ITHACA, N.Y. — Jeff Kubiak’s top-shelf goal in the waning moments of regulation lifted Cornell to a thrilling 4-3 win over Princeton on Friday at Lynah Rink.
With under a minute to play, the Tigers tried to clear their own zone, but Trevor Yates stopped the attempted exit near the left side of the blue line. Kubiak swooped into the area and received a pass from Yates, then he toe dragged the puck with his left-handed shot and fired through the legs of his defender and over the left shoulder of Tiger goalie Colton Phinney to secure the late win.
“I was coming back to the middle of the ice and Trevor made a great play with his stick and it popped out to the middle of the zone,” said Kubiak. “I grabbed it and just fired it on net. I didn’t see it, but I heard the crowd yell and I knew it went in.”
The tally marked Kubiak’s third of the season, but his freshmen linemates Mitch Vanderlaan and Anthony Angello have also carried the load offensively for the team. The early contributions from the Big Red’s first-year players have not surprised Cornell coach Mike Schafer.
“We had a lot of expectations for them coming in,” said Schafer on his freshman class. “The upperclassmen have done a tremendous job so that when they play, they’re comfortable and they don’t feel nervous and I think that’s a testament to our upperclassmen.”
Angello found the score sheet on two occasions. First, he gave Cornell a 2-1 lead five minutes into the second frame, then he tallied another one a couple minutes to extend the lead to two. Even with the Big Red offense finishing the night with 43 shots compared to the 24 of the Tigers, it was a far cry from a dominating win.
Princeton caused the Big Red fits in the opening stanza thanks in large part to their forecheck, which kept the Cornell transition game at bay.
“We were just jumping and getting on pucks,” said Princeton coach Ron Fogarty. “There was nothing abnormal with what they were doing on the breakout [and] we just had a little jump in the first.”
That jump paid dividends for Fogarty’s gang early on in the second period when that Tiger forecheck forced a Big Red turnover behind the Cornell net. David Hallisey collected the loose biscuit and fed Max Véronneau, who beat Big Red netminder Mitch Gillam to notch the forward’s first collegiate goal.
The Cornell surge commenced shortly after, with a trio of goals in the next seven minutes, which included Beau Starrett’s first career goal on a rebound stuff-in, with the assists to classmate Alec McCrea and Eric Freschi.
In a tough building like Lynah Rink, the Tigers responded with Véronneau, who scored his second goal on the night just two minutes later, but it was the entire line of Véronneau, Hallisey and Ryan Kuffner that sparked Princeton.
“They’re young and to get goals in this setting is big for them,” said Fogarty. “This is one of the toughest college rinks to play in, so for them to keep the noise out and contribute is big for them and it’s important moving forward for us with those three guys.”
That line got some support early on in the third period when Ben Foster jumped on a loose puck in front of Gillam to knot the score at three, but the Big Red attack proved to be too much.
The Princeton dam broke in the game’s last minute, but the Big Red outshot the Tigers 31-13 in the final two periods, which included seven power-play shots during that span on just two man-up opportunities.
