ITHACA — It took until the fourth game of the season for the 14th-ranked Cornell men's hockey team to face a deficit and see what kind of mettle it has.
The early returns are good.
Colin Greening and Joe Devin scored goals 24 seconds apart late in the third period to help the Big Red salvage a 2-2 tie with Colgate in front of 4,172 fans Saturday at Lynah Rink.
The deadlock keeps the Big Red (2-0-2, 2-0-2 ECAC Hockey) undefeated despite the fact it played poorly for the majority of the game and went an abysmal 0-for-10 on the power play.
“It's a journey finding out what your guys are made of when that happens, and obviously I wasn't very happy with what we were made of early on. ...” Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. “But then we made some plays and capitalized on our chances. It was great to see.”
Trailing by two entering the third period, the Big Red failed to convert on nearly two minutes of a 5-on-3, but finally broke through with Greening's goal with 6:29 left.
“When you're down 2-0 with 10 minutes left, it doesn't look very good,” Greening said. “But we managed to get that first one and guys just kind of rallied around each other.”
On the next shift, defenseman Jordan Berk activated from the blue line and sent the puck down low to Blake Gallagher, who wheeled behind the net and sent a pass out to the slot for Devin to bang home.
“Joe did a great job of finding some space for himself, called for the puck and obviously made a great shot,” Gallagher said.
Colgate coach Don Vaughan said he felt his team deserved to win, but seemed to grow weary from spending 22:27 on the penalty kill.
“Like most teams, you're using six guys to kill those penalties and three of those guys were out on the ice (for the tying goal),” he said. “I just think they got a little bit tired.”
The game intensified from there, but neither team could break the deadlock — despite Cornell having nearly five more minutes of time on the power play thanks to a hitting from behind major on Colgate's Nick Prockow.
But unlike the bulk of its past power plays, the Big Red generated a host of chances that were turned away by Raiders goalie Charles Long.
The junior finished with 26 saves and effectively bounced back from a subpar outing during Cornell's 4-1 win Thursday in Hamilton.
Vaughan said the decision to come back with Long was based primarily in the fact he's the only non-freshman option in goal for Colgate.
“He may not have played here, but he has a sense of what to expect,” Vaughan said. “To throw a freshman into this hornets' nest is kind of tough on any first-year guy. Charles played well.”
The hornets' nest was certainly tamed for most of the night, thanks to a decided role reversal from the teams' first meeting. Just like the Big Red had done Thursday, Colgate (4-3-1, 1-2-2) scored on its first power play with Austin Smith's goal 6:20 in.
Brian Day expanded the visitors' lead with a penalty shot goal early in the second period after Mike Devin was called for hooking on a shorthanded breakaway.
Unfortunately for Cornell, that was the only goal generated by its power play all night.
“We couldn't hit the net to save our life on the power play,” Schafer said. “The whole idea is if teams are going to collapse on you like I thought they did tonight, when you get your shots through, you've got to hit the net to create rebounds and chances.”
Notes: Ben Scrivens became the first goalie in school history to face three penalty shots in his career. He stopped the first one against Wayne State's Tylor Michel on Nov. 25, 2006. ... Freshman forward Jordan Kary made his collegiate debut. He was ineligible for the first three games of the season because of a mix-up with the NCAA. ... Tyler Mugford missed his first game of the season, suffering an apparent knee injury during Thursday's game at Colgate. The injury is not believed to be serious. ... Saturday's other scratches were Sean Collins (also injured), Derek Punches, Taylor Davenport, Sean Whitney and Dan DiLeo. Joe Devin took Collins' place on the second power play unit. ... Other ECAC Hockey scores from Saturday were No. 12 Princeton 4, Union 1; Dartmouth 5, No. 16 Clarkson 1; Harvard 1, No. 19 St. Lawrence 0; Yale 3, Brown 0; Quinnipiac 5, RPI 1.
Women's hockey
Cornell 3, Yale 0: At Ithaca, Kayla Strong made 25 saves for the shutout and Rebecca Johnston scored a pair of goals to help the Big Red (4-2-1, 2-21-1 ECAC Hockey) cap off a four-point weekend at Lynah Rink.
Karlee Overguard, who scored the overtime winner in Friday's game against Brown, opened the scoring with a power-play goal.
Catherine White and Amanda Young added assists for Cornell, which wrapped up a five-game homestand and will now hit the road for games at Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend.
