For the first time in six attempts, Cornell came away victorious against BU at Madison Square Garden in Red Hot Hockey, as the Terriers won the event in 2007, 20011, 2013 and the 2009 and 2015 meetings ended in ties.
Cornell struck once in the first period and twice in the second to take a 3-0 lead into the third on goals from Beau Starrett, Trevor Yates, and Alec McCrea.
BU’s Dante Fabbro scored a power-play goal 4:48 into the third to cut the Big Red lead to 3-1, only to see Tristan Mullin score the eventual winner at 11:51 off a tip-in at the goal mouth.
The Terriers battled to the bitter end and made it a game late. First, defenseman Chad Krys scored a 6 on 4 goal with less than seven minutes to play. BU coach David Quinn opted to pull goaltender Jake Oettinger as Cornell was called for a penalty with less than seven minutes to play for an extra attacker. The gamble paid off as Krys made it a two-goal game off a onetimer from the near point.
Not long after, Patrick Harper cut the Cornell lead to one with 4:58 left after Brady Tkuchuk threw the puck on net from the near side boards and Harper chipped home his sixth goal of the season from the side of the cage. It would be as close as the Terriers would get.
Cornell locked down in the last three minutes and staved off a furious BU bid to tie things up in the closing minute. The Terriers tossed 16 shots towards Cornell goalie Matt Galajda in the third period alone, as the freshman netminder made 35 saves on the night.
Graphic one displays the goaltenders and their SV% accumulated over the course of the 2017 season. Merrimack’s Collin Delia and UConn’s Adam Huska both finished with an identical (and impressive) .928 SV%.
The team stat of “Scoring Defense” (Graphic 3) or the total goals allowed per game better resembles how a team will perform in the league standings. Defense has the ability to prevent shots or force teams into taking lesser percentage shots. This intern makes life easier for the goalie.
