This story will be updated.
An early goal on the road: that’s something No. 9 men’s hockey has relinquished a number of times.
On Dec. 5 against Clarkson, Cornell was never quite able to overcome the Golden Knights’ early tally, scoring on the very first shot freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer faced.
Overcoming an early deficit on the road? Now, that’s something Cornell has done twice.
Consecutively.
After coming from behind last Saturday against Brown, Cornell did it again, cruising to a 5-2 win over Colgate in the first game of the home-and-home series between the two travel partners. Sophomore forward Charlie Major had a much-needed breakout game with two goals and three points, while freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux and junior forward Jonathan Castagna boasted multipoint nights with three and two, respectively.
Though Colgate’s Antonio Fernandez roofed a shot over the glove of Cournoyer and drew first blood for the Raiders, Cournoyer answered the call as the game went on. The freshman netminder — picking up his 14th win — finished with 30 saves on 32 Colgate shots.
Fernandez’s tally 6:36 into the game marked the 11th time in 22 games that the Red allowed the first goal of the game, but Friday would eventually chalk up to be the latest of six wins in such games.
The Raiders (10-14-3, 7-6-2 ECAC) had little time to relish their early lead — not even a minute later, Castagna won an offensive zone faceoff cleanly back to freshman forward Caton Ryan, whose subsequent shot slipped through the five-hole of Colgate netminder Andrew Takacs to tie it up, 1-1.
Though Cornell (17-5-0, 12-3-0 ECAC) ultimately held an advantage in shots in period one, edging the Raiders by a 10-6 margin and earning the bulk of the Grade A chances, it seemed things would be all tied up heading into the second intermission.
Freshman forward Aiden Long ensured that would not be the case — he gloved down a lifted pass from Veilleux, dropped it for himself atop Takacs’ crease, and buried the puck past the goaltender to take the lead with just 1:59 left.
Though the teams would enter their respective locker rooms with relatively little fanfare, that’s when the drama began to unfold — a major penalty was soon added on the scoreboard at the Class of 1965 Arena, with junior forward Ryan Walsh’s #17 listed beside it.
Then, it was added to the boxscore — Walsh was officially whistled at 20:00 of the first period for cross-checking, which warranted a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct after Colgate’s successful challenge. That meant the Red would be without its captain and top-line center for the remainder of the contest.
When all was said and done, Colgate was primed with a path right back into the game with five minutes of power-play time to begin the second.
Cornell’s penalty killers had other ideas.
The first three minutes of the penalty saw the Raiders fire away six shots, but three saves by Cournoyer and three more blocks kept Colgate at bay. From there, the Raiders did not muster up much of anything, struggling to gain the zone as Cornell saw the last few moments of the penalty tick away.
The blocks are what stole the show — 10 of the Red’s 23 in the game came in the middle frame, endlessly frustrating Colgate as it tried and tried to claw back into the game.
The Raiders’ frustrations were punctuated by Ryan Sullivan’s slashing penalty just past the midway point of the period. One of top man-advantage units in the nation took little time to cash in, as Castagna fed Major a brilliant spinning feed from behind the net, and Major effortlessly found the back of the net to make it 3-1.
Heading into the third, the Red had an opportunity to pull away after the Raiders were whistled for a pair of penalties — one being a hooking penalty at 20:00 of the second, and the other a tripping call just 33 seconds into the third — that sent Cornell to a five-on-three.
But good killing by the Raiders — and some timely saves by Takacs — kept the game within reach. That’s when Colgate began to push, earning a handful of chances numbers-up while Cornell attempted to bear down.
Colgate made things interesting when Ryan Spinale wristed a puck cleanly past Cournoyer to cut the deficit to one with 11:29 to play. The sold-out crowd in Hamilton took to its feet as Cornell’s lead dwindled and the Raiders showed some life.
But all hope was lost for Colgate when Major, with 2:10 left, burst down the right wing on a two-on-one rush and opted to shoot, finding a seam over Takacs' glove and restoring the two-goal lead. Junior defenseman Fegaras added an empty-net goal 57 seconds later.
That would sound the end to the Red’s annual game at the Class of 1965 Arena, a place where it dealt the Raiders two ECAC quarterfinal losses just 11 months ago. Next up, Cornell will have to weather what will surely be a storm of Colgate pressure and physicality on Saturday night at Lynah Rink.
Puck drop for the second game of the Colgate series is slated for 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink. All action 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.
