Junior forward Brenden Locke helped set up a pair of goals during the Cornell men’s hockey team’s three-goal first period, then clinched Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Rensselaer with an empty-net goal in front of a sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink. The victory is Cornell’s fifth straight, and it clinched a first-round bye through the first round of the ECAC Hockey Championship playoffs.
With the win, Cornell (19-2-4, 14-2-2 ECAC Hockey) — ranked second in the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls — keeps pace with Clarkson for first place in the league with four games left in the regular season. Regardless of how the last two weekends of league play pan out, the Big Red now knows it will host a best-of-three quarterfinal series against an opponent to be determined March 13-15 at Lynah Rink.
For a fifth straight game, Cornell built a two-goal lead in the first period. Senior forward Noah Bauld swept in a rebound of a shot originally off the stick of sophomore defenseman Joe Leahy, then junior defenseman Alex Green doubled the lead just 18 seconds later to give the Big Red a 2-0 lead inside four minutes.
Brenden Locke scores once, sets up a pair of other goals and goes 14-2 on draws to lead the Cornell men's hockey team to its fifth straight win — a 4-2 decision over Rensselaer on Saturday at sold-out Lynah Rink! #YellCornell (?: Eldon Lindsay/Cornell Athletics) pic.twitter.com/DMs9y3dKJA
— Cornell Big Red (@CornellSports) February 16, 2020
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