More than 200 days since men’s hockey skated off after an NCAA regional final defeat to Boston University, it will finally take the ice once again — this time christening a new season and head coach.
No. 20 men’s hockey will open its 2025-2026 campaign with a two-game road series against No. 13 University of Massachusetts. The Red has taken on the Minutemen in each of the last two seasons, but much of Cornell’s roster will be experiencing either their first collegiate minutes or first action in a Carnellian sweater.
“I'm pretty excited about our team,” said junior forward Jonathan Castagna. “I think we have a lot of young talent, and it's just a matter of time before everybody starts picking everything up, and then we can become a pretty deadly unit.”
Both teams are ranked in the top-20 in the country, and both boast strong crops of future NHL talent — Cornell has nine NHL draft picks on its roster, with Massachusetts trailing just behind with seven.
Cornell’s young talent was on full display during its two exhibition matchups — of the 12 goals the Red scored across both games, five came off the sticks of players that did not play for Cornell in the 2024-2025 season.
“[We’ve] still got to tighten up a little bit, get some consistency shift to shift, and just trust the process,” said head coach Casey Jones ’90. “But another good week of practice, hopefully we'll make another few strides and get more in sync there with all the new guys.”
While the Red has been limited to practice and a pair of exhibition contests, Massachusetts (5-2-0, 0-1-0 Hockey East) is nearly a month into its regular season. Due to the Ivy League’s restrictions on start dates and game limits, Cornell regularly begins its seasons against out-of-conference teams having already played 4-6 games — last year, the Red took on a North Dakota squad that was five games into its season, and the same was the case when Minnesota Duluth visited Ithaca in 2022-2023.
“It's usually a fast pace right out of the gates,” Castagna said. “I think we're pretty fortunate that the U.S. [Under-18] team was playing pretty fast and strong, so we got a little bit of a taste.”
Strength and physicality should be one of the primary themes of the weekend — Massachusetts and Cornell are the two tallest teams in college hockey, with the Minutemen leading the pack at an average height of 6’1.9” and the Red trailing just behind at 6’1.7”.
Both teams also rank in the top-10 in average weight — Cornell’s average of 195.3 pounds ranks second in the nation, while Massachusetts weighs in at 193.8 and ranks seventh.
“It’s gonna be a game where we’re playing some good size,” Jones said. “We're gonna get a good pace, they bring pucks hard to the net. They usually have extremely active defensemen, and it looks like the same thing on tape.”
Much of the tape Cornell is examining comes from its last two matchups against Massachusetts — the Red has defeated the Minutemen in back-to-back years, but neither have come at either team’s home rink. Last year, Cornell defeated Massachusetts, 4-2, at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona for the annual Desert Hockey Classic. The year before, the Red just eked past the Minutemen in a shootout in the semifinals of the Adirondack Winter Invitation held in Lake Placid, New York.
Though the teams will once again meet, neither look much like how they used to. Cornell lost 13 players from its 2024-2025 roster, including Ian Shane ’25 in net and a crucial offensive weapon in Dalton Bancroft ’26. On the other end, Massachusetts is dealing with the early departures of four of its top-five scorers in 2024-2025.
“They had some turnover too. They have a couple of guys producing at a high level there,” Jones said. “I think our guys are going to be disciplined with them and make sure we're just aware of when they’re on the ice.”
Jones noted Jack Musa — who currently leads all Minutemen skaters in both goals (six) and points (12) — as a key player to contain. Also leading the way for Massachusetts will be its 6’7” goliath in net, Michael Hrabl, who posted a .924 save percentage last season and already has a 39-save performance under his belt this year.
“It's tough, they’ve played a little bit, so they're probably gonna be a little bit more seasoned than us,” Jones said. “We're making sure we’re dialed into what we have to do.”
With 31 players on its roster, there will be some juggling of Cornell’s lines and skaters heading into the opening weekend. The Red’s top power play unit over the first two games — featuring Castagna, junior forward Ryan Walsh, freshman forward Caton Ryan, sophomore forward Charlie Major and junior defenseman George Fegaras — looked strong and could remain intact.
Perhaps the largest question that has gone unanswered thus far is who will be between the pipes — senior goaltender Remington Keopple and freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer split the two exhibition games almost evenly, and one of the two could be expected to get the nod, though that decision has not yet been made by Jones.
“We're comfortable in net,” Jones said. “They're going to get their feet wet and get some consistency here heading into season, and we'll see who can step up to task.”
For Cornell, the matchup against a strong Hockey East team — away from Lynah Rink — will mark the culmination of a long preseason’s work.
“I think for new guys, it'll be a little bit of an adjustment towards the beginning of the game, and that's on us older guys to try to set the tone and get them ready for what they're going to expect coming out of the gates,” Castagna said. “But I'm not too worried about it. I think we have a really quick team and a big team, so we'll be able to live up to that physical standard and hopefully be able to hit the ground running.”
Cornell will open the 2025-2026 season against Massachusetts on Friday and Saturday at Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. Puck drop is for slated for 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday, and all action will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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.
