robinthomasgg: Ferlin's Power-Play Goals Spur Men's Hockey Past No. 1 Quinnipiac

Sunday, 17 March 2013

Ferlin's Power-Play Goals Spur Men's Hockey Past No. 1 Quinnipiac

3/15/2013 9:40:00 PM

Box Score

HAMDEN, Conn. ? Brian Ferlin scored a pair of power-play goals in the second period and Andy Iles made 33 saves to help the men's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Quinnipiac on Friday in Game 1 of an ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series at TD Bank Sports Center. Cornell (15-14-2) will go for a sweep of the nation's No. 1 team in Game 2 at 7 p.m. Saturday.
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Madison Dias scored the other goal for the Big Red, the second of his collegiate career. Ferlin's goals on the man advantage came against a Quinnipiac team that led the nation in penalty killing coming into the night, having killed 24 consecutive power-play opportunities coming into the game. The goals also came on back-to-back power plays for the Big Red after it had only scored twice in its last 29 opportunities.
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Coming off its first playoff bye week since joining ECAC Hockey, Quinnipiac was the fresher team early on. The Bobcats drew the first power play and turned it into the game's first goal 12 seconds later. Connor Jones converted at the 5:48 mark as a cross-crease was accidentally deflected into the net by a Cornell defender.
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Iles rebounded from there, stopping all 10 of the other shots on goal in the frame. He gloved Jeremy Langlois' shot on a partial breakaway at the 15:40 mark, then shrugged off a seeing-eye point shot from Mike Dalhuisen three minutes later.
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There were five power plays split between the teams in the first 20 minutes, but the one that spilled over into the second helped Cornell tie the game at 1. The Big Red threatened right off the bat, and a Quinnipiac player broke his stick in a scramble around the net. As Cornell reset, senior forward Greg Miller was able to isolate where the impeded defender was and set up Ferlin for a one-timer in the left circle. His shot beat Bobcats goalie Eric Hartzell to the blocker side at the :23 mark. The assist was Miller's 98th career point.
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The goal set off a flurry of activity that saw the teams trade two more goals soon thereafter. Quinnipiac took a 2-1 lead on Kellen Jones' goal at 3:12. But Cornell stormed right back at 5:34 with Dias' second career goal. A wraparound dump-in hit a stanchion behind the Quinnipiac net, and forward John McCarron alertly jumped into the right circle and skated toward goal. Hartzell got his blocker to McCarron's shot, but the Big Red regained control in the left corner. Forward John Knisley teed up a shot from Dias that beat Hartzell to the near post.
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The Big Red then took its first lead of the game on Ferlin's second power-play goal of the period, this one coming at the 6:16 mark when he jammed a rebound under Hartzell. Nick D'Agostino's pass sent Joel Lowry into the zone on the left wing. He beat his defender wide and threw a sharp-angle shot into the pads of Hartzell, allowing Ferlin to stuff in the rebound.
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Iles then stopped all 15 Quinnipiac shots fired his way in the third period. Most of the shots came from distance or an angle, but he was particularly sharp with saves on Jordan Samuels-Thomas' partial breakaway with 4:30 to play, then on Jeremy Langlois' shot from in close in the final minute.