Men's Hockey Drops Hard-Fought Game Against No. 10 Cornell

Saturday, January 31

Providence, R.I.

5 p.m.

Brown University

4-17-1, 3-10-1

Cornell

16-5-0, 11-3-0

Cornell

Brown

Photo by: Jamie Fiedorek

Men's Hockey Drops Hard-Fought Game Against No. 10 Cornell

1/31/2026 8:51:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Ben Poitras scored twice as the Brown Bears (4-17-1, 3-10-1 ECAC) dropped a hard-fought battle against the 10th-ranked Cornell Big Red (16-5-0, 11-3-0 ECAC) Saturday night at Meehan Auditorium by a 4-2 final score.

"We played pretty well, we had chances, and Casey [Jones] mentioned after the game that was the most offense generated against them all year," the Class of 1975 Head Coach for Men's Hockey Brendan Whittet '94 said. "We had a lot of chances, good chances. You have to take the positives; you just need to keep growing. Obviously, you want to win, but we want to make sure we're playing the right way in order to allow us to win.

"I thought we did a lot of good things this weekend. There are things we need to clean up and be better at, but overall, there was a lot to like. I thought the guys took a step. We need to have a good week of practice and be ready to go against a good team on Friday in Quinnipiac. They're dynamic and explosive offensively. We need to keep focusing on taking strides forward, and I thought we did that this weekend."

Poitras tallied his seventh goal of the season 4:54 into the game to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. Nick Traggio forced a Cornell turnover in the neutral zone and moved the puck to Ivan Zadvernyuk, who hit a streaking Poitras for the goal off the rush.

The Big Red tied the game just over a minute later as Aiden Long scored his sixth goal of the season. Xavier Veilleux and Jonathan Castagna picked up the assists on the goal.

Gio DiGiulian gave Cornell a 2-1 lead halfway through the second period with his seventh goal of the season. DiGiulian found his own rebound in front of the net to beat Brown goaltender Tyler Shea (29 saves) with the second effort.

DiGiulian added his second of the game with 10 seconds remaining in the middle frame. He found the loose puck off a blocked shot from Veilleux for the quick shot goal. Jake Kraft added the secondary assist on the goal.

Veilleux pushed Cornell's lead to 4-1 with a power play goal 5:45 into the third period with Castagna and Charlie Major assisting.

Brown pulled Shea for the extra attacker with 5:30 remaining and with 4:07 left on the clock, Poitras added his second of the game on a 6-on-4 power play to bring Brown within two. Michael Salandra blocked Cornell goaltender Alexis Cournoyer's (27 saves) clearing effort and hit Poitras in the slot with a pass for the goal.

The Bears were unable to find another goal with the net empty to climb within one.

GAME NOTES

Poitras recorded his second multi-goal and third multi-point game of the season with the two goals.
Zadvernyuk pushed his point streak to three games with his assist in the first period. He has three goals and four points during the streak.
Cornell finished the night with a 33-29 edge in shots on goal.
Brown won the faceoff battle, 36-35, behind a 12-for-19 (63.2%) effort from Zadvernyuk.
Brown blocked 19 shots compared to 10 for Cornell. Salandra and Alex Pineau both finished the night with three blocks.
Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power play.

The Bears hit the road next weekend to take on the sixth-ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats (20-5-2, 11-2-0 ECAC) on Friday and the Princeton Tigers (12-8-1, 8-5-0 ECAC) on Saturday. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+ in the United States and on Stretch Internet internationally.

Gallery: (1-31-2026) MIH vs. #10 Cornell (1/31/26)

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