PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Junior goalie Andy Iles made 31 saves,
and senior forward Greg Miller had a pair of assists to help the
men's hockey team defeat Brown, 4-1, on Friday night at Meehan
Auditorium. The victory gives the Big Red a five-game unbeaten
streak as it continues to chase home ice for the first-round of the
ECAC Hockey playoffs.
Cornell was dominant from the start, with senior forward John
Esposito and Miller firing shots from close range in the early
going. Freshman forward Christian Hilbrich eventually got Cornell
on the board at the 8:33 with his first collegiate goal. The play
started when sophomore defenseman Jacob MacDonald made a beautiful
pass from the right point to Miller in the left circle. Brown
goalie Anthony Borelli made a kick save on Miller, but the puck sat
dangerously in the crease under Hilbrich pushed it just wide of the
post to Borelli's left. Miller was then able to shovel the puck
back toward the front, and Hilbrich converted.
The Big Red took a 2-0 lead for the third consecutive game a
little more than six minutes later. Sophomore defenseman Joakim
Ryan created the play by going coast-to-coast up the left wing,
beating the final defense wide before hooking a pass back toward
the top of the crease. Junior forward Dustin Mowrey was cruising
down the slot to skate on to the puck and beat Borelli to the near
post.
Brown answered with more energy in the second period, keeping the
Big Red trapped in its own zone for much of the early going. The
hosts' best chance came when leading scorer Matt Lorito wheeled a
shot off the post.
Cornell even lost the services of senior forward Erik Axell for
more than five minutes after the steel snapped off one of his
skates. But when Axell returned, he made his presence felt. He
cleanly won a faceoff to Borelli's right back to the point. Senior
defenseman Braden Birch was able to get a shot off that tipped off
a defender and squeezed between the knees of Borelli to give
Cornell a 3-0 lead – all without the help of a single power
play.
The Bears broke up Iles' shutout bid 2:44 into the third on Mark
Naclerio tip-in goal off a Mike Juola shot. But Cornell then closed
out the scoring when sophomore forward Joel Lowry forced a turnover
in the neutral zone and sent Miller away on a two-on-one up the
left wing. Miller slithered a pass under the defender to get
sophomore forward Brian Ferlin in the clear from the slot, and he
pulled the puck to his backhand to beat Borelli and restore the Big
Red's three-goal lead.
Cornell will close out its regular season at 7 p.m. Saturday at
Yale.