Subscribe to The Sun’s hockey newsletter for playoff updates about the No. 1 teams in the country.
This post has been updated.
The top seed in the ECAC playoffs, No. 1 Cornell men’s hockey will face Princeton in a best-of-three series at Lynah Rink March 13, 14 and, if necessary, 15.
The winner will head to Lake Placid the following weekend for the ECAC semifinals.
The Tigers, who won just two league games in the regular season and posted a 4-20-5 record overall, swept No. 6 seed Dartmouth in Hanover to earn a trip to Ithaca. This marks Princeton’s only winning streak of the season.
After building a 4-1 lead, the Tigers allowed Dartmouth to climb back into the game and tie things up in the final seconds of regulation. But the Tigers found the OT winner to take game two 5-4 after a 4-3 overtime win in game one.
The Red beat Princeton in both of the teams’ meetings this season: a 5-1 win at Lynah in November and a 5-3 decision in New Jersey on Feb. 1.
The road win came the day after Cornell suffered an embarrassing 5-0 loss to Quinnipiac, and marked the beginning of a perfect 9-0 month of February. In the nine game stretch, starting with the win over the Tigers, Cornell outscored its opponents by an impressive 40-12 margin. The Red scored at least three goals in every game in February: five goals five times, four goals thrice and three goals once.
The quarterfinal series is set to get underway at 7 p.m. Friday at Lynah Rink. Game two is set for 7 p.m. Saturday. If the teams split the first two, game three will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday.
It promises to be a busy weekend of hockey in Ithaca: No. 1 Cornell women’s hockey is set to host Mercyhurst in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
Elsewhere:
5 Harvard def. 12 St. Lawrence (5-3, 7-1)
The Crimson blew by lowly St. Lawrence to earn a trip to Rensselaer for next weekend’s quarterfinals. Reilly Walsh and Jack Drury each scored two goals in the series clincher.
8 Colgate def. 9 Brown (3-0, 3-2 OT)
Colgate ended Brown’s season, defending its home ice in a game one shutout and potting an overtime winner in Saturday’s game. The Raiders will Clarkson in the quarterfinals.
7 Yale def. 10 Union (0-3, 4-1, 2-1 OT)
After the Bulldogs and Dutchmen split their first two games, game three went to double overtime, with the Bulldogs pulling out a 2-1 win after an apparent Union goal was wiped out because of goaltender interference. Yale will advance to take on Quinnipiac next weekend.
Quarterfinal matchups:
—11 Princeton at 1 Cornell
—8 Colgate at 2 Clarkson
—7 Yale at 3 Quinnipiac
—5 Harvard at 4 Rensselaer