2015-16 Men's Hockey Schedule

ITHACA, N.Y.— The fifth edition of Red Hot Hockey, 16 home contests, and games against both participants in last year's national title game highlight the 2015-16 men's hockey schedule, which was unveiled Friday afternoon in advance of the program's annual alumni game and Saturday's Racker Rivals Big Red Hockey event at Lynah Rink. The new campaign marks the 21^st season at the helm for Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey.
 
For the first time in program history, the Big Red will start off the season with a home-and-home series. The season-opening game on Friday, Oct. 30 will also mark the first time Cornell has ever played a game at Niagara in the teams' all-time series. The squads will then open the Big Red's home slate at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31 to kick off a stretch of four straight home games for Cornell. The Big Red has never lost in 10 meetings with the Purple Eagles at Lynah Rink. Junior goalie Mitch Gillam stole the show that last time these clubs convened, when he sealed a 4-2 victory in November 2013 with an empty-net goal.
 
ECAC Hockey play commences the following weekend. For a second straight year, Cornell starts off against Princeton and Quinnipiac — though this year's November meetings between the programs will be staged in Ithaca. The Big Red then turns its attention to regional rival Colgate for another home-and-home series, kicking off Friday, Nov. 13 at Lynah Rink before a rematch the following night at Starr Rink in Hamilton. Cornell's first two-game road trip of the season will be the same as its last one of the 2013-14 season, with visits to Yale on Friday, Nov. 20 and Brown on Saturday, Nov. 21.
 
The World's Most Famous Arena will once again be the venue for the Big Red's third non-league game of the season. Cornell and Boston University, the national runner-up a season ago, will meet for the fifth time in the last nine years when they square off in the biennial Red Hot Hockey game at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28 at Madison Square Garden in New York. In addition to two chapters of The Frozen Apple in 2012 and 2014, this will mark the fifth consecutive season that Cornell has played a game at Madison Square Garden.
 
After a Dec. 4-5 visit from St. Lawrence and Clarkson wraps up the fall semester portion of the schedule, the Big Red heads south for the annual Florida College Classic. Cornell opens the tournament at 4:05 p.m. Monday, Dec. 28 against defending national champion Providence at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla. The Big Red will then play either Boston College or Ohio State the following day. The Big Red then wraps up the non-league portion of its schedule at the friendly confines of Lynah Rink against Merrimack, with the programs playing a two-game series Jan. 8-9. The programs have only met twice in their history, with both teams grabbing a victory in the 1990s during the now-defunct Syracuse Invitational Tournament.
 
Conference play resumes Jan. 15-16 with a pair of games in New York's Capital District. Rensselaer hosts Cornell on the first night, then the Big Red will look to avenge last season's playoff series loss to Union the following night. Lynah Rink will be abuzz the following weekend for a pair of Ivy League games. After playing Dartmouth on Friday, Jan. 22, the highly anticipated rivalry game against Harvard will take place at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23. The Big Red defeated the ECAC Hockey champion Crimson in last year's meeting in Ithaca on the strength of junior forward Eric Freschi's goal in the final minute of the third period.
 
Cornell plays four consecutive road games just once during the 2015-16 season, all against league opponents — Clarkson (Jan. 29), St. Lawrence (Jan. 30), Quinnipiac (Feb. 5) and Princeton (Feb. 6). Four of the Big Red's final six games will be at home, including a pair of contests against Ivy League foes Brown and Yale on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13, respectively. Another Ancient Eight weekend awaits the Big Red the following week when it travels to Harvard and Dartmouth on Feb. 19 and Feb 20.
 
One again, the Big Red's final regular-season home games will be against Union and Rensselaer. After playing the Dutchmen on Friday, Feb. 26, Cornell will hold its annual Senior Night on Saturday, Feb. 27 against Rensselaer. It marks the sixth time in the last eight years that Cornell wraps up the home portion of its regular season with games against Union and Rensselaer.
 
The ECAC Hockey Championship will begin with a quartet of first-round playoff matchups from March 4-6. The quarterfinal stage will take place from March 11-13, then Lake Placid will play host to its third consecutive championship weekend March 18-19. NCAA tournament regionals are March 25-26 in Worcester, Mass. and Cincinnati, Ohio and March 26-27 in Albany, N.Y. and St. Paul, Minn. The Frozen Four will be held April 7-9 in Tampa, Fla.
 
Before the regular season, Cornell will hold the annual Red-White Scrimmage on Saturday, Oct. 17 before playing exhibition games against Ryerson on Saturday, Oct. 24 and Laurentian on Sunday, Oct. 25.