Freshman forward Aiden Long scored in the third period to help the ninth-ranked Cornell men’s hockey team secure a 1-1 tie against RPI at Houston Field House on Friday night. The result keeps Cornell’s record strong at 17-6-1 overall and 12-4-1 in ECAC Hockey.
Cornell earned an extra point in the ECAC Hockey standings after sophomore defenseman Michael Fisher scored the deciding goal in the fourth round of the shootout. Senior goaltender Remington Keopple, returning for his first game in over a month, made a career-high 31 saves. RPI’s Bruno Bruveris also stopped 31 shots, limiting Cornell to just one goal.
“I just thought it was time,” said Casey Jones ’90, Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey, about starting Keopple. “He’s been good. He’s always practiced hard. I thought he earned that start tonight and it was obviously a good game for him. He made some key saves, especially in traffic.”
RPI took the lead midway through the second period when Mathieu Bourgault redirected Jimmy Goffredo’s shot past Keopple while contending with Cornell defenders.
Bruveris held off all 21 shots from Cornell through two periods to maintain RPI’s advantage heading into the third.
Early in the third period, RPI nearly extended its lead when Gustavs Ozolins’ shot hit the post before Cornell cleared their zone.
Long tied the game at 7:20 into the third by deflecting Caton Ryan’s shot near the crease; Xavier Veilleux added his 17th assist of the season on that play.
Jones noted challenges faced by his offense: “I thought we had enough chances tonight to get two, to three,” Jones said. “We’ve got to generate second-chance opportunities. I thought the goalie, for a large part of the game, saw everything that we shot. We didn’t have traffic in front, especially on the power play. We had a couple of real good looks in the slot area, but we didn’t have anybody taking his eyes away.”
He also commented on RPI’s defensive performance: “We were one and done a lot,” Jones said. “They were out-manning us and they blocked a ton of shots. They were getting their second support to the puck quicker than we were and that was giving us some trouble.”
Following overtime without goals during three-on-three play, both teams converted their first shootout attempts before Fisher secured victory for Cornell with his fourth-round score and Keopple stopped Michael Buckley’s attempt.
Jones explained why Fisher was chosen for this moment: “If you ask our goalies, he would have been in the top three,” Jones said. “We do it every week in practice and he’s won it the most this year. He consistently has a move that the goalies feel is the toughest.”
“It was a hard-fought game,” Jones added about securing an extra league point. “It was important for us to get that second point tonight.”
The result extends Cornell’s dominance over RPI; they are unbeaten in 11 of their last 12 meetings (10-1-1) and now lead their all-time series against RPI at 74-39-12.
Friday marked several milestones:
– It was their first overtime meeting since February 2019.
– It marked their first-ever shootout encounter.
– This season marks only three times since program history began where two freshmen teammates (Ryan and Veilleux) each recorded at least 22 points through 24 games.
– The trio of Jonathan Castagna (27 points), Ryan (22), and Veilleux (22) are also among select company as only five groups since 1993–94 have achieved similar early-season scoring marks together.
– The Big Red did not commit any penalties Friday night—their first penalty-free game since February last year.
– This season Cornell is undefeated (9–0–1) when allowing one or fewer goals.
Looking ahead, Cornell faces Union next as part of its Capital Regional road trip on Saturday at M&T Bank Center in Schenectady—a venue where Union has recently posted high-scoring wins including seven-goal games against Clarkson and Colgate.
Fans are encouraged to support junior forwards Ryan Walsh and Jonathan Castagna—both nominated for college hockey’s Hobey Baker Memorial Award—by voting online at hobeybaker.com/vote or texting votes until March 8 midnight; winners will be announced April 10 during NCAA Frozen Four events in Las Vegas.
