ITHACA, NY -- The 15th-ranked Union College men's ice hockey team will be a three seed in the ECAC Hockey playoffs due to a 4-1 setback at ninth-ranked Cornell on Friday night. Both teams entered the contest tied for second place and the Cornell win gives the Big Red the head-to-head tie breaker if the teams finish tied in the standings.
The Dutchmen (18-9-6) move to 12-5-4 (28 pts.) in ECAC Hockey action, while the Big Red (17-8-3) improves to 14-5-2 (30 pts.) and is currently two points behind Yale for first place in the league.
Senior forward
Mario Valery-Trabucco continued his assault on the Union Division I record book. He already set the single season point record last Friday night against Princeton -- he now has 41. His 20th goal of the season, which came late in the first period, gave him soul possession of the top spot on the career list with 56. He also tied Chris Ford (1993) for most goals in a single season.
However, It was one of Cornell's top forward, junior Riley Nash, who struck first. He made it 1-0 at 2:52 of the first while on the power play with a wrister through a screen. The goal was his ninth of the season and third power-play tally.
Trabucco responded at 15:20 of the first with his team-high tying sixth power-play marker of the year. His special teams unit returned to the ice for the final part of the man advantage. The Montreal native raced through the neutral zone, lost his footing and got a shot off from his knees. The puck bounced through the crease and off the stick of a Big Red defender.
Despite having the majority of the chances in the second period, the Dutchmen found themselves trailing 3-1 by the intermission. The Big Red killed off a power-play and sophomore Locke Jillson received the puck after jumping on the ice for the man out of the box. Jillson's pass attempt into the Union zone deflected of a shin pad and led to a breakaway goal at 5:32.
Cornell junior Joe Devin, brother of Union College women's hockey sophomore
Molly Kate Devin, netted his eighth goal of the year at 12:41, making it 3-1. Junior Tyler Roeszler found Devin on the left doorstop for a one-timer into a gapping net.
Union nearly struck for a pair right after Cornell's third goal. Big Red netminder Ben Scrivens denied freshman
Ryan Forgaard's one-timer from down low with less than five minutes remaining. Moments later junior
Adam Presizniuk had a puck roll off his stick as he closed in on a breakaway.
An uneventful third period followed until the Dutchmen went on the power-play with just over six minutes remaining. Waiting for the right opportunity, senior
Mike Schreiber fired a shot towards goal for sophomore
Kelly Zajac to pick up the rebound. In desperation, Scrivens slide to his right robbing Zajac of his 11th goal of the season.
An empty net goal in the final minute produced the final result.
The Dutchmen put the finishing touches on the regular season with a 7 p.m. game at Colgate on Saturday, Feb. 27. Tickets for Union's quarterfinal matchup (Mar. 12-14) can be purchased at
UnionAthleticsTickets.com
