Dutchmen beat Big Red, lose Carr

Box Score

by Ryan Fay

It was a case of good news, bad news for third-ranked Union Friday night at Lynah Rink.

The good news? The ECAC Hockey-leading Dutchmen topped 11th-ranked Cornell, 4-1, to reach the 20-win plateau for the fifth straight season. The win kept Union three points ahead of Quinnipiac, which blanked Yale, 4-0.

The bad news? The Dutchmen lost their leading scorer, Daniel Carr, in the first period. Carr, who has 13 goals and 17 assists, suffered an apparent upper-body injury when Joel Lowry checked him hard into the boards.

Carr, a senior forward, did not return and is listed as day-to-day.

"It was a very physical game, but I liked our push back -- we battled through adversity," said Union head coach Rick Bennett. "We lost Carr and but I thought our leaders really responded, guys like Mat Bodie and Shayne Gostisbehere."

Union (14-3-0 ECACH, 20-6-3 overall) grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Kevin Sullivan buried his own rebound at 8:12 of the first.

Jake Weidner drew Cornell even at 13:38. After Union defenseman Jeff Taylor got tangled up with a linesman, Weidner broke in alone on Stevens and beat him short-side for his first collegiate goal.

But Cornell's momentum was short-lived as Matt Wilkins put Union ahead 2-1 just 53 seconds later when he cashed in on a rebound off a left-circle shot from Michael Pontarelli. The Big Red argued Union's Eli Lichtenwald interfered with goaltender Andy Iles, but the goal was upheld after a brief review.

Union's penalty kill came up big in the middle stages of the second with the Dutchmen protecting a one goal lead. Cornell was held without a shot on back-to-back power plays, a stretch which included 45 seconds of 5-on-3 time.

Union extended its lead to 3-1 with 2:32 left in the second after Sam Coatta tipped in David Roy's shot from the blueline. Cornell head coach Mike Schafer was livid, unsuccessfully arguing Union had too many men on the ice when Roy took his shot.

“There is no explanation,” Schafer told The Ithaca Journal. “The guy comes off the bench and plays the puck, and there are six still on the ice. And not one of the four (officials) can see it. It was two good teams that battled really hard, and it’s unfortunate that you can get those kinds of mistakes in that game.”

Niskayuna native Colin Stevens finished with 23 saves, including two stops against Weidner on the doorstep at the end of the second with Union leading 3-1.

Daniel Ciampini tacked on an empty-net goal in the closing minute of the third to seal the win. The goal was his 13th of the season, tying him with Carr for the team lead.

Union returns to action when it travels to Starr Rink to take on 19th-ranked Colgate tonight at 7. Colgate skated to a 1-1 tie with visiting RPI on Friday.

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