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by Ryan Fay
SCHENECTADY -- History has a way of repeating itself.
The 17th-ranked Dutchmen blew their second straight third period lead on Friday night as #16 Cornell rallied from a 2-1 deficit entering the final period only to exit a sold out Messa Rink with a 3-2 victory.
Cornell's Cole Bardreau, who won a gold medal with Team USA at the World Junior Championships earlier this month, tied the game at two at the 2:30 mark of the third period. Brian Ferlin delivered the dagger for the Big Red with a tally off a turnover at the 10:27 mark.
It was all too similar to what happened last Saturday at Quinnipiac, when the Dutchmen held a 2-0 lead with twenty minutes to play before collapsing and suffering a 3-2 loss.
Union head coach Rick Bennett was quick to identify the problems.
"A big part are turnovers. Not being able to catch a pass in the neutral zone," the second year head coach said.
"We practice passing in the neutral zone more than any other team in the whole country," he added. "I’m trying to figure [it] out because we show film, we practice it, and I don’t if it comes to game time, we have guys that are a little frightened to catch passes in the neutral zone. That’s a little disheartening for me at this time.”
Penalties didn't help, either. Union killed off all four of their penalties, but Bennett said killing penalties can wear a team down.
"We shot ourselves in the foot by giving them four penalties," Bennett said, noting Cornell generated 11 shots on their power play opportunities.
Junior defenseman Mat Bodie agreed that penalties can take a toll.
"You get the penalty kill, but those next couple minutes are just as grueling," he said.
Bennett was especially frustrated by seeing the same penalties time and time again.
"That is going to stop," he promised. "Guys are going to be sitting up in Section P with their sport coats on and we don't care who it is."
Bodie said protecting third period leads boils down to a couple things.
"It's just mental awareness and being better physically," he suggested. "I thought [Cornell] outworked us in the third and played smarter than us as well. Both of those [things] caught up to us in the end."
Union goaltender Troy Grosenick, who stopped 33 of 36 shots, thought the problems in the third period should have been corrected by now.
"We need to get more mature as a team, look at ourselves in the mirror, and ask what we can do better," he said.
Despite blowing third period leads in consecutive games, the junior netminder insisted the confidence of the team remains high.
"We have a pretty confident group of guys in the room. I can't speak for everybody, but we felt pretty good going into the third period. We didn't work smart in the third period and that was the difference."
Bodie said letting third period leads slip away can serve a purpose.
"This is something we can learn from," he said of the recent collapses. "We just have to bear down a little harder in the third and protect the lead."
The Dutchmen return to home ice Saturday night to host #20 Colgate, which lost, 2-1, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday night. The loss snapped Colgate's five game winning streak.
NOTES: Bardreau and fellow Team USA member Shayne Gostisbehere were honored in pre-game ceremony.... on the women's side, the Dutchwomen were on the road and were blanked, 3-0, at Dartmouth.
#16 CORNELL vs #17 UNION (Jan 18, 2013 at Schenectady, NY)
Scoring Summary
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POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCES (YouTube)
720p HD available on all videos.
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