Unfortunately for Colorado College, Andy Iles decided to put on a clinic Friday.

The 5-9 Iles, shunned in his bid to represent Team USA at the recent 2012 Junior World Championships in Alberta, Canada, resembled a brick wall while backstopping Cornell University to a 3-1 victory over the Tigers in the opener of their two-game series at the World Arena.  

No. 6-ranked CC launched 40 shots on the Big Red's homegrown sophomore from Ithaca, N.Y., who stopped all but Nick Dineen's power-play rebound at 2:34 of the third period.  

Thirty of Iles' 39 saves came in the final 40 minutes of play as Colorado College battled desperately to recover from an early two-goal deficit. He robbed Archie Skalbeck, David Civitarese and Scott Winkler – all from point-blank range late in the game – before Greg Miller scored into an empty net to clinch the triumph with 7.6 ticks left on the clock.

“Their goalie played well and we didn't really bear down on our chances,” said senior center and team captain Dineen, who beat Iles with a spinning, falling effort after defenseman Gabe Guentzel's blast from the point whisked through traffic in front of the net.

Rylan Schwartz also drew an assist as the Tigers finally cut Cornell's lead in half. But earlier in the game, with CC pressuring during an extended 5-on-3 man advantage midway through the second period, Iles made probably his most spectacular save of the night by sprawling across the goalmouth to smother a one-timer by Schwartz from the right faceoff circle.
 
"A goal there might have changed things," said Colorado College head coach Scott Owens. Clck here for a video interview of Owens.

The 13th-ranked Big Red, which occupies first place in the ECAC, provided Iles with all the cushion he needed on first-period tallies by senior left wing Locke Jillson at 9:39 and freshman right wing John McCarron at 18:18. Sophomore netminder Josh Thorimbert, who finished with 21 stops, never saw Jillson's bad-angle shot from the outside edgle of the right circle as it found the top shelf through a screen. McCarron rifled a slap shot past Thorimbert high on the stick side after crossing the blue line on a semi-breakaway later in the frame.

The game winner was the first goal of McCarron's collegiate career.  

The Tigers, 9-5 in WCHA play, dropped to 12-7 overall heading into Saturday's 7:07 p.m. rematch. Cornell, 6-1-1 in the ECAC, improved to 9-4-1.