Five different Cornell players found the back of the net to aid freshman goaltender Remington Keopple in recording his first collegiate win in the Big Red’s 5-1 victory over Brown at Lynah Rink on Saturday night.
Jack O’Leary, Matt Stienburg, Jack Lagerstrom, Winter Wallace, and Kyle Penney all scored for the Big Red (4-4-0, 4-2-0 ECAC), who opened its home-opening weekend with a pair of wins over Ivy League foes.
Keopple, who was making his first start in front of the Lynah Faithful, made 17 saves to improve to 1-1-0 on the year.
“I thought we got off to a little bit of a slow start, but we built momentum throughout the game,” said Mike Schafer ’86, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey. “Happy we were disciplined tonight and able to roll four lines for the majority of the night – which keeps everybody fresh.”
Matt Sutton scored the lone goal for Brown (1-6-1, 1-6-1 ECAC), who had a 34-save performance from goaltender Mathieu Caron.
O’Leary opened the scoring 3:13 into the contest as he cut in front of the goal and lifted his quick shot over the glove of Caron.
Sutton evened the game at 1-all with a short-handed goal, taking advantage of Cornell losing the puck in its offensive zone. After grabbing the puck in the neutral zone, Sutton used a deke and toe drag to evade Cornell’s final defender before sending a blistering snap shot past Keopple.
Later in the first period, Brown would be called for its second boarding penalty of the period and the Big Red capitalized when Stienburg ripped a wrist shot through Caron’s five-hole to give Cornell the lead back.
Early in the second period, Lagerstrom recorded his first collegiate goal to increase the Big Red lead. The junior blueliner took a shot from the left point that evaded traffic in front of the net.
“Jack Malone was standing right in front of the net and the goalie didn’t see it,” Schafer said. “He was all by himself down there. Even though Malone doesn’t get an assist on the play, he helps create that goal.”
Wallace tacked on another goal for Cornell in the second period after a couple of scoring chances by Sullivan Mack were stopped by Caron. The Big Red continued to apply pressure deep in the offensive zone, which led to Wallace’s second goal of the campaign.
Penney added an insurance marker for the Big Red in the third, netting the second power-play goal of the night. Sean Donaldson had his initial one-time shot saved by Caron, but a behind-the-back pass by Bancroft to the mid-slot allowed Penney to score his first of the year.
Game Notes
• Saturday was the 135th meeting between the pair of Ivy League rivals. Cornell increased its lead in the series over Brown to 83-44-8 all-time and 45-15-4 in games played at Lynah Rink.
• Cornell scored five goals in both games to open its home slate, marking the first time the Big Red has scored five-plus goals in its first two home games to open a season since 2004-05. That year, the Big Red posted identical 7-1 wins over Army and Sacred Heart.
• With O’Leary’s goal to open the scoring, Cornell is 4-0 on the year when being the first team to find the back of the net. During Cornell’s 28 years under Mike Schafer ’86, the Big Red is 327-65-42 when lighting the lamp first.
• Lagerstrom became the fifth different Cornell player to log his first collegiate goal on the season, joining Donaldson, Bancroft, Wallace, and Nick DeSantis.
• Faceoff draws heavily favored Cornell on the night, as the Big Red won 40 of the 58 draws taken. Max Andreev and Zach Tupker each had 12 faceoff wins on the night for the Big Red.
• Brown and Cornell both finished the night with 11 blocked shots. The Big Red had 10 different players block at least one shot. Sebastian Dirvenwas the lone Big Red player with multiple blocked shots on the night.
Looking Ahead
Cornell returns to Lynah Rink for a rare Tuesday night game against Sacred Heart. Puck drop between the Pioneers and Big Red is scheduled for 7 p.m. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+, along with the radio broadcast on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM).
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].