Dutchmen forced to Game 3
Union’s chance to close out series dashed as Big Red dominate in quarterfinal
Rick Bennett, the coach of the Union College hockey team, stood in a hallway outside the Dutchmen’s locker room at Lynah Rink on Saturday night and, clearly, wanted to be any place but there.
He had his overcoat on and was ready to go, back to the team bus, and as far away from Cornell University as he could get. And that would not be too far because Bennett and his team had to stay another night in the Finger Lakes.
Cornell saw to that as the Big Red blanked Union 4-0 in Game 2 of the best-of-three ECAC playoff series in front of 4,159. That evens the series at one game apiece with the deciding game coming at 4 p.m. Sunday at Lynah Rink.
The winner of Sunday’s game advances to play in the league’s semifinals in Lake Placid this coming weekend.
“We have to forget (Saturday) and move on,” Bennett said and he was obviously not happy. “It’s one game. There is nothing we can do about it now. We have to file it, or delete it or whatever you want to call it and come back (Sunday).”
Cornell (18-9-4) dominated the Dutchmen, outshooting them 33-15. The Big Red got the only goal they would need just 1:21 into the game when Brendan Locke beat Union
goalie Darion Hanson. It was the first shot the Big Red had on net.
Then, to rev up the crowd even more, Cornell got another goal 41 seconds later when captain Mitch Vanderlaan sent a rebound past Hanson to make it 2-0.
Cornell blew open the game open with single goals in the second and third periods. The goals were scored by Noah Bauld and Alex Green, respectively. For both players, it was their first goals of the season.
“It’s a long haul to come back from 2-0,” Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. “We capitalized early on.”
Cornell, which outscored its opponents 34-11 in the first period during the regular season, had a 12-7 edge in shots on goal in the period. In Friday’s 3-2 Union win in Game 1, Cornell also outshot the Dutchmen 12-7, but Hanson stopped all of them.
“They are a first-period team, they thrive on it,” Bennett said.
Bennett was dismayed because he didn’t think his team fought hard enough once the Big Red got in front. Union was able to withstand the pressure from the Cornell offense on Friday, thanks mainly to
Hanson, but also because the team’s defense rallied behind the goalie, especially after the first 20 minutes. It wasn’t there Saturday. The Dutchmen (20-126), who had a season-high five-game winning streak snapped, are going to have to find a way to beat the highest remaining seed left in the tournament. Cornell is the second seed; No. 1 Quinnipiac got swept in its first-round series, losing to Brown. Union is the seventh seed.
“It’s going to be a hardfought battle,” Union senior forward Ryan Walker said. “We really have to take a look in the mirror and really show up for each other.”
This was the second time this season that Cornell sophomore goaltender Matthew Galajda has kept the Dutchmen off the scoreboard. He stopped 24 shots in a 4-0 win at Messa Rink on Feb. 1 and he also had 30 saves out of 31 shots in a 3-1 regular-season win at Lynah Rink on Feb. 23.
After Union solved him a little bit on Friday night, Galajda stopped the 15 shots he saw on Saturday. One of the problems Union had was that Cornell was in the Dutchmen’s zone most of the night.
“We aren’t getting enough shots,” Union senior captain Cole Maier said. “But, it’s no time to get
frustrated. We have to play Sunday afternoon. It’s a door-die game for us ... it’s a do-or-die game for them.”
Saturday’s game had emotion from both teams. There were several instances in which linesmen had to pull apart players. And there was plenty of shoving and pushing. Union was called for 38 penalty minutes and Cornell got 34. Both teams had two 10-minute misconduct penalties.
When asked if he thought the chippiness could spill over into Sunday, Bennett said, “I hope so.”
And then he was gone, into the cold Cornell night.