It’s hard to win hockey games in February.
Head coach Casey Jones ’90 has always known that, but last weekend — garnering only a combined two points against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union, both teams sitting below Cornell in the standings — was a good reminder.
“Everyone’s playing their best,” Jones said, “so you better be prepared to hunker down, be patient. And I think that’s something we've got to be a little bit better at, is be patient [with] ourselves, not to force things and just let the game come to us.”
Cornell is not alone — the margins are getting thinner in college hockey. Last Friday, the Red and the Engineers were not the only two teams that needed a shootout to settle scores — eight games across the NCAA ended in ties and went to a sudden-death shootout. In the ECAC alone, three of the four conference matchups concluded with a shootout.
It’s that time of year.
“100%,” Jones said when asked if there’s a playoff feel surrounding the final four games of the regular season. “Not only that, but you want to be playing your best hockey, right? You want to feel good about yourselves. … You want to iron it out [for] when you get to that one-and-done scenario. We want to be firing all cylinders.”
The Red’s blemishes in the Capital Region last weekend might have scrubbed its chances at securing its 12th Cleary Cup (the ECAC regular season championship), but plenty is still up for grabs. Perhaps most desirable for Cornell is a top-four finish in the conference standings, which would secure it an opening-round bye in the ECAC tournament and home ice in the quarterfinal round.
And to secure an NCAA tournament bid, Cornell must fare well in its final four regular-season games in order to solidify its position in securing an at-large bid to the national tournament. For the last two years, Cornell has been on the outside looking in for the NCAAs and has qualified for the postseason tournament only via the automatic bid from winning the ECAC tournament.
Standing in the way, first and foremost, is No. 5 Quinnipiac. The Bobcats currently occupy the top spot in the ECAC standings and are the victors of the last five Cleary Cups.
“They’re as good a team as we face,” Jones said. “All we want to do is make sure the other team earns everything they get. That's the one thing they can pounce on — your mistakes.”
The Red (17-7-1, 12-5-1 ECAC) heads to Hamden, Connecticut, for a matchup with Quinnipiac (24-4-3, 15-2-1 ECAC) at 7 p.m. Friday before making the trip to Princeton for a tilt with the Tigers (14-11-1, 10-8-0 ECAC) at 7 p.m. Saturday. All action will stream live on ESPN+, and live updates will be provided by @DailySunSports on X.
NPI Check-In
Despite its setbacks from last weekend, Cornell still sits solidly positioned in the national percentage index at 10th. Its opponent on Friday, Quinnipiac, is sixth, but checks in just 1.42 points ahead of the Red. Princeton, Saturday night’s opponent, is 32nd.
A road win over Quinnipiac would surely give Cornell a solid boost in its quest for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Matchups for fans of the Red to keep an eye on this weekend include Connecticut (12th) vs. Boston College (14th), Minnesota-Duluth (9th) vs. Miami (21st) and Wisconsin (15th) vs. Michigan (2nd).
Scouting the Opponents
As Jones said, Quinnipiac is one of the best, if not the best, teams Cornell has faced this season. The Bobcats are a top-five team in the country and received three first-place votes in the most recent USCHO.com poll.
Pacing the Bobcat offense is true freshman Ethan Wyttenbach, whose 51 points not only lead all Quinnipiac skaters, but the entire NCAA. Containing a player like that is no easy task — the Red knows that after Wyttenbach scored a goal at Lynah Rink on Jan. 17, contributing to the Bobcats’ 4-1 win over Cornell.
“His goal here, we’re on transition [and] we turn the puck over just outside the blue line,” Jones said of Wyttenbach’s goal. “That short transition [is what] we're trying to eliminate. They bounce on that. And he can make you pay. He's got a good shot.”
But Wyttenbach is just one of Quinnipiac’s many offensive weapons — five Bobcats rank within the top 50 in points in all of college hockey. That is also due to Quinnipiac’s ability to possess the puck — the Bobcats’ 56.5% faceoff win percentage is the best in the nation, just ahead of Cornell’s 55.4% clip.
Quinnipiac has been rolling a tandem at the goaltender position, as Matej Marinov and Dylan Silverstein have split duties in net for much of the season. Marinov is expected to face Cornell on Friday — in the Bobcats’ last three weekends, he has started the first game of each series.
“They're a really good line rush team, good faceoff team,” Jones said. “They build a lot of momentum off their power play … discipline is gonna be a big, big key for us on Friday.”
Things won’t get much easier on Saturday night. Princeton is also vying for a top-four finish in the ECAC standings. Princeton’s 31 points heading into the weekend have it sitting in fifth place, just trailing Harvard in fourth with 32.
Princeton’s physical style of play complements a reborn offense this year, as four Tiger skaters boast more than 20 points, with Kai Daniells leading the way with 15 goals and 29 points. He was held off the scoreboard, though, when Cornell snuck by Princeton, 2-1, at Lynah Rink on Jan. 16.
Aiding the Tigers in the hunt is another pair of games at home this weekend — Princeton is 11-2 at the historic Hobey Baker Rink this season.
“They're older, they're heavy, they play physical, so we [need] to be prepared,” Jones said. “It's a hard place to play. They've had a good home record this year.”
For Cornell, these two games will go a long way in determining its finish in the ECAC standings. According to PlayoffStatus.com, the Red has just a 3% chance of securing the top overall seed and the Cleary Cup. Any losses along the way will likely make that impossible.
The most probable outcome for Cornell is a third-place finish, with a 54% probability. But that’s not necessarily what’s on the team’s mind.
“We always try to stay focused here on the task at hand, which is a good Quinnipiac team on Friday, and make sure we just continue to polish up and make sure our habits and details are good down the stretch,” Jones said. “It's hard to win hockey games this time of year — that's a lesson we learned last week, and that's a lesson well-learned.”
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.
