{"id":146662,"date":"2024-03-28T23:58:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T04:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=146662"},"modified":"2024-03-29T09:10:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T14:10:27","slug":"mack-scores-pair-of-goals-as-cornell-downs-maine-3-1-advances-to-springfield-regional-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2024\/03\/28\/mack-scores-pair-of-goals-as-cornell-downs-maine-3-1-advances-to-springfield-regional-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Cornell brings ‘underdog mentality’ as Mack scores pair of goals, Shane stops 31 in Big Red’s 3-1 win over Maine to advance to Springfield regional final"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cornell players celebrate a goal Thursday night in the Big Red’s win over Maine (photo: Leilani Burke).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. \u2014<\/strong> You won’t have ECAC Hockey to kick around anymore \u2014 for one more night, at least.<\/p>\n

Cornell made sure of that on Thursday, asserting itself with a goal in each period to earn a 3-1 win over Maine of Hockey East in the first round of the NCAA tournament before a crowd of 5,765 at Mass Mutual Center.<\/p>\n

“The ECAC gets slept on a little bit,” said Big Red goalie Ian Shane, who finished with 31 saves. “We like to kind of keep that chip on our shoulder. Coming in here, winning (the ECAC) championship last weekend, we wanted to make sure we kept that underdog mentality, keep that chip on our shoulder, wanting to make sure we weren’t complacent.”<\/p>\n

Sullivan Mack scored twice for Cornell, including the game winner in the second period.<\/p>\n

Cornell (22-6-6) now advances to Saturday’s regional final, where it will face Denver for a shot at its first trip to the Frozen Four since 2003. Maine saw its season end at 23-12-2. The Black Bears were making their first NCAA tourney appearance since 2012.<\/p>\n

On the game winner, Mack scooped up a loose puck near the boards at Maine’s blue line, skated across the faceoff circle with the puck and fired it past Maine goalie Victor \u00d6stman for Mack’s sixth goal of the season, giving the Big Red a 2-1 lead.<\/p>\n

Maine finished with a 27-18 edge in shots.<\/p>\n

The Black Bears got on the board first when Harrison Scott scored his 15th goal of the season. Donovan Villeneuve-Houle shed Cornell defender George Fegaras on the left wing and sent it to Villeneuve-Houle high in the slot, where the senior forward made a quick move and sent a wrister past Shane at 5:43.<\/p>\n

Maine’s best chance to assert itself and expand its lead came later in the period when Cornell’s Ryan Walsh was sent off ice for a five-minute major hitting-from-behind penalty at 6:38. Shane turned away all nine Black Bear shots.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udea8 RED ALERT. \ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now a two-goal lead for No. 3 @CornellMHockey<\/a> over No. 2 Maine in the @NCAAIceHockey<\/a> Springfield Regional after another tally from Sully Mack. \ud83c\udf3f\ud83c\udfd2 pic.twitter.com\/xJWrDWHg1W<\/a><\/p>\n

— Ivy League (@IvyLeague) March 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n