Krzysztof Wieckowski’s late second-period goal lifted Cornell into a 2-2 overtime tie with St. Lawrence at Lynah Rink. The tie, combined with Dartmouth’s tie, clinched the regular season ECAC championship for the Big Red for the first time since 1973 and gave the Big Red the inaugural William J. Cleary Cup.
Goaltender Dave LeNeveu made 28 saves, and Mark McRae also scored for the Big Red, which is now 18-6-2 overall and 14-3-2 in the ECAC.
Robin Carruthers and Blair Clarance tallied for the Saints (9-18-2 overall and 7-10-2 ECAC), while freshman goaltender Kevin Ackley stopped 35 shots.
St. Lawrence outshot Cornell 14-9 in the first period and took a 1-0 lead, when Carruthers collected a pass in front of the Cornell goal from Russ Bartlett and beat LeNeveu at 11:16.
McRae tied the game for the Big Red with a goal at 4:14 of the second period with an assist going to Wieckowski.
The Saints regained the lead at 12:12 of the middle period. Cornell was unable to clear the puck, and Ryan Glenn and Bartlett combined to setup Clarance, who fired a quick wrist shot that found the back of the net.
Wieckowski tied the game 4:01 later when he picked up a rebound of a shot by Mike Knoepfli and beat Ackley.
Neither team was able to score in the third period or the five-minute overtime.
