An early goal by Travis Mitchell, and Ian Shane’s 11-save performance, helped guide the Cornell men’s hockey team to a 1-0 shutout over Dartmouth in front of another sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink on Saturday night.
Matt Stienburg and Gabriel Seger helped set up Mitchell for his second goal in as many nights for Cornell, who enters its three-week break with a 7-5-0 overall record and a 5-3-0 mark in ECAC Hockey play.
Cornell stymied Dartmouth’s offense throughout the night, yielding just 11 shots on the night. The Big Red ended up outshooting the Big Green by a 27-11 margin, which included a 21-5 mark in the final 40 minutes of play.
“Our guys competed for the most part, with the exception of one shift in the second period,” said Mike Schafer ’86, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey. “I thought we were above people and made it difficult. I thought we were solid in our d-zone, a lot of blocked shots, which was key. [Dartmouth] has a shooting mentality and our guys did a good job of not letting that happen.”
Freshman goaltender Cooper Black stopped 26 of 27 shots on the night for Dartmouth (1-8-1, 1-5-1), who saw its winless streak increase to seven.
How It Happened
Cornell scored in the opening three minutes of a game for the third consecutive game when Mitchell’s shot from the left point found its way past Black.
Seger won the faceoff leading to Mitchell’s marker, sending the puck directly back toward Stienburg, who quickly passed to Mitchell for his shot from the left side of the point.
Following the goal, the Big Red’s defense was stout in preventing Dartmouth from creating much offense throughout the contest.
“We’re comfortable being in that 1-0 lead tonight,” Schafer said. “That was the first time I could sense that – in a lot of the games that were really, really tight – we were comfortable with it. We just kept playing, limiting their chances, and still creating ours. They’re a hard team to play against. They battle hard, work hard, and we never got away from the game plan. We’re going to be in those tight games all year long. It will be like that from now until the season’s over.”
Cornell blocked 18 shots on the night, five of which came in the final 2:27 when Dartmouth pulled its goaltender for an extra attacker.
Senior defenseman Sam Malinski and senior forward Ben Berard each blocked a Cornell-leading three shots on the night.
“They had more saves than I did tonight,” Shane said, “which is a good sign for our d-corps and for good things to come.”
Game Notes
• Saturday was the 143rd all-time meeting between the pair of Ivy League schools. With the win, Cornell improved to 86-50-7 all-time over Dartmouth and has won six of its last nine over the Big Green.
• With his goal, Mitchell registered his first collegiate goal streak and is the first Cornell blueliner to score in consecutive games since Sam Malinski had a two-game streak late in the 2019-20 season.
• Shane’s shutout was the fifth of his collegiate career, as he became the first Big Red netminder to shut out an opponent at Lynah Rink since Nate McDonald on Nov. 20, 2021, against Yale.
• The 11 saves in a shutout are the fewest by a Cornell goaltender since Matthew Galajda also made 11 saves against Alabama-Huntsville on Oct. 28, 2017.
• The 1-0 victory marked the program’s first such game since Feb. 25, 2022, against Quinnipiac. It was the first time that happened at Lynah Rink since Oct. 30, 2021, against Alaska Fairbanks.
Looking Ahead
Cornell will host AIC following the program’s three-week break from competition. The Big Red and Yellow Jackets will open the two-game, non-conference series at Lynah Rink on December 29 with a 7 p.m. puck drop. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+, as well as on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) with Jason Weinstein and Tony Eisenhut on the call.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].