Schenectady, NY – Despite a solid effort Union was defeated 2-1 at home against No. 7 Cornell in its regular season finale on "Senior Night". Special teams made the difference but it was the penalty killing units that stood out with each team scoring a short-handed goal. The Dutchmen got their score from senior A.J. Palkovich (North Bellmore, NY) to tie the game in the second period with his second goal of the season. Both came against the Big Red. In spite of the loss Union finished tied for sixth place in the ECACHL regular season standings. They captured the tiebreaker over the Engineers to earn the sixth seed in the upcoming league playoffs next weekend.

 

Following a scoreless first period Cam Abbott scored his fourth goal of the season short-handed to put Cornell on top at 4:20 of the second. Jon Gleed broke up the Union power play at the top of the Cornell zone where Daniel Pegoraro picked up the puck and raced down the ice. He eluded a Dutchman defender to the left of the net and sent a pass across the slot to Abbott who was there to knock in a one-timer past Kris Mayotte (Pittsburgh, PA).

 

Union answered back with its short-handed tally of the game at 11:11 of the same period. Palkovich ripped the puck away from a Cornell defender at the top of the Union zone and rushed down ice on a breakaway, putting his shot over the right shoulder of goaltender David McKee.

 

Cornell had three point blank chances on another short-handed chance at 14:58. Mark McCutcheon had the initial shot that was turned away by Mayotte. Taylor Davenport came right back with the rebound but was also denied. McCutcheon tried one more time before the glove of Mayotte wrapped up the puck to end the rush.

 

Matt Moulson scored the go-ahead goal in the third period at 5:37 just after a Union penalty had expired. Bryan Campbell (Hannon, ONT) raced out of the penalty box to put the Dutchmen back at full strength but Moulson sent a shot between the face-off circles through traffic before he was picked up for the game-winner. Moulson came back to score after hitting the crossbar on a power play shot at 10:52 of the first period and then putting a shot wide on an open net at 14:49 of the same period.

 

Union finished with a slight 25-22 edge in shots, including nine to five in the first period where both teams came up with quality chances. Senior Scott Seney (Silver Spring, MD) had his blast from the left face-off circle turned away by Moulson at 1:35. Jake Schwan (Clifton Park, NY) was stopped on a breakaway opportunity at 12:20 as he came out of the penalty box and took a feed up ice from Campbell.

 

Mayotte finished with 20 saves for the second straight night while McKee made 24 saves on the other end for the win.

 

Cornell had six total shots on five power play attempts while Union managed only one shot in four tries.