PROVIDENCE – Junior Max Gottlieb scored his first goal of the season, but the Brown men’s hockey team fell to No. 4 Cornell, 3-1, in Saturday’s ECAC matchup at Meehan Auditorium.
Cornell improves to 14-2-1 overall and 8-1-1 in the ECAC. Brown moves to 5-10-3, 4-8-0.
Rookie Luke Kania made 24 stops in the loss for the Bears, while Matthew Galajda had 18 saves for the Big Red. Brown went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Cornell drew first blood at 16:36, when Kania denied Anthony Angello on a partial breakaway, but Mitch Vaderlaan scored on the rebound for the early lead.
After Kania made a diving glove save to deny the Big Red on the power play, Gottlieb evened the score for the Bears with 34 seconds left in the opening frame. The junior skated into the left circle and blasted a shot past Galajda for his first of the season to make it 1-1 at the first intermission. Sam Lafferty and Tony Stillwell earned assists on the play.
Angello put the Big Red back in front at 4:43 in the middle frame when he tipped in Alex Green’s shot from in front of the blue line.
Cornell padded its lead at 8:00 in the third period, as Vanderlaan took a shot from the circle and Matt Nuttle cleaned up the rebound in front, making it a two-goal game.
After Brown was called for a penalty late in the game, the Bears pulled Kania for the extra skater, but the home side could not find the back of the cage as Cornell held on for the win.