Senior forward Sam Paolini (Rochester), tallied two goals, including the game winner in the ECAC championship game March 22 to help the Cornell men's hockey team win the conference tournament for the first time since 1997. The Big Red defeated Harvard 3-2 in overtime and is now 28-4-1 on the season. Picked as the number one seed in the NCAA East Regional, the squad returned to action on Saturday, March 29, in Providence, Rhode Island against MSU-Mankato.

Paolini tallied the first goal of the game, a power-play marker, by tipping a shot by Stephen Baby into the net at 1:53 in the first period. In overtime, Paolini received a pass from Mark McRae and ripped a shot inside the circle to give Cornell a 3-2 victory.

Last year's points leader ranks third on the Big Red this year in scoring with 12 goals and 17 assists, including a team-high six power-play tallies.

A graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, Paolini is the son of Sam and Diane Paolini and is enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell.