Cornell Bests Harvard in the ECAC Conference Final

In last year’s ECAC championship finale, Harvard defeated Cornell in double overtime, 4-3. It was one of the toughest defeats in school history. So, for an encore, Harvard and Cornell decided to do it again this year extending the game into overtime but the Big Red came out on top this time, 3-2.

Cornell extended their unbeaten streak to 13 games as they clinched a spot in the NCAA playoffs. The final was a battle between the number one and two ranked conference rivals, only the fifth time in ECAC conference history that has happened.

Cornell, boasting the best defense in the nation, came out with offensive jump in the opening period before settling into their typical “grind ‘em” down style, cycling the puck down low and battling along the boards. In their own zone, Cornell smothered almost everything down the middle, blocking shots and breaking up chances, keeping Harvard mostly on the perimeter.

Harvard’s Tim Pettit was called for holding Stephen Baby’s stick at :57 allowing Cornell to open the scoring with a power play goal at 1:53 of the first period. Ryan Vesce fed a pass to the point where Baby drilled a shot that was tipped in front by Sam Paolini for the score.

Harvard got several chances in the second period, including two disallowed goals. Brendan Bernakevitch, who enjoyed an outstanding tournament, drove to the net with a nice outside, inside move on defenseman Charlie Cook, stuffing the puck past David LeNeveu. After a review, the goal was waived off because the net was knocked off its mooring by Cook.

Later in the period, Charlie Johnson jammed a score past LeNeveu but a quick whistle erased that tally from the scoreboard, too.

The game featured the return of forward Tyler Kolarik, the hero and MVP of last year’s ECAC final. Kolarik, who had been out with a shoulder injury, came back to spark the Crimson in the third period.

Kolarik forced a turnover in the Cornell zone where Domonic Moore took the puck and wristed it high over LeNeveu to tie the contest. It was Moore’s 24th goal of the season and 12th straight game in which he’s registered a point.

Cornell responded by coming back to control play in the Harvard’s end, cycling the puck and peppering Grumet-Morris with shots. But Harvard took the lead when Kolarik tipped a Brett Nowak shot late in the third leading many at Pepsi Arena to think that Harvard would prevail, even on Cornell’s bench.

“Guys got down on the bench but coach picked us up,” said Sam Paolini.

Cornell added an extra skater with a little over a minute left in the game producing a desperate frenzy in front before Harvard iced the puck.

Vesce, who had two assists on the night, won a huge faceoff back to Mark McRae who slapped a laser past Grumet-Morris to tie the game. With less than ten seconds left, LeNeveu provided a huge stop on Tim Pettit.

Heading into overtime, Cornell had to be thinking about last year’s defeat and determined not to let history repeat itself. When the stanza opened, Harvard put pressure on net as Dennis Packard and Brett Nowak were working hard to sustain the pressure on LeNeveu. But on their first break out of their zone, Cornell made the most of the opportunity.

Mark McRae fed an outlet pass to Paolini who deked Packard then blasted a shot inside the far post past Morris for the victory at 1:23

“To go out like this as a senior, I could not ask for anything more,” said a jubilant Paolini after the game.

NOTES: LeNeveu was named the MVP of the tournament. The all-tournament team was comprised of forwards Moore, Baby, and Bernakevitch; defensemen Doug Murray and Travis Bell; goaltenders were Grumet-Morris and Brown’s Yann Danis.