Clarkson defenseman to fire a shot that beat
Karpowich, sending the two teams to the intermission tied at
one.
In the second period, it took just a minute for Jillson to give the
Big Red a lead it would not relinquish. With Cornell on the power
play after a double-minor penalty to Clarkson's Julien Cayer,
Brendon Nash ripped a shot from the center point that was stopped
by Karpowich, but Jillson was there for the rebound to lift Cornell
to a 2-1 lead. Three and a half minutes later, it was Moulson
scoring his first career goal, cleaning up a rebound off a shot
from the point by Mike Devin that lay in front of the crease.
Moulson backhanded the puck around the leg of Karpowich to stake
Cornell to a 3-1 lead.
Cornell expanded on the lead when Gallagher scored at the 8:08 mark
of the second period, this time burying his own rebound off a shot
from Sean Whitney to make the score 4-1 and give Cornell its second
power-play goal of the night.
Two minutes later, with Cornell again on the power play, the Golden
Knights drew within one when Tamblyn picked up a loose puck in the
Clarkson end and played it ahead to Beca for a 2-on-1. Beca fed
Marks, who roofed his shot past Scrivens to cut the Cornell lead to
two.
Still, Cornell responded, this time with Esposito scoring on a
power-play goal, again cleaning up a rebound off a shot from the
point by Devin. Devin's shot caromed off D'Agostino and onto the
stick of Esposito, who buried the puck for the Big Red's fourth
goal of the period.
Clarkson again drew within two on another short-handed goal, this
time with Tamblyn picking off a pass at the Clarkson blue line and
breaking in alone on Scrivens, scoring an unassisted short-handed
goal on a breakaway. That would turn out to be the only scoring of
the third period just 1:53 in.
The Big Red returns to action on Friday when it travels to
Quinnipiac for an 8 p.m. contest in a game that will be televised
nationally on CBS College Sports. The Big Red will seek to avenge
one of its two league losses, a 3-2 Quinnipiac win on Nov. 21 at
Lynah Rink.












