ITHACA, N.Y. — A newly formed line delivered the perfect exclamation point to the Cornell men's hockey team's four-game homestand sweep as juniors Luke Devlin and Ryan Walsh and sophomore Charlie Major combined for nine points in their debut as a unit, powering the No. 19-ranked Big Red to a 6-1 rout of RPI on Saturday night at Lynah Rink.

Walsh distributed a career-high four assists, Major contributed a goal and two assists, and Devlin notched his first multi-goal game at Cornell as the Big Red improved to 6-2-0 overall and 5-1-0 in ECAC Hockey play.

Devlin praised his new linemates after the game, noting the immediate chemistry the trio displayed.

"I thought we clicked really well tonight. We worked off each other really well," Devlin said. "They make your life really easy. For me, I don't have to do too much, just have to make sure I'm working hard and keeping up with them. Then they make a lot of great plays."

Cornell opened the scoring just 3:54 into the first period when junior forward Jake Kraft found the back of the net. Devlin extended the lead to 2-0 at 7:23 of the opening frame before RPI's Matthew Buckley cut the deficit to 2-1 late in the period.

The Big Red seized control in the second period, scoring twice to build a commanding 4-1 advantage. Devlin netted his second goal just one minute into the frame, then junior Jonathan Castagna converted on the power play at 17:13.

The power-play tally extended Cornell's streak of scoring with the man advantage to four games and came on crisp puck movement. Freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux started the sequence from the point, feeding Walsh at the left hashmark of the left faceoff circle. Walsh delivered a tape-to-tape pass to Castagna, who one-timed the puck past RPI goaltender Nate Krawchuk from the right hashmark.

"We're just executing what we planned before the game," Castagna said, crediting the power play's recent success to a focused approach. "We knew what we had to do. A focus of ours is getting more pucks to the net. Really focusing on just attacking all the time and we've been pretty successful at that. As long as we keep that up, we'll see continued success."

Major pushed the lead to 5-1 at 4:48 of the third period before Castagna sealed the victory with a short-handed goal with 6.2 seconds remaining. Sophomore defenseman Luke Ashton collected the puck and sent a long outlet pass to Castagna, who drew a slashing penalty on the play, and backhanded a shot into the top right corner.

Freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer continued his impressive start to his collegiate career, stopping 23 of 24 shots to improve to 6-1-0 on the season.

POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM CASEY JONES' 90, JONATHAN CASTAGNA, AND LUKE DEVLIN


GAME NOTES
• Cornell posted its seventh consecutive win over RPI, tied for the second-longest win streak over the Engineers in program history and the longest since a seven-game run from Nov. 10, 2001, to March 15, 2003.

LONGEST WIN STREAKS AGAINST RPI
Cornell Program History
• 8 games, March 9, 1974 – Feb. 13, 1979
• 7 games, Nov. 10, 2001 – March 15, 2003
• 7 games, Jan. 7, 2023 - Present
• 5 games, Jan. 2, 1964 – Nov. 29, 1967
• 5 games, Feb. 10, 2007 – Feb. 20, 2009

• The Big Red increased its commanding lead in the all-time series against the Engineers to 73-39-11. Cornell has won 10 of the last 11 meetings against its Empire State rival, netting 52 goals over the span (4.73 goals per game). All 10 of Cornell's victories have been by at least two goals.

• The Big Red extended its home win streak over RPI to six games, the second-longest in series history behind an 11-game stretch from Jan. 12, 1966, to Feb. 4, 1983. Cornell has outscored the Engineers 31-10 in the last six games at Lynah Rink.

LONGEST HOME WIN STREAKS VS. RPI
Cornell Program History
• 11 games – Jan. 12, 1966 – Feb. 4, 1983
• 6 games – Feb. 15, 2020 – Present
• 5 games – Feb. 19, 2000 – March 15, 2003

• Cornell's 6-2-0 start is its best through eight games since opening 7-1-0 in 2021-22. The Big Red have also won its first four home games for the first time since that season.

• Cornell has scored at least three goals in all seven games during its win streak over RPI, outscoring the Engineers 26-6 with an average margin of victory of 2.86 goals.

• The Big Red have scored a power-play goal in four consecutive games, its longest streak since scoring with the man advantage in five straight games from Jan. 27 to Feb. 10, 2024.

• Castagna's short-handed goal at 19:54 of the third period marked the latest short-handed goal on a non-empty net in regulation in program history, surpassing Mark Major's goal at 19:29 on Feb. 7, 1986 in a 7-4 win at St. Lawrence.

• Cornell has allowed 11 goals through eight games, tied for the second-fewest in program history and the fewest goals since 2004-05, when the Big Red also allowed 11. The program record is eight goals allowed, set in 1965-66.

FEWEST GOALS ALLOWED THROUGH FIRST EIGHT GAMES
Cornell Program History
• 8 goals, 1965-66
• 11 goals, 1967-68
• 11 goals, 2002-03
• 11 goals, 2004-05
• 11 goals, 2025-26
• 12 goals, 1910-11
• 12 goals, 1997-98
• 12 goals, 2019-20

• Cornell has not allowed more than two goals in any of its first eight games, marking the fourth time in program history the Big Red have accomplished the feat, joining the teams from 2019-20 (first 14), 1965-66 and 2004-05 (first 10).

LONGEST SEASON-OPENING STREAKS ALLOWING TWO GOALS OR LESS
Cornell Program History
• 14 games, 2019-20 (1.36 goals per game)
• 10 games, 1965-66 (1.10 goals per game)
• 10 games, 2004-05 (1.30 goals per game)
• 8 games, 2025-26 (1.38 goals per game)

• Freshman defenseman Hudson Gorski made his collegiate debut Saturday night and registered a plus-2 rating.

• Walsh became the fifth Division I player this season to have a four-assist game, joining Bemidji State's Kasper Magnussen, Boston University's Sacha Boisvert, North Dakota's Ben Strinden, and St. Thomas' Charlie Schoen. It marked the first time a Cornell player has had four assists in a game since Nick DeSantis accomplished the feat on Jan. 7, 2023, also against RPI.

DIVISION I PLAYERS WITH 4+ ASSISTS IN A GAME
This Season
• 4 assists, Kasper Magnussen, Bemidji State (Oct. 3, 2025, vs. Alaska Anchorage)
• 4 assists, Charlie Schoen, St. Thomas (Oct. 17, 2025, vs. Air Force)
• 4 assists, Ben Strinden, North Dakota (Nov. 1, 2025, vs. Minnesota Duluth)
• 4 assists, Sacha Boisvert, Boston University (Nov. 8, 2025, vs. Merrimack)
• 4 assists, Ryan Walsh, Cornell (Nov. 22, 2025, vs. RPI)

NEXT UP
Cornell returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 29, when it faces No. 18 Boston University (6-7-1, 4-4-0 Hockey East) in Red Hot Hockey at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The Big Red will look to retain the Kelley-Harkness Cup for a fourth consecutive time, having won each of the last four iterations of the biennial series.

Boston University salvaged a weekend split against No. 12 Northeastern on Saturday with a 4-3 overtime victory. Cole Hutson scored the game-winner with 52 seconds remaining in the extra period.