ITHACA, N.Y. — Senior forward Jake Kraft scored his first two goals of the season, including the game-winner with 8:54 remaining, as the No. 16 Cornell men’s hockey team (2-2-0, 1-1-0 ECAC Hockey) rallied past Princeton (2-2-0, 0-2-0 ECAC Hockey) for a 3-2 victory Saturday night in front of a crowd of 3,724 at Lynah Rink.
The win, Cornell’s first in league play this season, came in a rematch of last March’s ECAC Hockey semifinal in Lake Placid, which Princeton won 3-2. The Big Red snapped a two-game losing streak against the Tigers and extended its home win streak in the series to five games. Cornell has outscored Princeton 19-7 in that stretch and has won 12 of its last 13 home games against the Tigers.
“We’re back in league play, and every night’s really physical,” Kraft said. “We knew it was going to be a close game. They play tight, we just had to find our chances, and we did.”
Neither team scored in a first period that Cornell controlled early. The Big Red attempted the game’s first 16 shots, a run that lasted more than 10 minutes before Princeton’s Drew Garzone missed wide. Princeton didn’t put a shot on goal until nearly 15 minutes in, two seconds into its second power play, when sophomore goaltender Mathis Rousseau turned aside Kai Greaves from the point. Cornell outshot the Tigers 9-3 in the period.
Princeton took the lead early in the second period when Greaves poked the puck loose at center ice along the boards to initiate a 2-on-1. Shaan Kingwell fed Jake Manfre in the slot for a wrister over Rousseau’s glove.
Cornell answered with two goals in 80 seconds. A Princeton power play ended after 12 seconds when Kingwell was called for tripping, leaving the teams at 4-on-4. With five seconds left in that stretch, junior defenseman Luke Ashton’s shot from the high slot squeaked behind Princeton goaltender Arthur Smith. Fellow junior blueliner Michael Fisher pushed it across the line for his first goal of the season. Sophomore forward Aiden Long added the secondary assist.
“It was a good shot by Ash, and then it’s just kind of a squeaker,” Fisher said. “I didn’t expect it to pop out, but it did.”
Senior captain Ryan Walsh then backhanded the puck around the boards, and a Princeton defender couldn’t handle it cleanly. Kraft stripped the puck away and roofed a backhand shot past Smith for a 2-1 lead.
Kraft doubled the lead midway through the third after his forecheck kept the puck in the offensive zone. Sophomore defenseman Xavier Veilleux moved the puck across to senior defenseman George Fegaras, and Kraft redirected Fegaras’ shot from the right point.
“I saw it go up D to D, tried to get to the net as quick as possible, and it just kind of hit my stick,” Kraft said.
This was Kraft’s third career multi-goal game. His last one came March 14 against Harvard in the second game of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals.
“He’s a high-energy player,” said Casey Jones ’90, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey. “He’s so effective at opening up time and space [for his linemates]. He’s hard on pucks and wins a lot of battles. The second goal was a really big goal for us.”
Princeton pulled within one with 4:22 remaining. Garzone one-timed a backhanded feed across the crease from Manfre past a sprawling Rousseau, with 20 seconds left on a power play. The goal ended Cornell’s streak of 13 straight successful penalty kills.
The Tigers outshot Cornell 12-3 in the third period and pulled Smith twice late for an extra attacker, but they managed only one shot on goal with the net empty the first time. After the second pull, Veilleux blocked a Manfre shot with 1:14 left, and Rousseau stopped Kingwell two seconds later. The Big Red didn’t allow another shot attempt the rest of the way.
Rousseau finished the night with 17 saves, 11 of them in the third period, and Smith stopped 19 shots for Princeton.
“We wanted to assert ourselves a little bit and play faster, and I thought we did that for a large part of the night,” Jones said. “It’s never easy to win games this time of the year. We’ve got to find ways to win right now while we’re getting all the pieces of the puzzle in place.”
Cornell will head on the road for its next two league games, facing Brown (0-3-0, 0-3-0 ECAC Hockey) on Friday, Nov. 13, and Yale (2-1-0, 2-1-0 ECAC Hockey) on Saturday, Nov. 14. Both games start at 7 p.m. and will stream live on ESPN+.
(Photo courtesy of Cornell)
