TOLEDO, Ohio — Cornell just won’t let the Mike Schafer retirement tour end.
The latest entry was punctuated with Sullivan Mack’s power-play goal with 10 seconds remaining to give the Big Red a 4-3 victory over regional top seed Michigan State on Thursday.
Mack scored off a cross-ice feed from Charlie Major to give Cornell its first lead of the game. Michigan State’s Matt Basgall was in the penalty box for tripping the Big Red’s Jack O’Leary in the slot with 1:39 remaining.
Cornell actually got two passes through the slot to set up the winning goal, one from Mack to Major and then another one the reverse direction through the outstretched sticks of the Spartans’ Daniel Russell and Karsen Dorwart.
“We always talk about on our penalty kill don’t get seamed twice,” Mack said. “So when I put it through the seam I definitely didn’t expect it to come back.”
It did, and Mack roofed it while Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine slid from right to left.
“I just stuck around in that spot and I’m glad Chaz was able to find me,” Mack said.
It was an incredible finish after the Spartans took three one-goal leads but didn’t extend them.
Cornell delayed Schafer’s planned retirement for weeks with a run to the ECAC Hockey tournament championship that gave the Big Red a spot in the NCAA tournament via the automatic qualifier. And now the Big Red will play Boston University on Saturday for a spot in the Frozen Four.
Casey Jones is due to take over at Cornell next season; Schafer announced last June that the 2024-25 campaign was going to be his last in charge of his alma mater.
Schafer got emotional toward the end of his news conference, saying he spent part of the day reflecting and praying and coming to a realization that what happens happens.
“So feel grateful for what happens tonight,” he said.
Trailing 3-2 entering the third period, the Big Red made a major push at a tying goal, carving out more than 90 consecutive seconds of offensive-zone time at one point. Augustine made three saves on that shift and held onto the third.
Cornell kept coming and eventually got the equalizer. Ryan Walsh scored his second goal of the game with 7:21 remaining, putting home the rebound of Ben Robertson’s shot to make it 3-3. The Big Red rallied to tie with goals in each period.
The last comeback came after the Spartans quickly regained the lead in the second period.
Cornell (19-10-6) didn’t get its second shot on goal of the middle period until 16½ minutes had elapsed, but Major made that one count. He stopped a clearing attempt by Michigan State’s Owen West along the right boards and then got a pass back from Hoyt Stanley for a one-timer to tie the game at 2-2.
But a misplay by the Big Red let the Spartans (26-7-4) regain the lead only 17 seconds later. Goalie Ian Shane stopped the puck behind his net but neither he nor defenseman George Fegaras played it.
That left room for Dorwart to swoop in and tuck the puck in the vacated net to put Michigan State ahead 3-2.
Shane said he laughed that one off; Schaefer later said he wasn’t laughing.
But the Big Red made sure they never trailed by more than one goal.
“In this tournament, if you go down by the second one, it’s a really tough hill to climb,” Schafer said. “But we were able to keep it close and do the job and finish it off.”
The Spartans had the Big Red shut down earlier in the second period, eliminating rushes before they even got a chance to get going. It took Cornell almost 11½ minutes to get its first shot on goal of the second period, and that was a long-range effort by defenseman Michael Suda.
But Shane made some nice saves to keep the Spartans from expanding their advantage. He stopped Michigan State’s Larson from point-blank range midway through the second period.
The Spartans, Big Ten regular-season and playoff champions, paid for never finding a two-goal advantage.
“That’s as solid as we’ve played for about 53 minutes,” Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said after the Spartans became the second No. 1 seed to lose its opener in the last four seasons. Cornell also was responsible for the other, beating Denver in 2023.
“We had some opportunities to extend the lead; their goalie made some good saves and all of a sudden you’re in a ball game there. We needed a big penalty kill at the end and couldn’t get it done.”
Fast-developing plays alowed each team to hit the net in the opening period before the Spartans took the lead on a late power play.
A connection between Joey Larson and Gavin O’Connell put Michigan State ahead. Larson raced to the left wall to get to a pass from behind the net by Cornell’s Stanley and feed O’Connell in the slot for a quick putaway.
But the Big Red’s Walsh evened things later in the opening frame. He tied up Basgall’s stick behind him on a chase for the puck behind the Spartans net and caught up to it before firing high into the cage from the right side.
Cornell’s Dalton Bancroft went off for cross-checking in the final minute of the opening period, and the Spartans capitalized in 20 seconds. Nice passes by Isaac Howard and Charlie Stramel set up Russell to score from the right of the net for a 2-1 lead.
“I don’t know honestly what changed,” Spartans forward Tiernan Shoudy said. “I think they just had more chances. We had chances too; I don’t think it was very one-sided.”
Michigan State had a brief push after Walsh tied the game in the third but Cornell took advantage of its only power play chance of the game at the end.
Cornell needed to score late in the ECAC Hockey semifinal against Quinnipiac to force overtime, where it kept its season alive with a win. It needed to beat Clarkson to get here.
With that background, it would be foolish to count out the Big Red late this season.
“We knew we were going to face some adversity at some point,” Shane said. “So whether it’s in the first period, third period, we were ready to face it.”
