Dutchmen rebound with shutout (with videos)

by Ryan Fay

After blowing an early 2-0 lead in a 5-3 loss to Colgate on Friday, the Dutchmen rebounded Saturday with a much more complete effort, shutting out #14/15 Cornell, 3-0, in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,144 at Messa Rink.

"I liked the way we played as a team," said Union head coach Rick Bennett, who was anything but a happy camper a night earlier. "We blocked shots, we came back, and we played transitional defense. Everyone sacrificed. That's what you need in a game against Cornell because they like to generate a lot of offensive zone time for themselves. We weathered it, and we got out of our zone quickly."

Union's Matt Wilkins in action against Cornell on Sat.
(Union Athletics)

Union's performance left a strong impression on Cornell head coach Mike Schafer, whose team was held to a season-low 11 shots on goal.

"Union played very, very well tonight," he said. "I watched [Bennett's postgame] press conference last night, and I knew coming into the game that they would be ready to roll... I thought they outworked us tonight. I thought they had a stronger will to win than we did. They were hungrier around loose pucks throughout the course of the game."

After a scoreless first period, Union took a 1-0 lead when senior forward Cole Ikkala capitalized on a loose puck and collected his first goal of the year at 7:31 of the second period.

"We had a lot of movement down low and we were moving our feet," Ikkala said. "Sam Coatta pulled it out, got a shot off, and the rebound came to me on the back door. I just buried it."

Junior defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, whose roughing penalty turned the tide in Friday's loss, rebounded when he notched his second goal of the season to extend Union's lead to 2-0 at 12:22 of the third period.

But he was quick to deflect credit to freshman forward Eli Lichtenwald, who made his first appearance since suffering a lower-body injury in the season-opener against Bowling Green on Oct. 11.

"Eli made a great play," said Gostisbehere. "He's a big guy and he can get out of the corner with the puck. He just slid it over to me, and I had an empty-net. It was all Eli."

Sophomore forward Matt Wilkins sealed the win with 2:28 left in regulation when he ripped home a cross pass from senior forward Daniel Carr.

Colin Stevens turned aside all 11 Big Red shots for his first shutout of the season. The biggest threat to the Niskayuna native's shutout was a John McCarron shot through traffic that rang off the post at 12:22 of the first period.

The importance of the victory wasn't lost on Gostisbehere.

"It was definitely a big win," he said. "We kind of faltered last night [against Colgate]. But I was real happy with the way the boys bounced back, and it showed that we're a team to be reckoned with in the ECAC."

Union (4-3-2 overall, 3-1-0 ECAC) returns to action Nov. 15-16 with a home-and-home series with Capital District rival RPI. Friday's tilt is set for 7:30 p.m. while Saturday's is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Box Score

Endnotes... Bennett offered "no comment" on the status of sophomore forward David Roy, who didn't play after returning from a lower-body injury on Friday ... Philadelphia Flyers player development man Kjell Samuelsson was in the house watching Gostisbehere and Cornell's Reece Willcox, both 2012 Flyers draftees, 3rd and 5th round, respectively.

POSTGAME REACTION

Union's Ikkala and Gostisbehere


Union head coach Rick Bennett



Cornell head coach Mike Schafer



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