From here on out, the games all count. The men’s hockey team wrapped up its final non-conference play this weekend, splitting a pair of games with North Dakota. Cornell won the first, 1-0, on an early third-period goal supported by stingy defense and goaltending, but lost, 3-1, on Saturday as North Dakota pulled ahead in the third then scored an empty-netter to kill the Red’s comeback hopes.

A recent trend for the men’s hockey team has been to give up a few too many goals in highly-anticipated non-conference contests over Thanksgiving break, as the Red fell to Boston University in Madison Square Garden last year, 6-3. At unranked North Dakota this break, No. 12 Cornell suffered another Thanksgiving rout on Friday, 7-3, but came back to win the next day, 2-1.

“It was very similar to [Boston University], even in the score,” said senior forward Evan Barlow. “Madison Square Garden … seemed to go by really fast, and it was the same with Game 1 [at North Dakota]. We had a chance to settle in in Game 2, and it would probably have been the same if we played Boston University [a second time].”'