GALLERY: Men's Hockey Falls to Boston University in Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden
See all the action in photos by hockey beat photographer Grady Millones.
See all the action in photos by hockey beat photographer Grady Millones.
“You look through all the years, it's the legacy, right? You come to these programs for the tradition.”
“Get[ting] that opportunity in front of our fans and in front of our alums … it's a good rivalry here, and [an] important game for us, important game for them.”
No. 17 Men’s hockey will face No. 19 Boston University in the biennial Red Hot Hockey matchup at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The win caps off Cornell’s four-game homestand, which the Red controlled handily — outscoring opponents 17-5 en route to 12 crucial ECAC Hockey points.
“We use the term all the time: hungry dog gets fed,” Jones said. “If you lay back and you're not hungry, you'll lose an edge. We have to come back with the same intensity and the same mindset to close out this homestand.”
“It's a tough league, and it's tough to win on the road, so you want to win at home,” Jones said. “And the old adage is that winning at home and splitting the road puts you in a really good place. … It’s gonna be a challenge this weekend, for sure.”
Dryden’s legacy runs deeper than his prowess in goal. Dryden’s teammates, friends and family members gathered as Cornell faced Brown to honor the memory of not just a standout athlete, but a stand-up man.
“Extremely weird game. It’s one of those things that it's kind of out of your control. You try to not let it affect you."
“You want to close it out, especially for the goalie who made some good saves for you. But, you know, it's also nice that you can have some teaching things come over with a ‘W,’ and we'll take advantage of that as a coaching staff.”
"We told our young guys they better be prepared for A games. We're not going to get a C game from anybody here this year. We're going to get their A games and we have to be ready.”
“I didn't think we had everybody ready to play at the drop of the puck,” Jones said.
“I think you can expect from us every night that we'll have a full 60 minutes of hockey, because that's just our identity, and that's our culture. We really pride ourselves on wearing teams down.”
Cornell will head east to open up ECAC play against archrival Harvard (1-0-1, 0-0-0 ECAC) on Friday, before heading up to Hanover, New Hampshire to face Dartmouth (2-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) on Saturday.
“It's going to take some time for us to get things ironed out and get us comfortable,” Jones said. “So to bounce back tonight and get it done on special teams — I was really excited as a coach.”
The two penalties Cornell took came in pivotal moments, and both turned into Massachusetts goals as the Minutemen eked past the Red, 2-1.
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.