MANCHESTER, N.H. – Men’s hockey fell to Boston University, 2-1, on Saturday, ending its NCAA Tournament run in the quarterfinals. 

With the loss, Cornell ended its season one game short of the Frozen Four. The team has lost six regional finals since its last Frozen Four appearance in 2003.

“As a coach, I’ve only been in the Frozen Four once and it stings not to get there,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86.

The Terriers scored the first goal, and Cornell never generated enough pressure to mount a comeback. The Red only fired 14 shots, many of which B.U. goaltender Drew Commesso tracked without issue.

In a tight game, the Red was not able to overcome a few sloppy plays against a B.U. team with fluid-skating forwards and rock-solid defenders.

Cornell got off to a hot start in its regional semifinal on Thursday against Denver, but was more tentative on Saturday. The Terriers controlled the pace of the first few minutes and challenged sophomore goaltender Ian Shane early. 

Notably, BU’s Quinn Hutson collected a Jack O’Leary turnover and got a partial breakaway before O’Leary hustled back to break it up. Shane also came up with a couple of saves on the ensuing offensive zone possession by the Terriers.  

The Red started to apply more pressure midway through the period. A long shift resulted in a few good looks at the net, but Commesso made a series of saves to keep the game scoreless.

The second half of the period featured the game’s first special teams action. Each team took and killed a penalty. First, freshman forward Winter Wallace was called for tripping with just over four minutes left. The Red extended its consecutive kill streak to 18 before Luke Tuch went off for roughing. Cornell came up empty on its first power play.

Unlike in its win against Denver two days ago, the Red was unable to get on the board quickly, and thus could not dictate play as it would with a lead. The teams went to their locker rooms after a scoreless first period.

“In hockey, it gets to that point in time, you know how important that first goal is,” Schafer said. “We scored against Denver first and we were able to do some things differently.”

The Terriers’ pressure and fast-paced play finally paid off not long into the second frame, when Wilmer Skoog received a nifty pass from the far corner and one-timed it past Shane. The pass was the result of a Cornell turnover and blown coverage on Skoog.

Cornell’s penalty killers were put to the test once again when senior forward Zach Tupker went off for a crosscheck in the offensive zone. Despite a few quality chances from the Terrier power play unit, Shane and the Red penalty kill successfully fended off its 19th straight kill.

Once again, the Terriers followed their power play with a penalty of their own, this time for having too-many-men on the ice. The Red generated more chances on its second power play of the game, but could not get the puck past Commesso. The majority of the Red’s shots were taken from the perimeter, allowing Commesso to see them all the way.

“We made a mistake, they capitalized on it,” Schafer said. “We had a good power play to try and make it 1-1.”

Commesso got a lucky break when a puck deflected off a stick in the lane and went past his helmet before hitting the crossbar and bouncing the other direction.

“You look back and wish you could’ve done things differently throughout the game, like bury that chance or not hit the post,” said senior defenseman Travis Mitchell.

Later in the period, puck luck was in the Red’s favor – a turnover at Cornell’s offensive blue line led to a breakaway by B.U.’s Quinn Hutson, who fired a shot that rang off the post.

The Red entered the second intermission down 1-0.

“You go in the third period, you got to try and stay the course,” Schafer said.

Cornell was much better at defending a lead than chasing a deficit this season. The Red went 19-0 when leading after two periods but entered Saturday 2-10-2 in games where it was tied or trailing heading into the third period. Before B.U.’s second period goal, the Red had not played from behind since Feb. 18.

“Cornell is a very good team when they have a lead, so I think it was important for us tonight to get that first goal and see if they will press a little bit,” said B.U. head coach Jay Pandolfo.

It took nearly half the period for either team to get a quality look in the third, as both forechecks prevented zone time on either end. However, it was the Terriers that eventually broke through when Ethan Philipps buried his own rebound to give B.U. a 2-0 lead. 

Cornell received a third power play opportunity not long after but was once again blanked and unable to generate much meaningful offense. The Red went scoreless on six power plays across its two NCAA Tournament games.

From there, Cornell’s offense was shut down by the Terrier defense. The Red had difficulty getting passes through Terrier sticks and failed to generate chances in front of the net. Cornell only put three shots on target in the third period. The Terriers blocked 21 shots during the game.

Shane was pulled with just over two and a half minutes remaining in the game, giving the Red one final opportunity to eat at B.U.’s lead. Cornell was able to establish some zone time, but the Terriers complicated things by creating turnovers and firing attempts toward the empty net.

Cornell made things interesting when freshman forward Dalton Bancroft flicked a puck toward the net and it bounced in off a B.U. skate to bring Cornell within one with 28 seconds remaining.

However, it was too little too late. Mitchell had a look at the net with just seconds remaining but shot it wide and Bancroft’s attempt on the rebound was blocked.

The loss marks the end of the road for Cornell’s 2022-2023 campaign and the last time its seniors will don the carnelian and white.

“These kids are what it’s all about,” Schafer said of his seniors. “I’m so proud of them. Covid canceled their season, they didn’t blink… First class integrity, character, never quit. Proud coach.”

After taking down the defending national champions on Thursday, men’s hockey will face Boston University in the Manchester regional final on Saturday with a spot in the Frozen Four on the line.

Since its last Frozen Four appearance in 2003, Cornell has appeared in five regional finals but has been unable to get over the hump.

“I thought we’d be back there a lot sooner,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86 when the 2003 team was honored at Lynah Rink in February. “The ’03 team won an overtime game to get there. We’ve lost a tremendous amount of games in that second game in overtime to not get there.”

On Saturday, Cornell will have another chance to end its long Frozen Four drought.

“They know what’s at stake, one game away from the Frozen Four,” Schafer said after his team’s win on Thursday.

To put itself in this position, Cornell came out swinging and took out the defending champions. After falling to Harvard in overtime of a defensive battle in Lake Placid, Schafer implored his team to be aggressive against Denver.

“I made them too tentative, and that’s not the way our program is built to be,” Schafer said. “So I commend our guys for coming back tonight and rebooting on a big stage.”

At the heart of Cornell’s success over the past few weeks has been its defense. The Red has allowed one or fewer goals in each of its last seven games. Cornell has successfully killed 17 penalties in a row and has not allowed a power play goal since Feb. 17.

Behind that defense stands sophomore goaltender Ian Shane, who has been lights out recently. Shane, whose mindset has always been critical for his performance, has spoken recently about elevating his game during the playoffs. He has done just that.

Shane has allowed three goals across Cornell’s four playoff games and has posted a .966 save percentage during that span. 

“For the life of me, I can’t understand why he doesn’t get more credit than he gets,” Schafer said. “I think he sits third in the country in goals against average but didn’t even make the first, second, or third team in our league. I think it’s just a little chip on his shoulder.”

Shane, who is second in the nation in goals against average, has the college hockey world’s attention. His 27-save shutout on Thursday was the first by a Cornell goaltender in an NCAA Tournament game since Ken Dryden in 1967. After taking down top-seeded Denver, it’s clear that Cornell can beat anyone when Shane and the defense are at the top of their game.

The unit will have its hands full with Boston University. The Terriers have the third best offense in the nation with an average of 3.9 goals per game (Denver is tied for fifth at 3.8).

The Terriers are led on offense by Hobey Baker finalist Lane Hutson, whose last second goal lifted B.U. over Cornell at Agganis Arena in Boston in January. 

Cornell is a better team now than when it blew a third-period lead and fell to the Terriers at the buzzer on the road.

“We came into their rink, their ice and we did all the things we wanted to do, we just didn’t finish it,” Schafer said at the time.

B.U. has also improved since then and is coming off winning the Hockey East Tournament and a 5-1 thumping of Western Michigan in the regional semifinal.

“How do we prepare for BU? Same way we did last time. They are a hell of a hockey team,” Schafer said. “I texted [B.U. head coach] Jay Pandolfo after that game and said that they taught us lessons we needed to learn.”

While the matchup of the Terriers’ high-powered offense and Cornell’s lockdown defense will be critical, Cornell will also need to stay aggressive and look to get the puck past Boston’s Drew Commesso, who enters with a .914 save percentage and a 2.46 goals against average. Commesso made 28 saves on 31 shots when the teams met in January and got roughed up by Cornell to the tune of six goals at Madison Square Garden in November 2021.

Cornell’s biggest area of concern heading into Saturday will be its recent struggles on the power play. The Red looked disjointed on its nine minutes on the man advantage against Denver and is now three for its last 35 attempts. Special teams played a big role when the teams met in January, with each team notching power play markers in the third period. 

Look for Cornell to roll out a similar game plan against the Terriers as the one it employed against Denver – come out aggressive, trust Shane and play lockdown defense.

“We have to control those guys and it will be difficult, but so was Denver,” Schafer said. “We have to play our hockey. We had a great game, and we will have another great game Saturday.”

Cornell’s historic rival is all that stands between the Red and a trip to Tampa for the Frozen Four. After the 2020 postseason was canceled days before Cornell seemed poised to make a deep run, the significance of Saturday’s game is not lost on the players, including the ones who joined the Red after that season.

“In 2020, where they were the number one seed and got the rug swept out from under them, it’s tough to see for [my class] too because you want the best for the program,” Shane said. “It means a lot to us to be back in business, and take the game not for granted, and understand a bunch of guys before us led us to this point, and we’re not just playing for ourselves but the guys who came before us as well.”

With one game between it and the Frozen Four, Cornell will meet Boston University at 4 p.m. on Saturday at SNHU Arena in Manchester N.H. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

This story has been updated.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Men’s hockey defeated Denver, 2-0, to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Cornell will face Boston University here on Saturday afternoon for a spot in the Frozen Four.

Cornell’s defense kept Denver’s dangerous offense off the board. Sophomore goaltender Ian Shane recorded a 27-save shutout. He has quietly amassed a .966 save percentage throughout the playoffs.

“I don’t know how he is not an all-league goalie. He has the second-best goals against average in the country and he doesn’t even get third team in our league or second team in the All-Ivy,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86 on his goaltender’s performance.

The Red controlled play right out of the gate, firing the game’s first shots and dominating in the offensive zone. 

Leading up to the game, Schafer emphasized the importance of being aggressive and getting up early on a team like Denver.

“I think going into the game we will be a lot more aggressive, a lot more physical in the course of the game and go after it,” Schafer said.

Cornell got the early start it was looking for. Just three minutes into the period, junior forward Jack O’Leary controlled the puck at the top of the crease and backhanded it over the shoulder of Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona. 

“We wanted to put it behind them early and often…establish that forecheck right away,” O’Leary said.  

Cornell continued to control the pace of play and execute its gameplan. The Red intercepted passes, blocked shots, and won battles for pucks. Denver took a penalty a few minutes after the Red’s first goal, but Cornell was unable to generate much on a disjointed power play. 

Denver received a power play of its own soon after when senior forward Ben Berard went off for tripping. The Red’s penalty kill stood strong, containing Denver’s high-powered forwards and prolific power play unit, which entered tonight’s game ranked third nationally with a 27% conversion rate. Shane fended off the one shot he saw.

“The guys did a great job in front of me keeping the chances low,” Shane said.

Just as the penalty expired, Berard came soaring out of the box and into the offensive zone, where he and O’Leary found themselves with a two-on-one after a long feed out of Cornell’s defensive zone. Berard collected a loose puck around the net and buried it, extending the Red’s lead to 2-0.

Following a frustrating offensive weekend against Harvard in the ECAC semifinals, Cornell’s game plan altered just slightly.

“I wanted to make sure we shut down [Harvard’s] top line. But it was pretty evident that after self-reflecting the game, I made them too tentative,” Schafer said. 

His team looked anything but tentative against the Pioneers, firing shots at Chrona and taking more risks offensively, while remaining strong on defense. 

“Tonight we attacked more and weren’t tentative,” Schafer said. 

Cornell got some of its best offensive chances in the opening frame, firing hard shots and creating traffic in front of the net. In turn, the defense made Shane’s job easy, allowing just five shots in the first 20 minutes. 

From there, it was all defense. As it did during its three ECAC playoff games, Cornell was able to maintain its stingy defensive style and keep its cool after the whistle. Denver’s skaters were frustrated and tried to mix it up after plays were blown dead, but the Red was able to skate away. Cornell entered the locker room up 2-0 after 20 minutes.

“We’re doing the little things right, playing a disciplined system,” Berard said. “We might not have the pipeline offensively that other teams do, but I think we all play together and as a team.”

Cornell received a golden opportunity to open the game up just 24 seconds into the second period. Denver’s Justin Lee laid a hit on senior forward Max Andreev, which prompted a five-minute major penalty after a review.

Cornell’s woes on the man advantage, however, persisted. The Red struggled to set up in the offensive zone and took a few minutes to generate shots. Denver’s penalty kill, which entered the night with an uninspiring 78% success rate, prevented the Red from scoring on any of its three power plays on the night.

Just over the halfway point of the period and game, Cornell’s penalty killers were faced with their biggest challenge to date. Freshman forward Dalton Bancroft was nabbed for interference, and Denver was awarded a five-minute major penalty after a review.

While the Pioneers entered the night with the third-best power play in the nation, Cornell’s penalty kill was up for the task. Denver struggled to enter the offensive zone with the Red forcing them to the outside. The Pioneers managed one shot during its five-minute power play, and just five in the second period altogether.

After a scoreless second period, Cornell hunkered down on defense in the third. Denver fired 14 shots in the third, but Shane was up to the task.

“I thought we killed it well,” Schafer said. “Shane made a big save.”

Cornell had an opportunity to give itself some breathing room early in the third period when freshman forward Nick DeSantis was taken down on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot. DeSantis came up empty on the penalty shot to keep Cornell’s lead at 2-0.

The Pioneers pulled Chrona with over three and a half minutes to go, but Shane and the Cornell defense came up big. The Red dove to make multiple blocked shots while Shane made save after save down the stretch to preserve Cornell’s lead and send the defending national champions home.

The win sends Cornell to the regional final, where it will meet Boston University on Saturday at 4 p.m. for the right to advance to its first Frozen Four since 2003.

Men’s hockey received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and will face Denver in the first round on Thursday afternoon in Manchester, N.H.

Cornell’s postseason fate was briefly up in the air after its loss to Harvard in the ECAC semifinals last Friday in Lake Placid, but the Red (20-10-2) made the tournament field as the four seed in the Manchester region. Three other ECAC teams – Quinnipiac, Harvard and Colgate – made the 16-team field.

Boston University and Western Michigan will compete for the other spot in the Manchester region’s final.

Cornell’s path to its first Frozen Four since 2003 will open with the defending national champion Pioneers. Denver (30-9) had a strong regular season campaign in its quest to repeat, but was upset by Colorado College in the NCHC semifinals and will enter Thursday with uncertainty in net after goaltender Magnus Chrona left last weekend’s game with an apparent injury.

As the region’s top seed, Denver will be the favorite in Thursday’s matchup.

“We’re a bit of an underdog going into it as the lower seed,” said senior defenseman Sam Malinski. “It just gives us a little more motivation to try to take down the national champs.”

Cornell has been to five NCAA quarterfinals since its last Frozen Four appearance, but has not gotten over that hump in 20 years.

“All four teams are going to go in there and think they’re going to win this thing,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “The pressure is on the one seed. Everyone’s expecting them to win. They didn’t even mention us on ESPN, they assumed that B.U and Denver were gonna play the next night.”

Upsetting the Pioneers will require sophomore goaltender Ian Shane and the Red’s strong defense to continue their recent success, but Cornell will also need to get more aggressive on offense and the power play.

After a strong regular season on the offensive end of the ice, goals have been hard to come by for Cornell during the playoffs. The Red has scored five goals – including an empty net goal –  across its three playoff games and did not get on the board against Harvard.

Denver has had a top-10 defense this season, allowing 2.2 goals per game. To score on the strong Denver defense, Cornell will look to ramp up its aggression on offense.

“It’s about us having a different mindset going into this game. More aggressive. Going for it more,” Schafer said. “We need to have more of a desperation mentality going into this weekend… I thought we played smart against Harvard but a lot of times we didn’t play aggressive. We need to combine those two this weekend.”

Including the empty net goal against Clarkson, Cornell has only scored three even strength goals over its last three games. Cornell’s ability to roll four lines and get contributions down the line chart has been a strength this season, but the extra media timeouts in the NCAA Tournament will place more of an emphasis on the Red’s top scorers on Thursday.

“The game is a lot different, it’s a lot longer,” Schafer said. “You use less guys and the guys that you use a lot get more rest,” Schafer said.

Cornell will look to differentiate itself on special teams. Most of Friday’s game against Harvard was played at even strength, which prevented Cornell’s dangerous power play from being much of a factor. Denver’s middle-of-the-pack 10.9 penalty minutes per game coupled with its middling 78 percent penalty kill rate is perhaps the one vulnerable area of its game.

Conversely, the Pioneers are reliant on their very capable power play. Denver has converted at a 26 percent clip on the power play, which is third best in the nation. The Pioneers have scored nearly 36 percent of their goals on the man advantage, which is the sixth highest proportion in the nation. Cornell will need to stay disciplined to keep Denver’s dangerous power play unit off the ice.

“We’ve just got to be really disciplined,” Schafer said. “Be physical but be smart about it. We haven’t taken that many penalties and we definitely haven’t taken anything after the whistle in the playoffs. That’s got to continue for us.”

Denver has averaged 3.8 goals per game this season. Cornell will hope that Shane and its defense can contain the potent Pioneers offense. The Red has allowed just one goal in each of its three playoff games and is second in the nation with 2.0 goals allowed per game over the season. Shane has been dominant recently, posting a .956 save percentage over his last six games.

“Our strategy against Harvard was to limit their chances and stay above them,” Malinski said. “We’re probably going to do something similar against Denver. We’re going to stick within our systems and focus on our defensive style.”

Thursday will be Cornell’s first NCAA Tournament game since 2019. Senior forward Max Andreev is the only player from the 2019 team left on the roster. Denver, meanwhile, is returning most of its national championship roster from last year.

While the Pioneers have more experience, Cornell is hoping that Denver will feel the pressure of trying to defend its national championship.

“Maybe put some pressure on Denver as that number one seed wanting to repeat,” Schafer said. “Get them a bit frustrated. That’s not a weakness [for Denver], that’s something we’ve got to do and force.”

Puck drop is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at SNHU Arena in Manchester. The game will be broadcast on ESPNews.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Men’s hockey fell to Harvard, 1-0, in overtime of the ECAC semifinals on Friday night.

“I’m very proud of our players. We came in and did what we had to do to control their offense,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “We had our chances… not as [many] as we wanted, but they’re a good defensive team.”

The teams played up-and-down all 200 feet of ice for nearly 65 minutes, but Cornell never found the back of the net and was shutout for the third time of the season.

“Obviously it turned into a defensive night,” Schafer said. “I don’t think there was much offense in the game at all. 

Nearly all of the game was played at even strength. Each team took one penalty, but both came up empty on power plays. Special teams have been a strength for Cornell this season, but the even strength action kept Cornell’s dangerous power play unit on the bench for most of the night.

“That goes on us, we talked about that between periods. We had to protect pucks better, we had to get to the net more, we had to penetrate more in order to make them draw some calls,” Schafer said. “We spent 40% of our time in practice practicing the power play.”

Harvard limited Cornell’s scoring chances and was able to quickly clear its zone throughout the night. The shots that Cornell did get threw were all swallowed up by Harvard’s Mitchell Gibson, who made 15 saves.

Cornell’s typical stingy defense kept the Crimson off the board for nearly 65 minutes. The defense blocked 19 shots and sophomore goaltender Ian Shane made 24 saves. It was only the fifth time this season that Cornell was outshot.

When the two teams met in Harvard in January ECAC player of the Year Sean Farrell piled up four assists and his linemate Matthew Coronato notched two goals. On Friday, Cornell was able to contain Harvard’s dangerous top line.

“They have a lot of up front skill. As a defense we definitely play a little bit more cautious,” said senior defenseman Travis Mitchell. “We were trying to make sure that Coronato and Farrell line didn’t get at us.”

The Red had a chance to take a late lead when Harvard’s John Farinacci was called for high-sticking, but Cornell’s typically strong power play did not capitalize. The Red fired one shot and allowed a few clears.

“We didn’t capitalize – we had our chance,” Schafer said. “Six minutes to go in the game, we just didn’t get it done.”

With no score through sixty minutes, the game went to sudden death overtime.

Harvard came out firing in the extra frame. The Crimson outshot Cornell 5-0 in overtime.

Harvard ended the game with just over 15 minutes left in overtime when Alex Laferriere buried a feed from Baker Shore that caught Shane out of position.

With the loss, Cornell will have to nervously wait to learn its NCAA tournament fate. The Red is currently in position to make the tournament, but could be forced out with upsets in other conference tournaments.

“You just gotta have faith. Probably 99% of your life is out of your own hands,” Schafer said, perhaps subtly alluding to the probability of Cornell making the tournament coming into the weekend. “We’ll go back to Ithaca, we’ll regroup…and then see what happens. That’s all you can do – have faith that if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”

As with last year, when Day Hall looks through all the data, it is clear that alumni are enthusiastic supporters of more traditional programs, and that if left to alumni donations, woke programs would go broke.

The last time men’s hockey played in Lake Placid it suffered a heartbreaking and disastrous defeat to Clarkson in overtime of the ECAC Championship game.

“I still think we should have won that game,” said senior forward Max Andreev. “It was a nightmare. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.”

Four years later, Cornell will return to Lake Placid with hopes of hoisting its first Whitelaw Cup since 2010.

“We talk all year long about following the process to give ourselves the opportunity to get [to Lake Placid,]” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “I’m happy for these guys that they’ve now given themselves that opportunity to go into a league championship and win two games to win a championship.”

The championship game loss to Clarkson in 2019 marked Cornell’s third consecutive trip to Lake Placid. After the 2020 and 2021 tournaments were scrapped by COVID and a quarterfinal loss to Colgate last year, Friday will be Cornell’s first trip back to the hallowed grounds of Herb Brooks Arena. Andreev is the only player on the roster who made the trip in 2019.

“In ’95 we had no experience and we won. There’s been other years where we had lots of experience and we didn’t do well,” Schafer said. “This group of guys, they’ve played in all sorts of venues throughout the year… they’re well prepared to play on a bigger scale.”

The four-year path back to the semifinals has been arduous and tumultuous. Cornell was poised to enter the 2020 postseason as the top-seed before it was canceled days before it was set to begin. After the entire 2021 season was canceled, Cornell came within a game of returning to Lake Placid in 2022 but lost a do-or-die game to Colgate in the quarterfinals.

“The guys have committed themselves,” Schafer said. “Since last year when we lost to Colgate, it’s been a long process to get back to where we wanted to, which was to get to this point.”

Cornell’s motto this year has been “Earn It” and the Red will have to do just that in order to end its 12-year title drought. Cornell will meet No. 6 Harvard in the semifinals on Friday night. The Crimson swept Cornell in the season series. If Cornell advances to the finals, it will meet the winner of No. 2 Quinnipiac and Colgate in the championship game on Saturday night.

You can read the preview of Friday’s game against Harvard here.

This weekend will also be an opportunity for the Lynah Faithful to return to Lake Placid. Along with the game at Madison Square Garden and the Harvard game at Lynah, a potential trip to Lake Placid is one of the highlights of the season for Cornell’s fans.

“We haven’t been there in a while, but neither have our fans,” Schafer said. “I think that’ll be exciting for people to get back to Lake Placid, to enjoy it and come to the game.”

Cornell has alleviated some of the pressure of the weekend by essentially securing a spot in the NCAA tournament. While the Red has not mathematically clinched, a long string of out-of-town games would have to go a specific way for Cornell to miss out on the field of 16.

“I think that it might take a little bit off,” Schafer said. “We’ll stay in the moment and go after the league championship and then see what happens next week.”

Cornell’s quest for its 13th ECAC Championship begins at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night against Harvard. The championship game will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night.

In its first Lake Placid appearance since 2019, men’s hockey will take on Harvard in the ECAC semifinals.

Cornell is coming off a hard-fought sweep over Clarkson in the quarterfinals. The Red dropped the regular season series to the Golden Knights and will hope to continue the trend of having playoff success against teams it struggled against during the regular season. Cornell lost both its games to the Crimson in the regular season.

“They’re a good hockey team…we handled them pretty well the first time,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86.

Cornell hosted Harvard for the first time on Dec. 2. Cornell struck early in that game but couldn’t generate much offense for the rest of the game. Harvard’s Sean Farrell went on to score the game-winner in overtime when an unfortunate bounce fell in the crease after a save by sophomore goaltender Ian Shane.

Farrell, a 2020 4th-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens and Hobey Baker finalist, is a force to be reckoned with. He leads the Crimson in scoring with 20 goals and 31 assists for 51 points––six of those points came against Cornell. He recorded a goal and an assist in the first game and four assists in the second.

“Their top two lines are dynamic––they’re great,” Schafer said. “You better play hard and smart [against them].”

Farrell’s linemate, sophomore Matthew Coronato, additionally notched two goals in Harvard’s 6-2 domination over the Red at Bright-Landry Hockey Center on Jan. 28. 

“I think we’re a much better hockey team than we were when we played against them down there,” Schafer noted. “We learned a lot of lessons from that game and then, moving on, about how to play big games against good players like they have.”

In its two games against Clarkson last weekend, the Red was able to shut down a Golden Knights offense that had given them some problems earlier in the season. Both games were tightly contested and not easy wins, which may prove to give an advantage to the Red going into this weekend.

“Playing against Clarkson was great preparation,” Schafer said. “I thought we were disciplined. I thought we got great goaltending. I thought our special teams were good––both power play and penalty kill.”

To beat Harvard, Shane will have to be on top of his game this weekend and continue to ride his recent success. After making 35 saves on 37 shots across both quarterfinal games, he will look to put the Red in a position to win in Lake Placid.

On the other end of the ice will be Harvard’s Mitchell Gibson, who has put up solid numbers this year and has historically performed well against the Red. Gibson has allowed just three goals against Cornell this season, aided by 22 and 31-save performances.

To beat Gibson the Red will need to hone in on creating tips and deflections close to the net and look to take away Gibson’s line of sight. This has been an area of focus for Cornell’s forwards throughout the year, and one they will look to continue into the weekend. 

“We’ve got to be around the net for tips and deflections, take his eyes away and get second chances,” Schafer said. “If he sees it, he’s going to stop it.”

Though the Red acknowledges his success, preparing for a goaltender like Gibson is no different than other opposition goaltenders.

“We’ve played against a lot of good goaltenders. You don’t figure it out by just flat-out beating them––you figure it out by putting people in front of them so they can’t see things.”

While Harvard may be known on paper for its prolific offense and NHL-caliber talent––with an NCAA-leading 15 draft picks on its roster––the Red follows not too far behind in a few categories. Harvard ranks sixth nationally in scoring offense averaging four goals per game, while the Red check in at eighth, with an average of 3.52 goals per game. In scoring margin, the Crimson’s 121-70 margin ranks fourth overall, with Cornell just behind at fifth with a 109-63 margin.

The Red may appear as an underdog on paper, but it is not daunted by the big names on the Crimson roster. And while senior forward Max Andreev is the only member of Cornell’s roster to have played at Lake Placid, lack of experience doesn’t take away from the Red’s ability to come up big in big games.

“This group of guys––they’ve played in all kinds of venues throughout the course of the year, from Madison Square Garden to [Minnesota] Duluth,” Schafer noted. “They’re well prepared to play on a bigger scale.”

And although Lake Placid presents itself as a neutral location in terms of the crowd, odds are it will be anything but that. 

“Oh, it won’t be neutral. It’ll have a Cornell flavor,” Schafer noted, with a laugh. “It’s exciting to play in front of our fans, whether we’re at home, or Madison Square Garden, or Lake Placid, or Harvard.”

Cornell will take on Harvard at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid for the ECAC semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Men’s hockey defeated Clarkson, 3-1, on Saturday night to sweep its quarterfinal series and advance to the semifinals in Lake Placid.

The win sends Cornell to Lake Placid for the first time since 2019.

“We’ve been through so much over the last four years with this group of guys,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “I’m happy for this group of guys to overcome adversity, the seniors especially to overcome adversity and get to Lake Placid.”

The stellar play of the penalty killers and sophomore goaltender Ian Shane led Cornell to the weekend sweep. Cornell killed three penalties and Shane made 22 saves on Saturday night. Shane carried a shutout bid into the final minute of the game.

“Everyone on the team steps up, it’s playoff hockey,” Shane said. “I want to do my part in elevating my game, but that’s the standard [in the playoffs] and everybody’s on board with that.”

For the second consecutive night, Cornell fought out a back-and-forth, physical game. The Golden Knights earned the game’s first chances, firing the first three shots of the contest. Clarkson outshot the Red eight to five in the first period.

“I said to our guys before the series started that to get to Lake Placid we’re going to have to beat one of the best teams in our league,” Schafer said.

Each team took one penalty in the opening frame, but both were killed off. Cornell’s penalty killers came up with a couple of big blocked shots to keep the game scoreless.

Tensions started to rise in the second period. The game quickly became a special teams battle, as the Red and the Golden Knights combined for 16 penalty minutes in the middle frame. 

Cornell’s power play unit controlled play during its man advantages and had a golden opportunity when senior forward Max Andreev squirted open in the slot off a great pass from junior forward Gabe Seger. Andreev took a stick to the wrist, knocking his glove off and causing him to whiff on his look at the wide open net.

“We had our chances, we just couldn’t get it past the goalie. With the amount of penalties we had we knew that one eventually was going to go in,” Andreev said. “I knew we were playing well, it was just a matter of time.”

Shortly after both teams returned to full strength, Cornell went right back on the power play when Clarkson’s Anthony Romano was nabbed for interference. 

This time Andreev was able to cash in, firing a one-timer over the glove of Clarkson’s Ethan Haider to give the Red the lead. The goal was Cornell’s second power-play goal of the series, and the only one on seven power play attempts in game two.

Both teams started participating in extracurricular activities after Andreev’s tally. Just about halfway into the period, Clarkson’s Noah Beck and sophomore forward Ondrej Psenicka were sent off for offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

The second frame saw only a few brief stretches of even-strength play. After the first four minutes of the period, the longest stretch of five-on-five lasted just over two minutes––the last two minutes of the period.

“We’re an older team, we’re pretty comfortable in games like that,” Andreev said. “Everybody knew what we had to do. When you’re up 1-0 and the other team’s facing elimination, the pressure’s not on you.”

Cornell skated out for the final period with a 1-0 lead, looking to keep the Golden Knights off the board for 20 more minutes and advance to the semifinals. The third seemed to pick up where the second period left off, as the Red took a penalty just 24 seconds in when Seger was called for tripping. Clarkson answered with a penalty of its own about a minute later.

Once again, Cornell’s special teams came up big. On both the penalty kill and four-on-four, the defensive corps came up with key blocks and kept Clarkson to the perimeter. Shane continued to look sharp, making a huge right-pad save to preserve the lead.

“We’re a team that’s comfortable in close games,” Shane said. “When it comes to a third period like that, if it’s a 1-0 game the whole game, we’re gonna wear them down eventually.”

The Red continued to generate chances as the pace of the game increased, but Haider was up to the task. The Clarkson netminder finished with 19 saves.

“That’s been a little bit of our mantra all year long, not to sit back and be defensive,” Schafer said. “Credit to [Haider], he’s a good goaltender.”

Cornell finally extended its lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the game. Psenicka collected a rebound from senior forward Jack Malone’s shot and flipped it over the shoulder of Haider to give the Red some breathing room.

From there, the Red maintained good discipline and stingy defense. On the brink of elimination, Clarkson pulled Haider with just over three minutes left in the game. 

The Red finished the Golden Knights off when junior forward Kyle Penney sauced a pass out in front to Malone, who tapped it in for the empty net goal. Clarkson managed to get one back in the waning seconds of the game to spoil Shane’s shutout, but it was too little too late.

Cornell will face Harvard in the semifinals. Like Clarkson, the Crimson swept Cornell in the season series.

“We came into this weekend knowing that we owe Clarkson a little bit,” Shane said. “It’s the same mentality we’re gonna take into Harvard.”

By sweeping the Golden Knights, Cornell has all but secured a spot in the NCAA tournament. According to College Hockey News, the Red has over a 99% chance of making the tournament, either through an at-large bid or through winning the ECAC.

This story has been updated.

Men’s hockey took the first game of its quarterfinal series against Clarkson, riding stingy defense and penalty killing to a 2-1 win.

Coming off a bye, Cornell looked like the better-rested team in the first period. The Red got off to a sharp start, outshooting Clarkson 11-2 and winning 15 of 20 faceoffs in the first period.

The Red’s strong start led to the game’s opening goal. Five-and-a-half minutes into the game, Clarkson’s Luke Mobley cross-checked sophomore defenseman Michael Suda in the helmet, drawing a five-minute major penalty.

Cornell’s power play, after only converting on one of 11 tries against the Golden Knights in the regular season, looked crisp in its first action of the night. A series of clean passes led to a Gabe Seger one-timer in the slot to give Cornell an early 1-0 lead.

“I wish we would’ve moved the puck like that again on the power play,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86.

Despite the quick goal 30 seconds into the major penalty, the Red could not add on. Cornell also came away empty-handed from a power play opportunity late in the first period.

After being outpaced in the opening frame, Clarkson was able to challenge the Red out of the locker room. The Golden Knights outshot Cornell, 6-4, in a back-and-forth second period.

After a very disciplined first period, Cornell took a pair of penalties later in the second, both by senior forward Matt Stienburg in his first game since Dec. 29. Clarkson was able to apply pressure on its power plays, but sophomore goaltender Ian Shane and the Cornell penalty killers kept the Golden Knights off the board. 

The Red’s best chance of the frame came shorthanded when senior forward Kyle Penney gathered a mishandled puck from Clarkson goaltender Ethan Haider behind the net and attempted a wraparound that hit the side of the net.

“I thought he was one of our better players tonight,” Schafer said. “I thought he was strong on the penalty kill, was strong on his battles. Did a good job.”

After the scoreless middle frame, Cornell quickly extended its lead in the third period. Suda scored his first career goal, gathering his own rebound and burying a wraparound just over a minute into the period. Clarkson argued that the puck went into the Cornell bench earlier in the play, but the goal stood.

“It felt awesome. To be honest I kind of blacked out after it went in the net,” Suda said. “My heart was racing a bit when they were reviewing it.”

The Golden Knights pulled back within one with just under 15 minutes left in the third. Clarkson’s Matthieu Gosselin scored on a delayed penalty, but the Red prevented Clarkson from equalizing on the ensuing power play.

“I was disappointed in the goal that they scored,” Schafer said. “To take a penalty and get scored on was kind of a momentum changer.”

Cornell went back on the kill a few minutes later when freshman forward Nick DeSantis was nabbed for tripping, but the Red killed its fourth penalty of the game.

“[The kills] were huge,” Schafer said. “Some good blocked shots, Ian made some good saves, we made some good clears. We made a few mistakes, but when we did Ian was there.”

Shane kept Cornell in front with two huge saves with just over six minutes left. He snapped a Clarkson scoring chance out of the air with a highlight-reel glove save, and then trapped a quick wrist shot a few plays later. Shane finished the game with 20 saves.

“That’s just coming up clutch when your teammates need you,” Suda said.

The Golden Knights pulled their goalie with just under two minutes left in the third. Cornell made a few tries at the empty net, including a near miss by senior forward Ben Berard.

Clarkson gained its zone with ten seconds left looking for a last second equalizer. Senior forward Travis Mitchell blocked a slapshot with under three seconds left to seal the game for Cornell. It was the second time in about a month that Mitchell took a big block in the final seconds of a game. He got in the way of an RPI shot to preserve Cornell’s two goal lead in a win on Feb. 3.

“I joked with him after, saying that’s kind of his job now, making those big blocks at the end of the game,” Suda said. “It’s a game saver, because you never know what could happen if that shot gets through.”

Clarkson collected the loose puck after Mitchell’s block and fired it behind Shane and into the net right after time expired. The Golden Knights celebrated as if they beat the clock, but a review determined that the puck crossed the line a second too late. Schafer said that his players heard the horn and stopped playing, and that Clarkson did not shoot until after time expired.

Cornell will look to close out the series on Saturday night.

Men’s hockey will begin its postseason this weekend when it hosts Clarkson in a best-of-three quarterfinal series. 

Cornell is coming off a bye week, which has proven to be the key to a strong, healthy lineup for this weekend’s games.

“Guys are a lot healthier than we were, we had some guys playing hurt over the last two or three weeks,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “We were able to get some guys healthy that probably wouldn’t have played last Friday.”

Cornell dropped both its games against the Golden Knights in the regular season, most recently at home by a score of 4-3 on Feb. 17. 

“In the two games against Clarkson, we haven’t fared well in the special teams,” Schafer said.

On 11 power play opportunities across both games, the Red converted on only one –– an anomaly given the overall success of the Cornell power play this season. The Red’s power play ranks third in the nation going into the weekend.

Clarkson easily advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5-1 shellacking of Brown last Saturday, dominating possession and edging the Bears in shots, 34-27.

Of the four teams that won their respective single-elimination games to advance to the quarterfinals, Clarkson is the only opponent the Red is winless against this season.

“It’s a tough matchup. In the games we played, they played hard against us and we played hard against them,” said Schafer. “We didn’t capitalize on chances and they did.”

While the Red is remembering the sting of the regular season losses to the Golden Knights, the team is approaching this weekend’s matchup as they would any other. 

“It’s no different than all the games we’ve played all year,” Schafer said. “We’re excited.”

The transition to the postseason also doesn’t seem to daunt the Red.

“I think every game sort of has a playoff feel,” said senior forward Matt Stienburg, who hasn’t seen game action since an injury on Dec. 29 but is getting closer to returning. Stienburg’s availability this weekend is still up in the air.

“I just try to play simple and contribute in the little ways, and I think the rest will take care of itself,” said Stienburg, acknowledging the chemistry his teammates have built since his injury.

The Red will look to continue its chemistry on offense after a dominant weekend against Yale and Brown to close the season. The Red scored 10 goals across the two games.

Cornell will hope its high powered offense and stingy defense will propel it to its first trip to Lake Placid for the conference semifinals since 2019. Last year, Cornell lost to Colgate in the quarterfinals.

Playoff experience will benefit this year’s squad. Going into last year’s quarterfinal series, only seven players had any type of playoff experience following the abbreviated 2019-20 season and the canceled 2020-21 season.

“Last year we had a young team in the sense that there was very limited playoff experience,” Stienburg reflected. “We learned a lot about just how hard it can be going to the playoffs and how quickly it can end. 

Of course, a packed Lynah Rink will likely be a massive advantage.

“I like [our fans] being here– they help us ride that emotion when we get momentum going and pick us up when adversity hits,” Schafer said. “That’s the biggest advantage of being at home– last change and the familiarity with the rink, but adding our fans is going to play a big, big factor this weekend.”

Despite the team’s hunger to make a return to Lake Placid, the Red is trying to take it one game at a time and curb its eagerness. 

“You know when we were at Yale [two weekends ago], we wanted to win an Ivy League Championship, and we stayed focused in the moment. We were excited to play but we came out and we executed,” Schafer said. “Hopefully we can duplicate that mentality this weekend.”

While the Red will subconsciously look to avenge last year’s early postseason exit, it is more focused on the controllables in the present. And for Schafer, looking to earn his sixth Cleary Cup and first in over a decade, taking it game by game is the key to success.

“Everybody wants to win. That’s a given,” Schafer said. “But it’s the teams that can stay focused on that process to win throughout the whole weekend, those teams are gonna have success, or give themselves opportunities to have success.”

Game one and two will be at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. If necessary, game three would take place at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Cornell has systematically made Lynah Rink inaccessible to most of its students. 

All told, it was an eventful year at Cornell, with many developments that will prove to have a long-term impact.

Intramural hockey will not return to Cornell until public outcry forces Cornell to devote more resources to it, according to Director of Intramural Sports and Noyes Recreation Center Scott Flickinger.

A petition to add public skating hours on weekends and after class times has not been met with action from Lynah Rink’s management. Additionally, the administration seemingly has no plans to bring back intramural hockey.