A best-of-three quarterfinal series against Colgate.
That’s something that the men’s hockey seniors have done before.
Three years ago, Colgate defeated Cornell in three games in the ECAC quarterfinals at Lynah Rink. Though most of that team has since graduated, the buzz around the rink this week has revolved around that loss.
“Definitely,” said senior forward Kyle Penney, with a grin on his face, when asked if that 2022 series was on his mind. “That was obviously a tough one losing at home. So it'd be great to get one back on them.”
The game three loss for the class of 2025 still stands as their earliest exit as a member of the team. Since falling in the quarterfinals as freshmen, the seniors have since made it to both Lake Placid and the NCAA tournament twice. Both years, the team has been just one win shy of the Frozen Four.
Still, that series loss still stings.
“The seniors — [Colgate] ended our season freshman year, so [we’re] looking for a bit of revenge,” said senior defenseman Tim Rego, just a mere few minutes after the Red’s 5-1 win over Yale in the opening round.
“I heard one of the guys bring it up the other day,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “The seniors obviously remember.”
The 2021-2022 season, in many ways, resembles the 2024-2025 one. Although that team was taking the ice for the first time in over a year due to the cancellation of the 2020-2021 season, it struggled in ECAC play and crumbled down the stretch.
After winning game one on a late go-ahead goal, Cornell dropped the second two games in front of its home crowd. Much like it has done over many occasions this year, the Red outshot the Raiders on March 13, 2022, but fell, 2-1.
“It felt like it was gonna be one of those years where we could’ve done more, but it comes down to one game,” said Cody Haiskanen ’22 after the game that ended his collegiate hockey career.
Many could argue that this year’s Cornell squad could have accomplished more. The Red was projected to finish first in the ECAC after winning the Whitelaw Cup last season and falling one game — and one goal — short of national championship weekend.
But a season chock-full of injuries and inconsistency resulted in a sixth-place finish for Cornell. Unlike the 2022 series, the Red will have to make the brief trip to Hamilton, New York, for its series against the Raiders.
Throughout his 30 years tenure at the helm, Schafer has been to many places, and coached in many playoff games.
He’s never been to Colgate for a playoff series.
“It’ll be another new experience for me,” Schafer said. “We knew in early February that it was going to be tough to get that final [top-four] spot, so the guys have been prepared for this for a while.”
Then again, according to Schafer, he’d never hosted Yale for a playoff game. He’s never been to Clarkson or St. Lawrence or Dartmouth for the playoffs, either. Perhaps that’s the consequence of coaching such a dominant program — more often than not, the Red has hosted playoff games on home ice.
But despite the new experience, Cornell is not shying away from the opportunity. Colgate is a strong opponent, but the Red is leaning on its depth — something that has been scarce all season due to injury.
“[We need to] play the kind of hockey we’ve been playing over the last three weeks. We got a lot of guys back, we have depth,” Schafer said after the Yale game. “We just got to play together and play our game, and I think we’ll be fine.”
The Red split its season series against Colgate, defeating the Raiders in overtime at Lynah Rink on Dec. 6 before falling in Hamilton the next night.
Leading the charge for the Raiders is All-ECAC first teamer, Brett Chorske, alongside ECAC rookie team honoree Mike Neumeier and All-ECAC second team member Tommy Bersgsland. The latter two are defenseman, noted by Schafer as active contributors to the Colgate offense.
““[They have] a great transitional offense. They’ve got a bunch of forwards up front that can make plays. I think their defense [is] very involved,” Schafer said.
Colgate averages 3.3 goals per game, 13th-best in the country.
“You look at the guys on their team – Bergsland to Irwin, Fernandez to Neumeier. … They got a lot of goals, and so they get up on the ice on offense and they also will move their feet in the offensive zone,” Schafer said. “We have to do a good job of containing those guys, getting up on them, forcing them to give up pucks early.”
Cornell had a pair of players garner ECAC awards as well, with Rego making third team and junior forward Dalton Bancroft earning second-team honors.
The Red will face Colgate in a best-of-three series at the Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton, New York. Puck drop for Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s — if necessary — games is slated for 7 p.m.
