Fresh off its Ivy League title celebration, men’s hockey is hungry for more.
In its penultimate regular season series, Cornell (16-4-5, 11-4-3 ECAC) will venture north for tough battles against Clarkson (15-14-1, 9-8-1 ECAC) and St. Lawrence (9-17-4, 9-8-1 ECAC).
The series marks the final road trip for the Red, which currently rides a 10-game winning streak in games away from Lynah Rink. Cornell hasn’t amassed a losing record on the road since the 2014-15 season.
The trip poses playoff implications. Cornell can officially clinch a first-round bye for the ECAC playoffs with at least one point in Friday’s game, or as long as Union doesn’t win in regulation on Friday.
“Our guys understand where we’re at,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “We can’t afford a slip-up.”
Though Cornell has been lethal in the second half of its season and is unbeaten in its last 14 games, the Red slipped up on Saturday, Feb. 17 when it tied Yale at home. Though the extra point in the shootout victory clinched the program its 26th Ivy League title, the tie weighs on Cornell and potentially jeopardizes its chances at an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
“We need to be ready for 120 minutes of hockey when we’re on the road,” Schafer said. “It’s a little bit easier on the road to stay really focused. … We can’t control whether we’re going to win or lose, but we can control whether we give our best effort in order to do that.”
Last time out against St. Lawrence and Clarkson, the Red commenced an offensive onslaught –– a 5-1 victory over St. Lawrence followed by a 7-2 annihilation of Clarkson sent the Empire State rivals a message.
“We took it to them here for our home game, so both teams are going to be looking for blood,” said sophomore forward Dalton Bancroft, who notched four points across the previous St. Lawrence and Clarkson games.
Bancroft has already surpassed his freshman year point totals, registering nine goals and 13 assists across 24 games in the 2023-24 season. His success with linemates junior forward Sullivan Mack and freshman forward Ryan Walsh cannot be understated.
“[I’m] just trying to find what I need to do on every given night, or what I have to do mornings to prepare [for the games],” Bancroft said. “[I] just make sure I’m consistent and [do] my best every night.”
Though the first clashes with Clarkson and St. Lawrence were prolific offensive showings, fans can expect a tightly-contested battle as both teams fight for a good playoff position.
“All of us as coaches [are] trying to find consistency and they’re probably doing the same thing,” Schafer said.
Clarkson, which the Red will faceoff against on Friday, is searching for that consistency –– the Golden Knights have dropped five of its last seven contests. It lost its composure against Cornell on Feb. 3, racking up multiple game misconduct penalties after the Red ran away with the game in the third period.
“They’re not going to give you an inch. You[‘ve] got to earn everything you get against them,” Schafer said.
Clarkson is coming off an emotional, come-from-behind overtime win against Harvard, rejuvenated by a strong performance by its freshman goaltender, Emmett Croteau. With its home-ice advantage, the Golden Knights pose a tough test.
“Obviously, their third home ranks get pretty busy when we’re in town just like every other spot,” Bancroft said.
Cornell will flip the page and face St. Lawrence on Saturday night for the Saints’ senior night celebration. Last year, St. Lawrence spoiled the senior festivities for the Red, handing Cornell a crushing 1-0 defeat on Feb. 18, 2023.
While St. Lawrence has come up short in five of its last eight games, one of the victories was a triumphant 3-1 victory over then-No.5 Quinnipiac on Feb. 9. Its upset win came in the Saints’ home rink, Appleton Arena, a notoriously formidable place to play.
“Oh, they [St. Lawrence] love playing us at home,” Bancroft said. “[And] they’re both really physical teams.”
Cornell will look to lean on the stellar play of its defensive backbone, junior goaltender Ian Shane, after he garnered his sixth ECAC MAC Goaltending Goaltender of the Week award on Feb. 12. Shane has been lights-out in his third season with Cornell, leading the nation in goals against average by a comfortable margin. Among goaltenders who have played over 1,000 minutes in 2023-24, Shane has allowed the fewest goals (36).
While critics point toward Cornell’s stifling defensive system as the reason for Shane’s numbers, the team is quick to defer its success to the Red’s mainstay in net.
“People say, ‘Well, it’s the system, ‘ or ‘It’s [the] team’. … But [Shane] makes big saves when we need them,” Schafer said. “He has that ability to set steel a game when he has to.”
In its final road series of the season, Cornell is looking to assert its dominance before returning for a senior celebration at Lynah Rink the following weekend.
“All [of St. Lawrence and Clarkson’s] games have been close for the majority of the year and that’s what we expect when we play up there,” Schafer said. “We [need to] absolutely [get] ready to get after this and play hard and let the chips fall where they may.”
Cornell will face Clarkson at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23 at Cheel Arena, before traveling to St. Lawrence on Saturday, Feb. 24 to play the Golden Knights at Appleton Arena.