LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — It’s been a consistent formula for Cornell this season. The Big Red have gotten outstanding goaltending from freshman Matthew Galajda, goals throughout the lineup, and plenty of blocked shots from their defense. That combination has helped Cornell post the best winning percentage in the country and win its first regular season championship since 2005.
But on Friday, those facets of the game helped seventh-seeded Princeton beat top-seeded Cornell 4-1 in the ECAC Hockey semifinals as Herb Brooks Arena.
Third-line forward Liam Grande scored the tying goal for the Tigers, while goalie Ryan Ferland made 27 saves, including several big stops once Princeton took the lead.
Eric Robinson scored twice for the Tigers, including the game-winning goal late in the second period that was set up by a blocked shot high in the Cornell zone.
Princeton will either face Harvard or Clarkson the league championship game Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Tigers last won the ECAC tournament in 2008, when they beat Harvard 4-1. With the win, Princeton has now taken down the top two seeds in the league tournament after beating No.2 Union in the quarterfinals last weekend.
Despite the loss, Cornell’s season will continue, as the Big Red entered the weekend having already secured a spot in the NCAA tournament.
If you told me before the game that we’d hold their [top line] to one shot and that they’d be o-for-two on the power play I’d say that we had a pretty good opportunity to win the game … you could sense the frustration,” Cornell coach Mike Schaefer said.
Trailing 1-0 after one period, the Tigers (18-12-4) took advantage of a pair of bounces in the second to score twice to take the lead.
Princeton tied it when Josh Teves’ shot bounced off the boards to a crashing Liam Grande, who scored to make it 1-1.
“In ECAC Hockey, on your third and fourth lines you’re recruiting goal scorers from junior hockey.” Princeton coach Ron Fogarty said.
Robinson’s breakaway goal gave the Tigers the lead at 14:04 in the second. The play began when fourth-line center Luke Keenan dove to block a shot high in the Princeton zone, sending the puck right to Robinson’s stick. The Princeton senior skated unopposed into the Cornell zone, beating Galajda to give the Tigers the lead.
Princeton went up 3-1 at 10:17 in the third when Ryan Kuffner flew up the right wing before spinning and finding Max Veronneau in the slot, who sniped a shot past Galajda (14 saves) to give the Tigers an insurance goal.
The goal was the 126th of the season for the Tigers, which set a program record. Princeton scored 39 goals during the entire 2014-15 season, Fogarty’s first as head coach.
“I’ll stay here all night,” Fogarty quipped at the post-game press conference. “From four years ago to now, this feels really good.”
It was also Veronneau’s 54th point of the year, which tied the team record for points in a season.
While Princeton’s offense has gotten plenty of attention this season, it’s been its defense that has been a big part of its current run. With the win Friday, the Tigers are 11-3-1 since the middle of January, and have held opponents to three goals or fewer in all but three games over that stretch.
“It really helps us out,” Veronneau said of Ferland’s play in goal recently. “We’re an offensive team, so we make a few more mistakes.”
Cornell took a 1-0 lead at 15:38 in the first when Cam Donaldson skated around the net and found Trevor Yates on the right post, who snapped a shot in the wide-open net. The Big Red controlled play early, as Princeton’s first shot on goal didn’t come until 11:03 into the period.
But that was all the Big Red could manage, as the Tigers won the race to loose pucks and kept Cornell off the board, thanks in part to several big saves from Ferland.
“I thought we had decent pressure, but we need more guys to the net and we didn’t do that,” Big Red senior Alex Rauter said.
Robinson’s sealed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 19:26.
“We had some jitters in the first, but we knew if we stuck to our systems we would get positive results,” Robinson said.
