For a moment, it seemed like things were veering in an entirely different direction for Cornell.
Head coach Casey Jones ’90 had some words for his players after St. Lawrence — which entered Friday night’s game against No. 11 men’s hockey sitting in 10th place in the ECAC — put Cornell in a 1-0 hole in the second period.
“I think we were just kind of cruising,” Jones said. “And we were okay with it — it's not like anything really ridiculous was happening. We just weren't on top of stuff."
But, as it has done all year, the Red flipped a switch. Just over five minutes later, it was 3-1 Cornell.
“They always say the shift after a goal is one of the bigger shifts of the game,” said junior forward Ryan Walsh. “And to be able to even it right back up was good to get the momentum back in our favor.”
The Red took it and ran from there, cruising to a 5-1 win over St. Lawrence for yet another comeback win.
“We just took a little bit of time to get in the game [and] kind of get our legs under us,” Jones said. “It's been a long week. I give our guys credit — I thought that first goal that they got kind of set us on our way and gave us the edge we needed to have there. We kind of took the game over from there.”
Walsh was an undeniable presence for Cornell (19-8-1, 14-6-1 ECAC), scoring once and assisting twice. Junior defenseman George Fegaras, junior forward Jake Kraft and senior forward Nick DeSantis also posted two-point games, while freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer made 14 saves on 15 St. Lawrence (7-23-3, 6-14-1 ECAC) shots to earn the victory.
After a lengthy stretch on the road, no one was happier to be back at Lynah Rink than the players.
“It [was] good to be here for a Thursday and not have to be on a bus for so long and be here with the fans again,” DeSantis said. “Because Lynah [has] the best fans and atmosphere in college hockey. So really good to get here and get a win for them.”
Though neither team would get on the board in the opening period, it delivered no shortage of action — three posts were hit between the two teams, with Cornell the victim of two of those.
Aside from the iron making the saves, both goaltenders stood tall, and nothing entered either net until midway through the second period.
It would be the Saints, on just its seventh shot on goal — Cornell had 13 up to that point — that drew first blood. A shot from the point by Isack Bandu wove through traffic, and a screened Cournoyer couldn’t track the puck before it was in the back of the net with 8:38 remaining in the period.
Did that one wake the team up?
“Oh yeah, it did,” Jones said.
For Cornell, the tally ignited a fire from within — with Lynah Rink anxious for the game-tying goal, just 1:04 elapsed before freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux found the equalizer.
Veilleux had all the time in the world to wrist the puck past St. Lawrence netminder Cameron Smith after Cornell's top line — headed by junior forward Ryan Walsh — created space and a numbers-up opportunity.
“Most times when you see teams score after a 0-0 tie after the first period, some teams kind of back off, but I think that we handled it the right way,” DeSantis said.
The Red ultimately found its first lead of the game with just under five minutes remaining. A beautiful shift by Cornell’s new-look second forward line of freshman Aiden Long, Castagna and Desantis culminated in a scrappy goal from atop the crease — a rebound off of Smith was corralled right to DeSantis, who stuffed it home to make it 2-1.
The goal ended a 15-game scoring drought for the senior.
“It kind of was right there for me to poke it in,” DeSantis said. “It felt good to score that too, especially this weekend, it's a really special time for me and my classmates.”
47 seconds later, it was 3-1. Cornell found some insurance when junior forward Jake Kraft executed a flawless pass-off-pads to freshman forward Caton Ryan, and he roofed the puck over Smith to give Cornell a two-goal lead with 4:11 left in the middle frame.
Things were rolling offensively in the final frame, too. The Red added a pair of third-period goals to ice the game, both coming from the sticks of junior skaters.
First, Fegaras avenged his shot off the post from the first period with a wrister from the left faceoff circle that snuck through the pads of Smith, one that the netminder seemed visibly frustrated to have let in. That made it 4-1 Cornell with 12:13 to play.
And just over a minute later, Walsh joined in on the fun — he pokechecked the puck away from a St. Lawrence defenseman at the Cornell blueline before emerging all alone on a breakaway against Smith. Walsh headfaked and converted on his backhand, making it 5-1 and tying a bow on the scoring with just over 10 minutes to go.
Cornell finished the game having allowed St. Lawrence just 15 shots on net.
“We really focus on staying above them and not giving up anything,” Walsh said. “[Cournoyer] played amazing, stood on his head a couple times, but our goal is to have 20 or [fewer] shots in a game against.”
Jones noted the stellar play of seniors DeSantis and defenseman Jack O’Brien on Friday night, both of whom will be celebrated postgame Saturday.
“Senior weekend, those guys step up, our players step up playing for them,” Jones said. “So I'll be excited to get the guys in tomorrow night, and we'll celebrate them tomorrow night.”
Cornell will conclude its regular season at 7 p.m. Saturday against Clarkson. All action will stream live on ESPN+, and live updates will be provided by @DailySunSports on X.
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.
