Sixteen years ago, a crop of future NHL talent hit the ice at Lynah Rink for an exhibition matchup between Cornell and the United States Under-18 National Team. Players like Brandon Saad (an eventual two-time Stanley Cup champion), Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust and other eventual stars helped eke out a 3-2 win over the Red.
That was the last time men’s hockey lost an exhibition match.
On Saturday, Cornell defeated the U.S. NTDP, 5-4, closing out its preseason with a win and extending its unbeaten streak in the preseason to 30 games. Though that streak remains intact, it was far from a full 60 minutes from the Red.
“Not a very good team game for us,” said head coach Casey Jones ’90. “I really liked ourselves for the first 14-15 minutes [of] that third period. I thought we played our style of hockey. That's kind of how we have to play.”
Five different players scored for the Red, while the crease was shared by freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer (who earned the start) and senior goaltender Remington Keopple. Cournoyer stopped 10 of the 12 shots he saw, while Keopple made five stops and allowed two goals in relief.
While Cornell was quick to light the lamp in its first scrimmage against the Czech University Selects, it was the U.S. that struck first on Saturday. A pretty passing play culminated in a hard cross crease feed that found the stick of Victor Plante, who one-timed it through Cournoyer’s five-hole.
“[NTDP is] pretty good in transition. And the first two goals are straight, four-on-two, two-on-one, just us cheating the game and not being above pucks,” Jones said. “It's gonna catch us.”
Playing from behind for the first time all preseason, the Red amped up the pressure with a couple of strong shifts in its offensive zone. In all, Cornell fired 13 shots on NTDP netminder Brady Knowling in the opening period.
One of those shots came off the stick of junior forward Luke Devlin, who collected a pass from sophomore forward Charlie Major and made no mistake wristing over the shoulder of Knowling.
“I saw Charlie Major coming down, and he's pretty good at creating an offense, so I just kind of stayed and was patient,” Devlin said. “I just made sure to be there when he did something. So not too much there, just catch and release.”
Devlin, who missed all of last season due to injury, had a noticeable presence all preseason for the Red, as did senior forward Winter Wallace.
“It was good. I thought [Wallace] had some good shifts too just being physical and all that,” Jones said. “[Wallace] needed that game. That's Devlin's second game in a bit. So we had some guys need to get games.”
The first period was riddled with special teams, as the NTDP played a feisty game that resulted in Cornell taking some characteristic penalties in retaliation. A scrappy first period resulted in five minor penalties between both teams, a majority of which came after scrums.
After Cornell couldn’t convert on a two-man advantage — despite some strong passing plays along the perimeter — a pair of coinciding roughing penalties allowed for some four-on-four play. Cornell took advantage of the extra ice and secured its first lead of the game from junior forward Ryan Walsh’s rocket of a one-timer, which he launched from the slot following a nifty pass from junior forward Jake Kraft.
Cornell wouldn’t get to celebrate that lead for long — 21 seconds after Walsh’s tally, the U.S. roared back on a two-on-one rush and AJ Garcia deflected the puck over the shoulder of Cournoyer to knot things right back up. The 2-2 score would hold as time wound down on the first period.
Just under five minutes into the second period, Cornell would regain the lead. Walsh found junior Kraft in open space, who then dangled an NTDP defenseman and buried a backhand shot over Knowling to give the Red the lead with 15:26 left in the frame.
“I thought Jake Kraft was really good,” Jones said. “That’s [when we] played to our identity [and] how we have to play for the whole game.”
Following a stoppage at 9:28 of the second, Cournoyer — not long after an acrobatic glove stop — was removed from the game for senior goaltender Remington Keopple, ending Cournoyer’s night with ten saves on 12 shots and a couple of grade-A stops.
A pair of goals in just over three minutes gave Cornell some much needed breathing room. First, a power-play goal by Major gave Cornell the edge, before freshman forward Caton Ryan fired a puck from a low angle and just barely beat Knowling to make it 5-2.
Cornell appeared to take the 5-2 score into the final frame as time was expiring, but confusion struck with no time left as the U.S. beat Keopple just as the goal horn blared, supposedly sounding the end of the period.
Amid some uncertainty, the call on the ice was a goal, and a review by the on-ice officials confirmed the call. The goal officially came at 19:59.8 of the second period.
Cornell got back to its marquee style of play in the third but NTDP hunkered down to keep the game close, with Knowling making some strong stops in net. In all, Knowling stopped 32 of the 37 shots Cornell fired on net, going a perfect 15/15 in the third period.
The U.S. cut the score to 5-4 after pulling its goaltender for an extra attacker. The final 25 seconds following the score eventually passed amid some shaky defensive play by the Red, giving Cornell an exhibition win and some things to work on ahead of the regular season.
“We're on an odd man rush. We're shooting from the our side of the red line. Right back down the ice, all of a sudden it's a 5-4 game,” Jones said. “We did some weird things. So we just have to be smarter and manage the game better.”
“I think there's going to be a lot of video, a lot of teaching moments, which is good because they exposed everything,” Devlin said. “We can learn from it, because we have a lot of clear examples of what we can't be doing when we start the regular season.”
Tyler Goldberg contributed reporting.
Jane McNally is a senior editor on the 143rd editorial board and was the sports editor on the 142nd editorial board. She is a member of the Class of 2026 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. You can follow her on X @JaneMcNally_ and reach her at jmcnally@cornellsun.com.
