No. 12 men’s hockey hosted its most anticipated opponent of the season in front of a 4267-spectator crowd on Saturday night. After taking down Harvard 3-1 in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Nov. 7, expectations had been set high for a home-turf victory.
The Red did not disappoint. En route to a 4-1 win, Cornell saw its freshman netminder step up, had an offensively explosive second period and met the hopes of the high-energy Lynah Faithful.
Cournoyer Came Ready to Play
On Friday night, freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer failed to save the first shot he saw, allowing a first-period goal for a ninth consecutive appearance. Against Harvard, Cournoyer finally vanquished his first-period demons, stopping all nine shots he faced in the opening frame.
His early saves weren’t all pretty — midway through the period, the Crimson came inches away from extending the streak to 10 games when a second-chance effort wrung off the post — but Cournoyer stood tall through a brief penalty kill, multiple heavily screened shots and a minute of four-on-four play spent largely in the Cornell defensive zone.
After seemingly losing his monopoly on the position after allowing four goals to Clarkson in early December, Cournoyer made his fourth consecutive start on Saturday and rewarded his coaches’ trust by saving 17 of the 18 shots he faced.
- Eli Fastiff
Kraft Stays Hot
Junior forward Jake Kraft entered the weekend with two goals on his 2025-2026 stats sheet. After an explosive series, that number stands at five.
Kraft scored both of Cornell’s goals on Friday, one shorthanded and one in overtime, to secure the 2-1 victory over the Big Green. His breakout didn’t end there — on Saturday, he converted a pass fielded from behind the net by junior forward Ryan Walsh to put the Red on the board midway through the second period, a goal that would begin Cornell’s mid-game dominance.
Kraft found a spot in a new top line alongside Walsh and freshman forward Gio DiGiulian against Dartmouth, and the trio held steady against the Crimson. The Kraft-Walsh one-two punch, a “chemistry” noticed by head coach Casey Jones ’90, has proved fruitful so far.
- Alexis Rogers
Second Period Siege
Friday’s game against Dartmouth was a frustrating one for Cornell offensively, as the Red’s expected goals were 4.2 per College Hockey News, starkly different from the two goals that wound up on the scoreboard. Jones noted that his team had not “exploded” on offense as of late (Cornell had not scored more than two goals in a single period since Jan. 10), but was proud of his team for eking out the 2-1 result.
Saturday’s game was a different story, and a mid-game offensive onslaught by Cornell rewrote the script. After a relatively quiet first period, Cornell exploded for three second-period goals to pull away from the Crimson.
Bolstered by two strikes in just 23 seconds, the Red broke open the game, something it hadn’t been able to do the night prior. Kraft, junior defenseman George Fegaras and freshman forward Aiden Long all lit the lamp in the middle frame.
It was not just the scoreboard that displayed Cornell’s dominance — the Red outshot the Crimson 12-4 and attempted 27 shots compared to Harvard’s six. Three of the Crimson’s shot attempts came from above the faceoff circles, as Cornell did a superb job of keeping Harvard to the outside and clearing the space in front of Cournoyer.
- Jane McNally
The Class of 2029 Meets the Moment
The date of the Harvard game gets circled on the calendar by nearly everyone in the Cornell men’s hockey community, players included. And while the opportunity to play in front of a roaring Lynah Rink crowd after the fish fly is one that the Red looks forward to, it can also lead to frustration.
From 2020 to 2024, Cornell went winless against Harvard in Ithaca. The struggle of keeping emotions in check while battling the Red’s biggest rival showed through reckless penalties and heartbreaking overtime losses.
That wasn’t clear from watching this year’s freshman class. Alongside Cournoyer’s impressive performance, Long scored a goal and assisted on another, while freshman defender Xavier Veilleux and freshman forward Reegan Hiscock each tallied assists of their own.
The strong performance from Cornell’s rookies is a good sign for Jones’ squad’s playoff hopes. While playoff experience is always important in the ECAC and NCAA tournaments, the ability to rise to the occasion in key games can’t always be taught. Against Harvard, the Red’s freshmen proved themselves to be big-game ready.
- Eli Fastiff
