With just seconds to go, a puck slid straight through senior goaltender Remington Keopple’s crease.
While the University of Nebraska-Omaha skaters threw their heads back in frustration, those on the ice for No. 17 men’s hockey gave their goaltender a few praising stick taps.
Keopple, in his third start of the year, came up big down the stretch as Cornell survived another blown lead to top Omaha on Saturday, 3-2, and sweep the Mavericks to begin the new year.
“I’ve used it before: hungry dog gets fed. It’s hard to sweep the same team. It's hard to beat the same team on back-to-back nights. [Omaha is] a good team,” said head coach Casey Jones ’90. “I thought Rem did a good job making some saves here for us. But, you know, just to find a way to win that game, I think it's important for us to grow.”
The Cornell netminder stopped 25 of 27 shots, and the defenders in front of him combined for 15 blocked shots to send the Mavericks home winless. The victory furthered Cornell’s unbeaten streak at home to eight games dating back to last season, and the Red remains perfect on home ice so far this season.
“[Omaha is] a good team, and they throw a lot to the net, but I thought I was calm back there,” Keopple said. “It was my first start since my freshman year at home, so it was a little nerve-wracking to start.”
It’s true — out of Keopple’s 15 appearances in his collegiate career, just three have come on home ice. His last start at Lynah Rink was on Dec. 30, 2022.
Much like it did the night prior, Cornell used a strong start to propel itself to an early lead. Two freshman goalscorers — who also got on the score sheet on Friday — kickstarted Saturday’s scoring, as freshmen forwards Reegan Hiscock and Aiden Long both lit the lamp in the first period.
Hiscock’s tally came just 1:39 in, burying a loose puck in the slot that the Omaha defensemen could not collect. Hiscock, who notched the game-winning goal on Friday night, gave Cornell the 1-0 lead on just its second shot of the game.
Then, with 9:11 left, Long tallied his third goal of the weekend, capitalizing on freshman forward Caton Ryan’s silky no-look feed from behind the net.
“We chart scoring chances for and against, a big part of our analytics after games and all that — he's been generating a ton in the first half,” Jones said. “It’s nice to get that monkey off his back.”
After losing its physical edge for much of the second period on Friday night, the Red did not make the same mistake in the opening period of Saturday’s game. All four lines and all three defensive pairs were doling out hits, not allowing the Mavericks much time with the puck.
But things got perhaps a little too carried away physicality-wise when freshman defenseman Luke McCrady — on the first shift of his collegiate career — was nabbed for holding. And just 13 seconds of Omaha power play elapsed before Jeremy Loranger capitalized to make it a 2-1 game with 8:24 remaining in the opening period.
Cornell controlled the opening period, outshooting the Mavericks by a 14-6 margin, but Omaha netminder Dawson Cowan kept his team in the game. He once again surrendered a couple of goals on the first shots he saw, but stood tall the rest of the way.
Omaha came out for the second period with more jump, holding an edge in possession and inching closer to Cornell in the shot department. The Mavericks also did a stellar job drawing penalties, as Cornell continued its penalty-ladden play and was forced to face five Omaha power plays on Saturday night.
“We were a little undisciplined in the second period there, got us in some penalty trouble, and we spent a bunch of time killing,” Jones said. “I thought we had some huge kills tonight.”
Though the Mavericks would go 0/2 on the man advantage in the second frame, it garnered the momentum after a strong stretch when Loranger tied the game 2-2 with 8:28 left in the middle frame. After an extended offensive zone shift by the Mavericks, Loranger fired a hard one-timer through Keopple’s five-hole for his second goal of the game.
It seemed as if the Mavericks would carry their momentum into the final frame. Omaha peppered Keopple with shots and kept the Red hemmed in its defensive zone, attempting eight shots — including five on net — within the first three minutes of the third.
“We were thinking of calling timeout,” Jones said. “They were coming, that was their push. You have to handle that push. And we found a way.”
But in perhaps unforgiving fashion for Omaha, it would be the Red that broke the stalemate — junior forward Jonathan Castagna potted his team-leading seventh goal of the year 4:33 into the final frame on a nifty backhand shot. Ryan got the assist, as Castagna cleaned up the final rebound after a flurry of shots on net.
“I had to get that to the net. You just have a feeling that in a game like that, [when] nothing's really going in, it's going to be a really greasy goal,” Castagna said. “It was pretty important, just to have that momentum shift right there. [It] kind of stopped them dead in their tracks,.”
Cornell settled in, and from there, got back to its game. Castagna’s shot was one of only four put on net by the Red in the final frame, as Cornell clamped down defensively once it held the lead. Keopple padded away 12 pucks in the final 20 minutes as the Mavericks attempted 23 shots in search of the game-tying goal.
That, Omaha would not find. Loranger had the game on his stick with three seconds to go, but whiffed a shot completely wide of a gaping net. The Red would win an ensuing faceoff and clinch the hard-earned one-goal victory.
“Push comes to shove, we found a way to get it [done] in the third period,” Jones said. “All of a sudden, we hunkered down.”
Cornell will continue its homestand with a two-game set against Alaska Fairbanks next weekend, Jan. 9-10. Puck drop for both games is slated for 7 p.m. and all action at Lynah Rink will stream live on ESPN+.
Jane McNally is a senior editor on the 143rd editorial board and was the sports editor on the 142nd editorial board. She is a member of the Class of 2026 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. You can follow her on X @JaneMcNally_ and reach her at jmcnally@cornellsun.com.
