CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Friday was a happy night for Cornell and a vast majority of the 3,095 fans who packed Harvard’s Bright-Landry Hockey Center clad in red.
Junior winger Anthony Angello scored all three goals and freshman Matthew Galajda pitched his third consecutive shutout with 35 saves, leading second-ranked Cornell to a 3-0 win over the host Crimson, extending its unbeaten streak to a national-best nine games.
It was not a masterpiece, Cornell head coach Mike Schafer said, but his Big Red plowed through following a light week of practice as the team battled sickness. With points at a premium at this time in the season, that is most important.
“It was really a gutty performance,” Schafer said. “I thought they played well, but the game kind of ebbed and flowed. … They’re always good games. There’s a reason Harvard has a great program and a great team, and it was a hard-fought game. I told (Harvard coach) Ted Donato that it was typical ㄧ a battle until the very end.”
Angello scored the game’s opening goal in the first period and completed his natural hat trick with two in the third, including just Cornell’s second empty-net goal of the season as a team with exactly a second to play in regulation.
After a quick, up-and-down start, the Big Red tallied first at just the 7:19 mark. After Yanni Kaldis sent the puck up ice, Angello strode through the right wing and lifted a hard wrist shot over the glove of Harvard junior Michael Lackey.
The Crimson drew three power plays in the game, but only managed four total shots on goal out of those opportunities ㄧ all coming on two attempts in the second period. Three came in quick succession as freshman Jack Badini crashed the net for two rebound chances after junior Ryan Donato, who was held scoreless for just the second time this season, tried a wraparound.
“All four lines knew that when he was on the ice, you’d better play him strong 1-on-1 and keep your feet moving,” Schafer said of defending Ryan Donato, the top scorer in ECAC Hockey who recorded a game-high eight shots on goal. “Especially as a defenseman, if he comes up to you and you spread your feet, he’s going to make you look silly.
“He wasn’t on the scoresheet. That’s a rarity.”
Galajda made several quality stops in the final minutes of an opening period in which he made just seven total, but the Aurora, Ontario, native was tested more as the night went on.
The greatest ebbs and flows that Schafer spoke of came in the second period, as the Crimson posted a 13-6 shot advantage. Perhaps Galajda’s best save of the night came with 3:56 left as he flashed the glove on Michael Floodstrand’s redirected shot from the left side.
“I’m seeing the puck well,” said Galajda, whose 13 wins are tops in the nation among first-year goaltenders. “There were a couple of plays out there that I maybe got a little lucky on tonight, but the puck seems to be bouncing our way right now and we hope to keep it rolling tomorrow night (at Dartmouth).”
A fortunate bounce led to Angello’s second goal at the 6:33 mark of the final period. His initial shot from the immediate slot bounced off the post, Lackey’s back and then dribbled over the line for his 10th goal of the season.
A Pittsburgh Penguins prospect from Manlius, N.Y., Angello added an empty-netter that tied top-line center Trevor Yates for the team goal lead with 11.
“It’s indescribable; this is our home away from home, in a way,” Angello joked after sweeping the season series from the Crimson, following a one-goal win at Lynah Rink back on Nov. 11. “It was awesome beating Harvard at home and then getting them here, especially when they don’t score. It’s definitely something special, so hats off to the guys.”
Harvard’s loss brought a 5-0-3 overall streak to an end, as well as a 6-0-3 mark in league play. Ted Donato liked his team’s effort, but it was in the area of execution where it lacked.
“I thought it was a pretty entertaining game,” the Crimson coach said. “It was kind of the way we expected from them. I thought they competed well defensively and we had a tough time getting second and third chances. We chased the game from behind a little bit, but I thought we were still getting chances and carrying the play for a lot of the night. That’s a good defensive team. They made a couple of plays and we didn’t.”
