NEW YORK ‘-‘- Trailing 3-1 at the start of the third period, the Boston University men’s hockey team dominated No. 7/8 Cornell University in the final 20 minutes and forced a 3-3 tie in the second Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden. Sophomore forward Chris Connolly scored the equalizer with 51 seconds remaining.
Entering the game, the Big Red (6-2-1) had outscored their opponents, 16-6, in the third period. On Saturday night, though, the Terriers (4-7-2) recorded 34 shot attempts and 13 shots on goal in the final stanza compared to just seven attempts and three on net for Cornell. Even more impressive was the fact that BU tallied 10 chances from the slot or closer while holding the Big Red to zero.
The last-minute comeback was the Terriers’ second in as many contests, following a 6-5 overtime win on Tuesday at Harvard University, a game that BU senior forward Zach Cohen tied up with just 19.5 seconds to go before Connolly won it in the extra session.
‘I think sometimes it’s better to win or tie games like we have in the past two games just because it shows our character and gives us confidence being down a goal with a minute left, or two goals right off the bat,’ BU junior defenseman and captain Kevin Shattenkirk said. ‘We’re starting to get past the giving-up stage, like when things weren’t going our way at the beginning of the season. I think now we’re just trying to work through it and work hard, and obviously you get good results when you do.’
BU junior forward Nick Bonino (1 goal, 1 assist) cut Cornell’s lead to 3-2 at the 4:03 mark of the third when he picked off a pass at center ice and broke down the left wing on a 2-on-1 with Connolly. Bonino tried sliding the puck over to Connolly, but it deflected past Cornell senior goalie Ben Scrivens (32 saves) after hitting a diving Cornell senior defenseman Brendon Nash as he tried to break up the pass.
Despite continuing to possess the puck and pepper Scrivens throughout the period, BU still found itself trailing late. But then Nash and Cornell junior forward Patrick Kennedy took back-to-back penalties to give the Terriers a 5-on-3 (turned 6-on-3 when BU decided to pull sophomore goalie Grant Rollheiser) with less than two minutes to go.
The Big Red killed off the first penalty, but then Bonino tossed a wrist shot on net that BU sophomore forward Vinny Saponari tipped. Scrivens appeared to trap the puck under his pads, but it squirted loose behind him and Connolly snuck in to poke it home for his fifth goal of the season.
‘I think myself and the ref were the only ones who saw that the puck was free between the goalie’s legs,’ Connolly said. ‘He was in great position to see that. I was fortunate enough to be able to pull it out and just touch it in.’
Cornell jumped out to a fast start with two goals in the game’s first 5:27. Sophomore defenseman Sean Whitney, the brother of former Terrier and current Anaheim Duck Ryan Whitney, made it 1-0 when he caught Rollheiser (14 saves) off his line and slipped a wrist shot inside the right post after collecting his own blocked shot.
Cornell sophomore forward Locke Jillson made it 2-0 on a breakaway from his own blue line after Shattenkirk and junior defensive partner Colby Cohen both got caught too far up ice on the rush.
BU cut the lead in half 9:01 into the second when Terrier sophomore defenseman David Warsofsky collected a pass from BU junior forward Joe Pereira and stormed down the left wing on a shorthanded rush. Warsofsky ripped a slap shot that trickled over the goal line after Scrivens got a piece of it, but couldn’t hold on.
But the Big Red recaptured their two-goal lead just 1:29 later when senior forward Blake Gallagher blasted a one-timer into the left side of the cage for Cornell’s second power-play goal of the night.
Both teams had chances to win the game in overtime with three shots on net apiece. Senior forward Colin Greening nearly ended the game when he beat Rollheiser with a snap shot from just inside the left faceoff dot, but luckily for the Terriers, it clanged harmlessly off the left post.
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