ITHACA, N.Y. – The UOIT men's hockey team was unable to hold onto an early lead on Friday night as the Ridgebacks fell 3-1 to the Cornell Big Red.
 
Looking to gain more experience as they build on their early season success, the nationally ranked Ridgebacks were in Ithaca to play in front of a crowd of over 3,800 at the historic Lynah Rink.
 
Anthony Latina (Scarborough, Ont.) quieted the crowd early by scoring 4:22 into the game, assisted by Ryan Doucette (Waterloo, Ont.).
 
Unfortunately a penalty-filled game by both teams, which included over 70 minutes of penalties, was the unraveling for UOIT.
 
Trevor Yates scored Cornell's first power play goal for the game at the 8:07 mark of the first period. The game stayed tied 1-1 through 20 minutes.
 
The Big Red scored their second power play goal of the game 15:27 into the second. Brendan Smith picked up the goal with assists to Alec McCrea and Matt Buckles.
 
After two periods the Ridgebacks trailed 2-1.
 
Brendan O'Neill (Ilderton, Ont.) made 27 saves through the opening 40 minutes before trading off with Tyson Teichmann (Belleville, Ont.) for the third period.
 
The final goal and lone allowed by Teichmann came 8:32 into the third period from Alex Rauter. McCrea picked up his second assist of the night, while Beau Starrett had the other helper.
 
In his period of play Teichmann made eight stops. Mitch Gillam turned aside 11 UOIT shots to earn the win.
 
Up next for the U Sports no. 5 ranked Ridgebacks is a rare Tuesday game on the road against the Laurentian Voyageurs. Puck drop is 11 a.m. for the school day game.
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE RIDGEBACKS
Overall Record: 7-2-2
Conference Record: 5-0-0
 
Next game: Tuesday, Oct. 25 @ Laurentian Voyageurs (11 a.m. – Sudbury, Ont.)