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There aren’t many teams hotter than men’s hockey right now.
No program in NCAA Division-I hockey this season has gone unbeaten longer than Cornell (15-4-4, 10-4-2 ECAC), which enters this weekend on a 12-game heater for its penultimate home slate against Ivy foes Brown (8-13-2, 6-9-1 ECAC) and Yale (10-13-1, 7-9-1 ECAC).
Two victories this weekend would secure Cornell at least a share of the Ivy League title, crowning it as champion for the second-straight year.
“That Ivy League rivalry always adds an extra edge to [Brown and Yale],” said junior goaltender Ian Shane. “They’re gunning for us.”
The two latest wins strung along by Cornell include a road sweep of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union on Friday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 10.
“Anytime you go on the road [and] you get two wins, it is really important. We learned a little bit more about ourselves,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86.
The two victories saw Cornell garner a pair of ECAC weekly awards –– freshman forward Jonathan Castagna received Forward of the Week honors after a five-point weekend, while Shane received the MAC Goaltending Goaltender of the Week award after posting a .955 save percentage in the pair of wins.
“Our guys are catching on,” Schafer said. “They know that, even though it’s a 4-1 win at RPI, it was a difficult game. And, even though it was a 6-1 win at Union, it was a difficult game. So, they know going in[to this weekend] it’s going to be difficult.”
The Capital District weekend saw a complete offensive domination, as the Red outscored RPI and Union by a 10-2 margin. Over its 9-0-3 undefeated stretch, Cornell has vanquished its opponents, notching 46 goals and surrendering just 18 against.
“The [team is] giving me a lot of confidence in front,” Shane said. “I think they have definitely found their scoring groove and we’re having a lot of [offensive] zone time.”
This weekend’s slate will mark the first series between Cornell and its eastern Ivy rivals since Nov. 3 and 4, where the Red picked up a 3-1 win over Yale and a 7-1 shellacking of Brown en route to a 4-0 start to its season.
However, no team appears quite the same now as it did back in November.
“I think we’ve changed a lot. I didn’t think that we played particularly well,” Schafer said on his team’s first meetings with the Bears and the Bulldogs. “And they’re totally different. I think both teams are playing with way more confidence.”
“I wouldn’t say we were cocky [going into that weekend], but I think we definitely had a confident demeanor,” Shane said in regard to the team’s first meetings against Yale and Brown. “We overlooked them a little bit coming off of the [Minnesota] Duluth series.”
Brown, which will take the ice at Lynah Rink on Friday, has accumulated just one win in its last five contests. It boasts a few impressive victories, including wins over Dartmouth and Clarkson, but poses the worst offense in the country, mustering just 2.26 goals per game.
The second-worst offense statistically in the country belongs to the Bulldogs, which the Red will take the ice against on Saturday. Despite its offensive woes, Yale has held strong with many of its opponents –– particularly evident in its one-goal loss to Quinnipiac earlier this year.
“It’s going to be difficult. They play hard, they have good goaltending, their special teams are there,” Schafer said. “They’re in every game. All the way through.”
Saturday will certainly be a duel of goaltenders, as it’ll be Shane versus Yale’s Jack Stark. Both goaltenders have been lights out since the calendars turned to 2024 –– Shane has posted a .930 save percentage across his 2024 appearances, while Stark has the slight edge with a stellar .950 average. Both goaltenders have played in all ten of their team’s second-half games.
Stark, who has overtaken the starters’ crease for the Bulldogs as a freshman, has been superb for a rebuilding Yale squad. Despite dropping five of his first six starts in the early stages of his 2023-24 campaign, Stark has quickly rebounded and poses a .926 save percentage overall –– leading all ECAC goaltenders. Only one of his eight wins has seen Stark allow more than two goals, while the netminder has posted two clean sheets.
The second-best save percentage by an ECAC goaltender belongs to none other than Shane, who yields a solid .922 percent.
Shane was recently tabbed a Mike Richter Award finalist on Wednesday after his initial watch-list appearance back on Jan. 12. Shane has shined between the pipes for Cornell, leading the nation with a 1.62 goals against average and ranking ninth-best in save percentage. The goaltender of record in all but two of the Red’s contests this season, Shane bolsters a 15-2-4 record.
“When we get off to these early leads, it gives me a lot of confidence to know I can step out of the net or maybe make an extra play or be a little more aggressive. … If we’re trying to fight for a lead or trying to come back in the game, I probably wouldn’t be as aggressive on [those plays],” Shane said. “That gives me confidence going into the later parts of the games, and I think it also gives [the team] confidence.”
Cornell will look to tap into its offense this weekend –– particularly, the power play. Despite notching an extra-man goal in each of its last five games, the Red has left many man-advantage opportunities on the table.
“I think the power play has been awful,” Schafer said. “We’ve got to get more goals like we scored at Union, where we get rebounds down by the net. You can’t count on great plays [all the time.”
“You’ve got to have shots, have rebounds, have tips, have deflections, and that’s what’s been missing from our power play a little bit,” Schafer said.
With two of its last three weekends of the season at home, the Red will aim to wrap a bow on what has been a picture-esque second-half.
“Our guys have responded all the way. So, we’ll look for them to come home this weekend and, much like the [Feb. 2] St. Lawrence and [Feb. 3] Clarkson games, utilize the crowd’s energy and get ready to play,” Schafer said.
Cornell will take on Brown and Yale at Lynah Rink on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Puck drop for both games is slated for 7 p.m.