After a disappointing series opener the night before, No. 9 men’s hockey came to play in game two of the ECAC quarterfinals best-of-three with Harvard.
Leaping ahead to an early lead in the first period, the Red doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled its advantage while denying each of Harvard’s attempts to make it on the board. Cornell’s offense exploded while its blueline held strong, securing a dominant 4-0 victory and sending the series to game three.
Starting Strong
A massive component of the home-rink advantage is the home crowd. On Friday, the Lynah Faithful had to wait until midway through the second period to see the lamp lit for a Cornell goal — it didn’t need to be so patient in game two.
Senior forward Nick DeSantis’ early score, after just under six minutes of play, sent an already fired-up crowd into a frenzy. Junior forward Jake Kraft’s tally following a scramble near the net less than three minutes later added fuel to the excitement. With over 4000 spectators present to bear witness to a series-defining bout with its longtime rivals, fans of the Red had risen to the occasion.
The energy of the opening 20 minutes wasn’t confined to the bleachers. Cornell outshot Harvard 12-5 in the first period, a night-and-day difference from its six-shot performance the day before. Instead of playing catch-up, the Red got to defend a lead.
Perhaps it was the pressure of facing a challenge to the team’s spot in Lake Placid for the ECAC semifinals, the higher volume of fish thrown during Harvard’s entrance onto the ice or the undergraduate population’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities earlier in the afternoon. No matter the source, the palpable uptick in spirit from the stands and the bench alike manifested in flashy scoring, intense pressure and a team that looked like it was fighting for a title.
- Alexis Rogers
Cournoyer’s Perfect Night
In 1969, Ken Dryden ’69 became the first netminder to backstop a Red win over Harvard in the postseason, making his lone playoff appearance against Harvard in the ECAC championship game. After stopping 33 of 35 shots in a 4-2 win — and earning the moniker “Bill Russell with a stick” from the Boston media — Dryden was named the tournament’s MVP.
Fifty-seven years later — and a week after earning the ECAC’s Goaltending of the Year Award, an award which bears the name of the Big Kid — freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer put on a performance worthy of the man who adorns his mask.
A day after allowing a pair of goals in a historic postseason debut the night before, Cournoyer looked dominant, stopping all 16 shots he faced. Not only was the shutout the first of the netminder’s career and the first of the season for Cornell, but it marked only the second time the Red have shutout Harvard in the two teams’ 29 postseason meetings.
- Eli Fastiff
First Line Finesse
Anchored by Kraft’s two goals, Cornell’s top line of Kraft, junior forward Ryan Walsh and freshman forward Caton Ryan looked dominant in Saturday’s win.
While Cornell’s third line notched the game’s first goal, the first line accounted for the latter two. The first was one from just atop the crease, the culmination of the Red’s game plan of getting bodies to the net, something it strayed from in Friday night’s loss. On Saturday, Kraft stuffed one home to give Cornell a 2-0 lead just 8:28 into the game.
Later on in the second period, the first line forced a turnover, and Walsh and Kraft emerged on a two-on-one rush. Walsh dished a pass from right to left to Kraft, and Kraft fired away a blistering one-timer that Harvard goaltender Ben Charette had little chance of stopping, giving Cornell a 3-0 lead.
Those were the shots that wound up counting on the scoreboard, but Cornell’s top line generated no shortage of looks. The three forwards danced around Harvard defensemen, combined for 10 shots on goal and 15 shot attempts total.
The Red’s most prolific offensive weapons must continue to contribute if Cornell wants to win the deciding game three on Sunday and advance to ECAC championship weekend.
- Jane McNally
Kraft is Lethal Against the Crimson
On Jan. 23, Kraft was the hero of a 2-1 overtime home victory over Dartmouth, scoring both of the Red’s goals to begin the rivalry weekend. The next day, he came back to light the lamp against Harvard, and the week after, he extended his scoring streak to three games after finding the back of the net at Yale.
Since his three-game scoring streak, Kraft has proved a vital piece of the front line, but hadn’t scored again despite taking a personal season-high seven shots on Harvard in game one of the quarterfinals series.
That changed on Saturday. Kraft’s two-goal performance in game two means that over one-third of his goals this season — three of eight — have come against the Crimson. His success in front of the net buried Harvard into a three-goal deficit it wouldn’t be able to fight its way out of, securing another rivalry victory for the team and its Crimson-busting specialist.
- Alexis Rogers
Bonus:
Hold it Up: Stick Edition
Over the course of her four years attending games at Lynah Rink, Ashlyn Hutchinson ’26 has seen a lot. Spending her Friday and Saturday nights standing below the band in section A, she’s nearly been hit by a puck, but she’s never taken home a souvenir. That changed midway through the second period, when Harvard’s Michael Callow sent his stick careening towards the Cornell student section after a one-time shot attempt.
“I'm standing here and all of a sudden the stick goes flying into three pieces, and it comes across the glass, and right behind my friend,” Hutchinson said. “I was like ‘pay attention, it’s going to hit you in the head.’”
Luckily, Hutchinson’s friend Ella Tullar ’29 was able to dodge the twirling blade as it made its way into the bleachers. Once Hutchinson saw her friend was okay and she had the opportunity to take home a memento, the four-year season ticket holder sprung into action.
“I dove on it and said, ‘No! It’s mine,’” Hutchinson said. “There were a few [fans who tried to grab the stick] so that’s why I had to be like ‘No!’ I had first hand on it so it wasn’t a cheating ‘no,’ it was a real ‘no.’”
- Eli Fastiff
