Cornell, Quinnipiac with big four-point weekends

After getting swept at home last weekend, Cornell bounced back Friday and Saturday with a pair of impressive road wins.

The Big Red scored three first-period goals Friday at Union and held on for a 5-3 win over the Dutchmen. On Saturday, Cornell rallied for a 4-3 win over Rensselaer. Freshman Yanni Kaldis scored his first collegiate goal with 22.6 seconds left in regulation to give the Big Red its first win at RPI since Feb. 12, 2011.

With the two wins this weekend, Cornell keeps pace with the rest of the teams in a hunt for a top-four spot in the standings.

Bobcats Get Four Big Points

It has been an up-and-down season for Quinnipiac, but it picked up four huge points with a pair of road wins this weekend.

The Bobcats did it using a pair of goalies. Freshman Andrew Shortridge started against Brown Friday, while senior Chris Truehl got the start Saturday at Yale.

The two goalie combination is something Quinnipiac hasn’t employed in recent years. Whether it was Eric Hartzell or Michael Garteig, the Bobcats have always had a clear-cut No.1 goalie each of the last four seasons.

It’s looking unlikely that QU will end up with a first-round bye, but the win over Yale Saturday helped give the Bobcats an edge on their rival for the top seed in the opening round of the playoffs.  Yale and Quinnipiac play again on the last weekend of the regular season.

League Beat Writer Passes Away

The league lost one of its staple beat writers over the weekend, as long-time RPI beat writer Ed Weaver passed away suddenly on Saturday.

Weaver covered the Engineers for more than 15 years for the Troy Record and continued to cover the team after his semi-retirement. His final assignment was RPI’s 4-2 win over Colgate on Friday.

While I didn’t know Ed well, he was well respected throughout the league for his detailed coverage of the Engineers. Thoughts are prayers are with his family and friends.