ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team announced today its schedule for the upcoming 2019-20 season, including the program's first-ever trip to Las Vegas, the seventh edition of Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden in New York, a non-conference visit from Northern Michigan, and the perennial rigors of an ECAC Hockey slate that concludes with a Senior Night clash with Clarkson.
2019-20 Cornell Men's Hockey Schedule
Fresh off the program's third consecutive berth to the NCAA tournament and its 23rd Ivy League championship, the Big Red will start off with a trip to Michigan State for two games Nov. 1-2. Cornell then opens its home slate and league play with a Nov. 8 visit from Brown in a rematch of last year's league semifinal in Lake Placid – one the Big Red dominated to the tune of a 6-0 victory. Another Ivy League foe, Yale, visits the following night.
The first ECAC Hockey road trip of the year is the same as the final one of last season – a swing to the North Country. A rematch of the league championship game ensues on Nov. 15 at Clarkson before a quick jaunt west to St. Lawrence the next night. Cornell returns to Ithaca the following weekend to host Quinnipiac on Nov. 22 in a match-up of last year's co-Cleary Cup champions. Princeton awaits the next night in the final home game for nearly eight weeks.
Red Hot Hockey returns to Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 30, with Cornell looking to retain the Kelley-Harkness Cup after a 4-3 victory over Boston University in the teams' last regular-season meeting in 2017. The Big Red then closes out the first semester in the same fashion as it did last season, traveling to Harvard (Dec. 6) and Dartmouth (Dec. 7).
After a four-week hiatus for final exams and the semester break, the Big Red will embark on the program's first trip to Nevada for the Ice Vegas Invitational. Cornell will join Ohio State, Providence and Army West Point at the tournament, though the specific matchups for the Jan. 3-4 games have not yet been announced. A stretch of seven straight games away from Lynah Rink concludes the following weekend with a trip to Rensselaer (Jan. 10) and Union (Jan. 11).
The Big Red's final non-league games in the regular season will also open a season-high four straight at home, starting with a pair of contests Jan. 17-18 against Northern Michigan. Cornell swept a two-game set last year in Marquette, Michigan, setting the stage for the rematch in the Wildcats' first-ever visit to Lynah Rink.
With the start of the spring semester nearing, Cornell will turn its attention exclusively to ECAC Hockey play for the balance of the regular season. Dartmouth visits on Jan. 24, then Harvard follows Jan. 25 in a rivalry game that's always hotly contested. The Big Red hits the road the following week, trekking to Quinnipiac (Jan. 31) and Princeton (Feb. 1).
The annual series against Colgate will once again be contested as a home-and-home, first on Friday, Feb. 7 at Lynah Rink before shifting over to Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton on Saturday, Feb. 8. Four of the Big Red's final six games then come at home, starting with a Feb. 14 contest against Union and a visit from Rensselaer the following night. The team's final Ivy League contests are Feb. 21 at Yale and Feb. 22 at Brown before a return to Ithaca for a game against St. Lawrence on Feb. 28. Cornell hosts its annual Senior Night game a day later against Clarkson.
As usual, Cornell will tune up with the annual Red/White Game and a pair of exhibitions before the start of the regular season. Red/White is slated for Saturday, Oct. 19, with an exhibition against Ontario-based Nipissing shortly thereafter at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 20. The final tune-up comes against the U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-18 team on Saturday, Oct. 26.
