Bancroft Guides #6 Men’s Hockey to Victory Over Brown
ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior forward Dalton Bancroft factored in all three goals for the No. 6-ranked Cornell men’s hockey team, which included netting the game-winning goal with 53.3 seconds in the third period, as it defeated Brown, 3-1, before a sold-out crowd of 4,267 at Lynah Rink on Saturday night.
Bancroft scored twice and assisted on sophomore forward Ryan Walsh’s empty-net goal en route to his fourth career three-point game. Senior goaltender Ian Shane made 18 saves in the victory for the Big Red (3-0-1, 1-0-1 ECAC Hockey).
Max Scott tallied Brown’s lone goal on the night as Tyler Shea made 28 saves in his season debut for the Bears (0-2-0, 0-2-0 ECAC Hockey).
“It was a good win for us,” said Mike Schafer ’86, the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey. “I thought we were getting frustrated at not being able to score goals. Both nights, we had a ton of chances around the net. [Shea] played well in net. He saw a lot of shots and made some big saves. They’re a hard team to play; they always are. I was happy with the win.”
Brown took the lead late in the first period as a shot from the near half-wall by Ryan St. Louis was stopped by Shane and Scott was sitting at the far post to deposit the rebound into the back of the net.
Cornell leveled the game in the second period at exactly the eight-minute mark as Bancroft netted his first goal of the night. Bancroft had his initial shot attempt blocked by Brown defenseman Brett Bliss, the younger brother of former Cornell defenseman Ryan Bliss ’18, and sent his rebound attempt past Shea to even the score.
After both teams were held scoreless for over 31 minutes, Cornell thwarted any chance of the game needing overtime as Bancroft scored the game-winning goal with 53.3 seconds left and Walsh tacked on an empty-net goal 17 seconds later.
Bancroft one-timed a backhand pass from sophomore Ben Robertson on the left side of the crease, thanks to a setup by senior forward Kyler Kovich. Kovich carried the puck from the Big Red defensive zone, maneuvered behind Brown’s net, and carried it along the far half-wall before dropping it off for Robertson.
“Anytime you score that late in the game and go up, it’s really exciting,” Bancroft said. “Ben made a great play backdoor and kudos to him for finding me.”
Brown won the ensuing draw, which caused the Bears to dump the puck into their offensive zone and empty their net. A fanned one-timer led to Bancroft scooping the puck up and dishing it off to Walsh for the empty-net goal to seal the victory.
POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM MIKE SCHAFER ’86 AND DALTON BANCROFT
GAME NOTES
• Saturday was the 140th all-time meeting between the Big Red and Bears. Cornell increased its lead in the series to 88-44-8 and is now 19-1-3 against Brown over its last 23 meetings. During the span, the Big Red has outscored the Bears by 53 goals, 82-29, and has an average margin of victory of 2.30.
• The Big Red has won its last five games against Brown while outscoring the Bears 23-3. Cornell has also prevailed in nine of the previous 10 against Brown with a plus-32 edge in goals, 40-8.
• Home ice continues to favor Cornell against Brown recently, as the Big Red is now unbeaten over its last 11 games against the Bears at Lynah Rink (10-0-1). During that span, the Big Red has outscored Brown 40-15 and scored three-plus goals in all but one game.
• With the game-winning goal coming at the 19:06 mark, it was Cornell’s first game-winning goal inside the final minute of regulation since Ben Berard scored the game-winning goal against Dartmouth in a thrilling 5-4 contest at Thompson Arena in Hanover, N.H., on Nov. 6, 2021. It was the Big Red’s first game-winning goal within the final minute of the third period at Lynah Rink since Alec McCrea scored a power-play goal with three seconds left to beat Harvard, 3-2, on Nov. 4, 2017.
• Bancroft has registered goals in consecutive games for the third time in his collegiate career. It is his first streak since closing the 2022-23 campaign with a goal against Boston University and scoring in last year’s season opener against Minnesota Duluth.
• Walsh extended his point streak to three games with his empty-net goal. It is his fourth time logging points in three consecutive games, with his most recent instance coming last season between Feb. 23 and March 1.
• Shane improved to 4-1-0 in his collegiate career across his five starts against Brown, compiling a 0.81 goals-against average and .951 save percentage (78 saves on 82 shots).
• Since the 2019-20 season, Cornell is 67-10 when a game is decided by multiple goals, including a 23-4 mark in two-goal games.
UP NEXT
Cornell will make its annual trip to northern New England next weekend, where it will face Dartmouth (4-0-0, 3-0-0 ECAC Hockey) and Harvard (2-1-0, 2-1-0 ECAC Hockey).
Puck drop for both contests is scheduled for 7 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and over the airwaves on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM, cortacatoday.com). Saturday’s game between Cornell and Harvard will be broadcast regionally on NESN in New England.
The Big Green and Crimson recorded sweeps this past weekend. Dartmouth posted victories of 4-2 and 5-1 over Princeton and Quinnipiac, respectively, and Harvard registered a 4-3 overtime victory against Princeton before shutting out Quinnipiac, 3-0, behind a 25-save performance by Aku Koskenvuo.
