The final weekend of the regular season has arrived. At Lynah Rink, no less.
“The last couple [home] weekends have been unbelievable,” said head coach Casey Jones ’90. “I'm expecting that again this weekend and in the playoffs, but I think there's a lot at stake still.”
That there is — Cornell’s hopes for a 12th Cleary Cup were dashed last weekend after a 4-2 loss to Princeton. Still, Cornell can finish as high as second in the ECAC — its highest finish since 2023-2024 — with a pair of wins and a little out-of-town help.
However, the Red can also finish as low as fourth.
“We need some help,” Jones said of the standings. “Who knows? Maybe it comes this weekend, you never know. So we just want to take care of ourselves.”
In the way of Cornell and a second place finish are two North Country teams that have strung together impressive wins down the stretch. Both St. Lawrence and Clarkson are victors of their last three games and are fighting to finish no worse than eighth in the standings, which would secure them home ice for the ECAC playoffs.
“More or less for us, [we need to be] taking care of business here, playing to our strengths and our identity on the weekend,” Jones said. “Because we got two teams coming in who are playing pretty well.”
“It's a big weekend for us,” added senior defenseman Jack O’Brien. “If you look at our past eight games, on the road, it's been a grind. It's a big momentum weekend leading into the playoffs. So if we can get both wins, it'll be huge.”
Cornell will host its final regular-season games at Lynah Rink and close out the 2025-2026 regular season slate with matchups against St. Lawrence on Friday and Clarkson on Saturday for a pair of 7 p.m. puck drops. All action can be streamed on ESPN+, and live updates will be provided by @DailySunSports on X.
The Permutations
Cornell can clinch at least the third seed in the ECAC playoffs if one of four possible scenarios plays out, per PlayoffStatus.com.
First case: if Cornell beats St. Lawrence in any fashion, it will finish no worse than third. In fact, as the second case indicates, the Red will clinch the third seed as long as it doesn’t lose in regulation to St. Lawrence — an overtime or shootout loss would suffice as well.
The third and fourth cases depend on out-of-town results: independent of its own game, Cornell automatically earns the third spot if Princeton loses to Harvard, or if Harvard loses to Princeton in overtime or a shootout.
Following Friday, new numbers will be available to determine whether Cornell can secure the second overall seed.
This article will be updated following the conclusion of Friday’s games.
NPI Update
Cornell ranks 10th in the NCAA Percentage Index heading into the weekend. The Red’s upcoming opponents trail it substantially in the standings — St. Lawrence ranks 60th in the nation, despite riding a three-game winning streak, and Clarkson is 42nd.
Cornell is in a solid position to make the NCAA tournament — besides the six bids reserved for the winners of the six conference championships, the remaining ten teams with the highest NPI are picked.
Games to watch include Quinnipiac (7th) vs. Dartmouth (11th), Boston College (12th) vs. Boston University (28th), Denver (9th) vs. Arizona State (38th), and Minnesota Duluth (8th) vs. Colorado College (32nd).
Scouting the Opponents
The Red is familiar with the Golden Knights and Saints — Cornell met the North Country opponents in early December, falling to Clarkson 4-1 and routing St. Lawrence 7-2 the following night.
It has been a troublesome year for St. Lawrence, though things have been looking up for head coach Brent Brekke’s squad as of late. Sitting third-to-last in the ECAC, the Saints’ slow start has culminated to just seven wins this season (six in ECAC play). However, in the past seven games, St. Lawrence is 5-2-0, heading into Lynah Rink red-hot.
The Saints’ top two forward lines have been effective, factoring into 58% of the team’s scoring. However, depth production has been hard to come by for St. Lawrence — that may be the reason why the Saints have been outscored 215-358 by opponents.
The situation in net has also been a problem for the Saints. St. Lawrence has tried all three goaltenders, but junior Cameron Smith has been strong as of late, boasting a 2.96 goals against average and a .916 save percentage.
The Golden Knights are propelled by their top line of Owen Van Steensel, Ryan Bottrill and Talon Sigurdson. The trio has accounted for nearly 30% of the team’s scoring, and Bottrill leads the team with 35 points (nine goals, 26 assists) in 32 games played.
Despite winning the past three games, the Golden Knights have struggled down the stretch, going 3-4-3 in the team’s last ten games, losing to Harvard, St. Lawrence, Princeton and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, all of which sit in the bottom half of NPI rankings.
Senior Celebration
Following the conclusion of the season finale, Cornell will celebrate its five seniors: goaltender Remington Keopple, forwards Winter Wallace, Nick DeSantis and Sean Donaldson and defenseman O’Brien.
As per tradition, the soon-to-be-graduates will skate their final laps around Lynah Rink.
“I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm a little nervous, honestly,” O’Brien said of his farewell lap. “It should be a fun weekend. It's kind of surreal that it's already here.”
This senior class, though Jones has known them for only about a year, has been crucial in acclimating a large group of 14 new players, including 12 freshmen.
“We have a lot of young players playing, but ultimately, they're a little bit [like] passengers that are helping out,” Jones said. “It's your older players who are going to pull you along. We'll need to pull from these guys, whether it's on the ice or in the locker room. They know what it takes to win this time of the year, they're experienced with that.”
It won’t be the last games these seniors play on Lynah Rink ice — Cornell will host an opponent to be determined in the ECAC quarterfinals on March 20-22 — but all five skaters will be cherishing every last minute they have together.
“[It’s a] tough weekend here, but we're excited,” Jones said. “We're excited to play for the seniors, excited to kind of get after it for the weekend, close out here on a good note.”
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.
Eli Kwait is a reporter on The Sun’s hockey beat. He is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. You can follow him on X @EliKwaitand reach him at ekwait@cornellsun.com.
