The men’s hockey team continued ECAC play with a pair of away contests this weekend, falling to Colgate University Saturday and No. 12 Cornell Sunday by tallies of 2-1 and 5-3, respectively.
The Bears (4-19-2, 3-14-1 ECAC) were edged by Colgate (8-17-5, 6-10-2) in a close matchup in Hamilton. Sam Lafferty ’18 tied the score at one in the third, but Bruno was unable to grasp the win, conceding a goal in the final minute of play.
“It was a tight game all the way down to the stretch,” Lafferty said. “They got a lucky bounce toward the end.”
After two scoreless periods, the Raiders’ Evan Peterson posted the first goal of the evening at 4:49 in the third stanza, snatching the lead. Less than a minute later, Lafferty evened the score with a one-timer in front of the net. Max Willman ’18 and Nolan Aibel ’20 each recorded assists on the play.
The Bears had a power play at 8:41 in the third period as the Raiders’ Ken Citron picked up a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding, but Bruno was unable to find the back of the net to take the lead.
“It’s no secret that our power play has struggled,” Lafferty said. “We got some power plays late in the third period when it was a tied game and just weren’t able to capitalize on those.”
Bruno was denied victory late in the game by the Raiders’ Jacob Panetta, who slotted a goal past Gavin Nieto ’20 off a rebound with 46 seconds remaining in the final stanza. The Bears pulled Nieto for the extra skater with 34 seconds left, but Colgate netminder Colton Point deflected two shots to preserve the score. Nieto made 25 saves in the loss.
The following day, the Bears were unable to maintain an early lead against No. 12 Cornell (16-6-3, 11-4-3) in Ithaca.
Andrew Doane ’17 opened scoring at 3:28 in the first period, sending a shot past Cornell goaltender Mitch Gillam off a rebound. Gillam initially saved a shot from Trey Dodd ’20, but Doane finished off the play, edging the puck in for his second season goal. Jack Gessert ’20 also posted an assist.
The Big Red responded with four consecutive goals before Dodd tipped the puck into the net at 16:12 in the second period, decreasing the deficit. Joe Maguire ’20 and Josh McArdle ’18 each recorded assists on the play.
Lafferty posted an unassisted shorthanded goal — his tenth of the season — at 2:17 in the third period to tighten the score, but Cornell answered with another goal four minutes later to secure the victory.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a reason why we’re letting leads slip away,” Dodd said. “It’s just more (about) bearing down and building on a lead instead of being content with a one-goal lead.”
“The result obviously wasn’t there, but the effort was,” he added.
The Bears are in the final stretch of their season with four games remaining before the ECAC playoffs.
“On a given night, one piece of our team game might be going really well and another piece might not quite be there, so it’s just a matter of putting that together,” Lafferty said.
“We were within one goal against a team that was number 12 in the country at the time,” Dodd said. “Moving forward, we’ve just got to keep doing what we were doing right and correct what we were doing wrong.”
Bruno will host Dartmouth Friday and Harvard Saturday at Meehan Auditorium. Face-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. both nights.
