Penney records first multi-goal game as #6 Men's Hockey falls to #17 Dartmouth

HANOVER, NH Steven Townley's goal with 3:24 left in the third period helped 17th-ranked Dartmouth get past the 6th-ranked Cornell men's hockey team, 4-3, in a see-saw battle between ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rivals at Thompson Arena on Friday evening.

Senior forward Kyle Penney recorded his first multi-goal game with the Big Red (3-1-1, 1-1-1 ECAC Hockey) while a sophomore forward Tyler Catalano also found the back of the net for Cornell. Senior goalkeeper Ian Shane made 19 saves in the setback.

A quartet of Dartmouth players finished the night with two points, highlighted by Nikita Nikora and Cooper Flinton each registering two assists. Sean Chisholm and Hayden Stovroff each had a goal and assisted along with Townley and John Fusco in scoring goals for the Big Green (5-0-0, 4-0-0 ECAC Hockey). Sophomore goalkeeper Roan Clarke made 29 saves en route to his third win of the season.

Shane was tested with numerous shots from close range throughout the first period, but was able to keep the Big Green off the scoreboard in the opening period.

Dartmouth took the lead early in the second period when it capitalized on a second chance with nine seconds left following an interference penalty on sophomore forward Ryan Walsh. A shot from the point by CJ Foley was deflected by Stovroff in the middle of the slot and Flinton was able to kick the puck to his stick and pass it to Chisholm, whose wrist shot from the left circle beat Shane to his near-blocking side.

Penney tied the game with his first tally of the night after the halfway mark. As Dartmouth was setting up a breakaway in its defensive zone on a power play, Penney controlled the puck away from Braiden Dorfman and gained possession in the near corner. Penney cut inside and beat a pair of Big Green defenders, carried the puck to the far post and fired his shot past Clarke.

The Big Green retaliated with a marker of their own 33 seconds after Penney's count to regain the lead. Stavroff potted a power-play marker with one second left on the man advantage, lasering a one-timer from the left side of the right faceoff circle.

Stavroff would later serve a five-minute major penalty for goaltender interference after hitting Shane in open ice while attempting to play the puck inside the right faceoff circle. Cornell generated numerous scoring chances with the man advantage but couldn't find the back of the net.

Shortly after Stavroff's five-minute penalty expired, Penney redirected a second-year defenseman's shot Hoet Stanley to score his second goal of the night and tie the game, 2-2, 80 seconds into the third period. Freshmen forward Charlie Major registered the secondary helper.

For the third time of the evening, Dartmouth regained the lead, this time with less than nine minutes remaining. A one-time shot from Fusco's point on a feed from Nikora avoided traffic and slowly crossed the goal line.

Cornell tied the game at 3-all with 5:10 left when Catalano pounced on a loose puck in front of Dartmouth's crease after Clarke stopped the second defenseman Ben Robertsons shot from the point. Junior defender Jack O'Brien picked up the secondary assist for his first collegiate point.

Dartmouth continued the see-saw battle, taking its fourth lead of the game with 3:24 left when an attempt to break out of Cornell's defensive zone was intercepted by Fusco at the blue line. Townley received Fusco's pass and slid his shot past Shane to his far blocker.

Cornell had four shot attempts while having an extra attacker in the final minute and 47 seconds. The Big Red had two shots on target, both of which were stopped by Clarke, and a couple more attempts that were blocked by Big Green defenders.

GAME NOTES

Friday marked the 148th meeting between Cornell and Dartmouth. The Big Red's all-time series lead was cut to 88-51-9, while the Big Green's eight-game unbeaten streak came to a halt. It was Dartmouth's first win over Cornell since winning, 2-1, on Dec. 7, 2019, also at Thompson Arena.

The one-goal decision marks the sixth straight game at Thompson Arena between Cornell and Dartmouth to be decided by one goal or less. Ten of the last eleven and fourteen of the previous sixteen matches in Hannover were also decided by one goal or less. In total, nine of the last 10, 10 of the previous 12 and 23 of the previous 34 matches were one-goal or draw matches.

Cornell played Dartmouth when it was ranked for the 12th time in program history since the USCHO.com poll began prior to the 1997-98 season. With Friday's loss, the Big Red now has a 7-3-2 record against the Big Green while ranked in the USCHO.com poll.

Penney's shorthanded goal in the second period was Cornell's first goal while down a man against Dartmouth since Mitch Vanderlaan '19 scored a shorthanded goal on Nov. 4, 2016, also at Thompson Arena.

Penney's multi-goal game marked the second consecutive game against Dartmouth that a Big Red player has scored multiple goals. Junior forward Nick DeSantis scored a pair of empty-net goals to punctuate a five-goal third period against the Big Green in the semifinals of last year's ECAC Hockey Championship at the Herb Brooks Arena 1980 Rink in Lake Placid, NY

Following Shane's 19-save performance, he surpassed former Cornell goaltender turned athletic director Laing Kennedy '63 (1,745 saves) for the 13th most saves in program history. Shane (1,746 saves) is 78 saves shy of tying Doug Dadswell (1984-86) for 12th on Cornell's all-time saves list.

MOST CAREER SAVINGS
Cornell Program History

1. Andy Iles (2010-2014) 2,988
2. Ben Scrivens (2006-10) 2,872
3.Jason Elliott (1994-98) 2,462
4. Mitch Gillam (2013-17) 2,403
5. Corrie D'Alessio (1987-91) 2,228
6. Brian Hayward (1978-82) 2,225
7.David McKee (2003-06) 2,208
8. Darren Eliot (1979-83) 2,143
9. Matt Underhill (1998-02) 2,052
10. Ken Dryden (1966-69) 1,987
11. Matthew Galajda (2017-2020) 1,844
12. Doug Dadswell (1984-86) 1,824
13. Ian Shane (2021-present) 1,746

Freshmen forward Parker Murray made his collegiate debut on Friday evening.

NEXT

Cornell will travel south on Interstate 93 to conclude its northern New England road trip with a meeting against Harvard (2-2-0, 2-2-0 ECAC Hockey) on Saturday, November 16 at Bright-Landry Hockey Center in Cambridge, Mass.

Puck drop between the Big Red and Crimson is scheduled for 7 p.m. Game action will air on ESPN+, regionally on NESN in New England, and over the air on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM, cortacatoday.com).

Harvard suffered a 4-2 loss to Colgate on Friday evening in Cambridge. Mason Langenbrunner and Marek Hejduk scored for the Crimson in the setback, while Aku Koskenvuo made 29 saves for Harvard.

Cornell will look to extend its three-game win streak at Harvard on Saturday night. A win would make it the Big Red's longest winning streak over the Crimson since winning five straight games between the 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 campaigns.

The Big Red is 8-3-3 over their last 14 games at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center and has scored at least two goals in their previous 15 games at the venue.