Senior forward Gabriel Seger factored in all four goals scored by the No. 15-ranked Cornell men’s hockey team, spurring the Big Red to a series sweep of Harvard in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals before a sold-out crowd of 4,267 at Lynah Rink on Saturday night.
Seger recorded two goals and two assists in the Big Red’s (19-6-6) victory, while freshman defenseman Ben Robertson (two goals) and junior forwards Ondrej Psenicka and Kyle Penney (two assists apiece) also joined in having multi-point nights. Junior goaltender Ian Shane stopped 21 of the 22 Harvard shots he faced.
Ian Moore netted the lone tally for Harvard (7-19-6), which also had a 21-save outing from goaltending Derek Mullahy.
“We had better attention to detail for 60 minutes,” said Mike Schafer ’86, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey. “I thought we were hard to play against, patient, and disciplined. I told the guys I’m really proud of how they came back, were ready to play, excute, compete, and do all the little things that makes a difference in a hockey game.”
Cornell had a chance to open the scoring when it had a five-minute power play following a challenge from the Big Red’s coaching staff, resulting in Marek Hejduk being handed a five-minute major for cross checking and a game misconduct. During the man advantage, Cornell mustered 10 shot attempts, only two of which were on goal.
Robertson gave the Big Red the lead late in the first period, benefiting from crisp tape-to-tape passes by Seger and sophomore forward Dalton Bancroft, leading to Robertson’s back-handed shot into the top-left corner of the goal past a sprawling Mullahy.
The Big Red doubled its lead in the second when Seger notched his second point of the night on a goalmouth scramble. An aggressive forecheck by Penney kept the puck inside Cornell’s offensive zone, leading Seger to deposit a loose rebound after Penney had his shot saved.
Harvard cut the deficit in half with a goal…
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