Heading into its 2024-2025 campaign, No. 8 men’s hockey was already down three key players — junior forward Winter Wallace, sophomore forward Luke Devlin and sophomore defenseman George Fegaras.
Then, in its opening series against North Dakota, it lost junior forward Ondrej Psenicka.
When Cornell traveled east for a costly series against Dartmouth and Harvard, it traveled without senior forward Sullivan Mack. Against Harvard, it lost freshman defenseman Nick Wolfenberg.
Battered-up Cornell managed just two out of a possible six ECAC points in its first away trip, falling to Dartmouth on a late goal and besting Harvard in a shootout.
The injury bug has infected the Red and has been unrelenting early on.
“There’s no question that injuries are playing a factor,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “You can handle it for a short period of time, but to be 3-1-2 and still struggling with this and trying to get through it — It’s been a challenge, and it will be a challenge probably until mid-January sometime.”
The Red (3-1-2, 1-1-2 ECAC) are gearing up to host No. 18 Quinnipiac (5-5-0, 2-2-0 ECAC) on Friday before welcoming Princeton (1-2-1, 1-2-1 ECAC) to Lynah Rink on Friday night.
Schafer noted Psenicka could return this weekend, although the lineup won’t be solidified until Friday.
Cornell is expecting a pair of defensive-minded matchups — both the Bobcats and the Tigers average fewer than three goals allowed per game so far this season.
“Defensively, they outnumber you in your own zone,” Schafer said. “I think Quinnipiac has got more new players than they’ve had in the past, so they’re in the process of trying to create their identity. And Ben [Syer]’s doing the same thing with Princeton.”
Before Cornell welcomes former associate head coach Ben Syer back to East Hill, it’ll have to get through 2023 National Champion Quinnipiac, although the makeup of the Bobcats’ roster is almost entirely different than it was atop the NCAA two seasons ago. Just two players from that National Championship team remain.
An area to watch for the Bobcats is their always-lethal power play — the Bobcats are converting on a 25 percent clip so far, good enough for top-10 in the NCAA. Notably on the forward line for Quinnipiac is Jeremy Wilmer, a junior transfer who spent two years with Boston University.
“They’ll play hard, they’ll be strong defensively, they’ll be good on special teams, and it’s just more the same,” Schafer said. “You can go say that about every team that’s going to come in this year. … For us, I think that getting into these [conference] games, we need to do a few things better than what we’ve been doing.”
The Quinnipiac test will be the first of two matchups between the Bobcats and the Red in just eight days — on Nov. 30, the two teams will meet again under the lights at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the Frozen Apple.
The first matchup at Lynah will be a good introduction to the Bobcats and all they have to offer.
“Usually you play those games early, and then you see a team [again] late, and teams really morph. But this is going to be a situation where there’s not going to be as big a jump of improvement from week to week,” Schafer said.
“We do a lot of video here — all four of our coaches break down video a lot, and they’re very good at what they do,” sophomore forward Ryan Walsh said. “So we’re going to be able to get a lot of good video for MSG and have an expectation going into that game at MSG, but both will be tough games.”
As for Princeton, it’ll be a familiar face behind the Tiger bench.
“They’re obviously very well-coached,” Walsh said, with a grin.
Syer spent 13 years at Cornell including 12 as associate head coach under Schafer. Known for his highly touted defensive structure, Syer and his Princeton team will undoubtedly pose a tough test for the Red’s offense.
After allowing nine goals in its first two games, the Tigers have surrendered just two in their most recent two tests.
“It’ll be a tough game, it’ll be a defensive game, and I’m assuming it’ll be a low-scoring game, and hopefully we come out on top,” Walsh said.
Cornell will play Quinnipiac at Lynah Rink at 7 p.m. on Friday before hosting Princeton at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+.