Massachusetts and Cornell skate to a 0-0 tie
Paul Dainton made 24 saves in the game

Paul Dainton made 24 saves for the Minutemen

Ithaca, N.Y. - Behind 24 saves by freshman goalie Paul Dainton, No. 11 UMass hockey skated to a 0-0 overtime tie with Cornell on Friday night at Lynah Rink. The Minutemen controlled play throughout, outshooting the Big Red, 45-24. It was the Mass Attack's first scoreless tie since Jan. 22, 2000 at Merrimack. Chris Davis, P.J. Fenton, and Mike Kostka each had five shots on goal to lead UMass. Michael Kennedy led Cornell with six shots while Ben Scrivens recorded 45 saves in net. The Minutemen go to 6-3-5 on the year while the Big Red moves to 4-4-1.

The Minutemen dominated play early on, taking a 9-0 shot advantage 5:30 into the first period. Brett Watson got the first scoring chance for UMass, taking a shot from between the circles that just whistled wide. Four minutes in, James Marcou had two looks from just in front of the crease that were stopped by Scrivens. Dainton was required to make only five saves in the opening period as the Minutemen outshot the Big Red, 19-5, in up-tempo play where no penalties were called.

Cornell would get two power play opportunities in the first half of the second period, at 0:59 and 5:32, but the UMass penalty-killing unit was up to the task, allowing only one shot when down a man. Later in the middle stanza, the Minutemen got two power plays of their own, at 11:12 and 15:32, but were unable to score. The best chance came when Chase Langeraap took a cross-crease pass from Davis but was tied up by a Cornell defender.

It looked like UMass got on the board with just under seven minutes left in the period when Will Ortiz stuffed in a loose puck in front of the Cornell goal, but the officials ruled that the whistle had blown first, keeping it a scoreless game. The Minutemen outshot the Big Red in the second period, 13-7.

UMass continued to carry the play in the third period by keeping the puck in the Cornell end and maintaining pressure on Scrivens. Cornell began to swing momentum in their favor late in the third frame, but Dainton was solid in net to keep the Minutemen in the game.

After UMass was called for a penalty with less than a minute to play in regulation, Cornell looked to avoid overtime by scoring on their fifth power-play of the night. The Big Red nearly ended the game with 1.0 second to play with a one-timer from the right side, but Dainton was there to save the puck and send the game into extra time.

UMass was able to kill off the penalty in overtime, but Cornell continued to pressure the Minutemen early on. UMass almost ended the game after David Leaderer fired a shot from the point that hit Scrivens in the chest. Overtime ended with Cornell outshooting the Minutemen 3-2 - the only period where the Big Red held the shooting advantage.