by Ryan Fay
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Fans of the Union men's hockey team waited 62 days for Friday's home game against ECAC Hockey rival Cornell.
The wait wasn't worth it.
Union, which hadn't played a home game since Nov. 15, showed little and dropped a 5-1 decision to the Big Red in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,123 at Messa Rink.
With five goals, Cornell recorded its highest single-game goal output in 39 games, dating back to a win over Brown in Nov. 2013. The Big Red (5-4-0 ECACH, 7-7-2 overall) came into play with just four goals over its last five games, including two occasions in which they were shutout.
“I don’t know what it’s like to get five goals,” Cornell head coach Mike Schafer said, originally thinking his team only scored four.Union (4-6-1, 11-9-2) hasn't been shutout since a 4-0 loss against Quinnipiac on Nov. 30, 2012, a span of 92 games. That goal-scoring streak, the longest in the nation, nearly came to an end. But with Cornell leading, 5-0, Ryan Scarfo scored with 13.3 seconds left in the third period.
The Dutchmen were held to a season-low 21 shots on goal, the team's lowest single-game shot output since registering the same number in a loss to Colgate in Nov. 2013.
“It was a pretty poor effort tonight,” Union defenseman and team captain Charlie Vasaturo said. “We got their ‘A’ game. Cornell played really well tonight. I feel bad for [Alex Sakellaropoulos] and [Dillon Pieri]. We left them out to dry. We have to look at the film and figure out what’s going wrong, and try and correct it.”
Cornell took a 1-0 lead at 12:14 of the first. After Christian Hilbrich left the penalty box following an interference penalty, he snuck behind the Union defense and caught a long pass from John McCarron. He skated in uncontested and beat Alex Sakellaropoulos.
The Big Red extended their lead to 2-0 at 17:24 of the second after Jacob McDonald lifted a backhander past Sakellaropoulos.
Cornell buried the Dutchmen with trio of third period goals. Jake Weidner made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 8:33. In a bid to generate offense, Dutchmen head coach Rick Bennett pulled Sakellaropoulos in favor of an extra attacker at 12:57. But Madison Dias increased Cornell's lead to 4-0 with an empty-netter at 14:25.
“We’re going to pull our goalie at certain times,” Bennett said. “The coaching staff’s not quitting. Never going to quit, to the dislike of I don’t care. We’re never going to quit. We’re going to keep coming. If it means pulling goalies and what have you, then we’ll do it.”
Following Dias' goal, Sakellaropoulos was briefly inserted back into the game before being replaced with third-stringer Dillon Pieri at 16:53. Pieri, making just the third appearance of his four-year career, let in the only shot he faced as Matt Buckles pushed the Big Red edge to 5-0 with a power-play marker at 17:13.
"It was a tough one for us but we've got to keep battling here," Bennett said. "I'll say a positive thing for us was the lines at the end and the way they battled. That's what we're going to take as a positive, those young guys out there just giving it."
Cornell head coach Mike Shafer and goalie Mitch Gillam
Union head coach Rick Bennett
Union defenseman Charlie Vasaturo
"It was a tough one for us but we've got to keep battling here," Bennett said. "I'll say a positive thing for us was the lines at the end and the way they battled. That's what we're going to take as a positive, those young guys out there just giving it."
POSTGAME AUDIO
Cornell head coach Mike Shafer and goalie Mitch Gillam
Union head coach Rick Bennett
Union defenseman Charlie Vasaturo
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