NEW YORK — Boston University sophomore forward Cole Eiserman factored on both goals as the No. 19-ranked Terriers defeated the No. 17-ranked Cornell men's hockey team 2-1 before 17,478 at Madison Square Garden in the 10th edition of Red Hot Hockey on Saturday night.

Eiserman assisted on Kamil Bednarik's first-period power-play goal before scoring the game-winner 5:24 into the third period on a sharp-angle shot that beat Cornell freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer through the five-hole.

The loss snapped Cornell's five-game win streak despite the Big Red (6-3-0) outshooting Boston University (7-7-1) by a 29-17 margin and holding a 52-41 advantage in shot attempts.

"We probably could have deserved a better fate tonight," said Casey Jones '90, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey. "Had opportunities to score, didn't take advantage of it. They got a couple breaks on their goals and it ends up being a 2-1 loss."

The Terriers struck first when Bednarik tipped in a centering pass from Eiserman at the edge of the goal crease 6:17 into the opening period, nine seconds after Cornell sophomore defenseman Michael Fisher was whistled for holding.

Cornell evened the contest late in the second period when freshman forward Reegan Hiscock finished off crisp, quick passes from junior forward Ryan Walsh and sophomore forward Charlie Major with five minutes remaining in the frame.

"On the goal, when you got a guy like [Walsh] on your line, he's going to make plays. He'll find you," Hiscock said. "For me, I was just right place, right time."

But Eiserman restored Boston University's lead early in the third period with his goal from a difficult angle.

"That's the first one I bet he wants back," Jones said of Cournoyer. "I'll be perfectly honest with you, that's pretty good for a freshman goalie in his eighth game. He wants that second one back, that's the game."

Cornell had one final chance with 1:54 remaining when Jonathan Morello was called for slashing just seven seconds after the Big Red had pulled its goaltender, creating a 6-on-4 advantage. Following a timeout, junior defenseman Hoyt Stanley ripped a shot from the point that struck the crossbar. Freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux had the only other shot attempt, which Boston University goaltender Mikhail Yegorov saved to preserve the victory.

"I'd like the shot that Hoyt took to be three inches lower and not hit the pipe," Jones said. "That's an area we can improve. We could have settled that down. We seemed rushed at the time. We had plenty of time to take advantage."

Cornell's power play, which had scored in four consecutive games, was unable to break through against Boston University's penalty kill, going 0-for-4 on the night. The Terriers, meanwhile, converted once on three power-play opportunities.

"It's a game where we lost the special teams battle, which is never good," said Walsh, Cornell's junior captain. "We had opportunities and came up short."

Yegorov finished with 28 saves for the Terriers, who earned their first Red Hot Hockey victory in five tries. Cournoyer made 15 saves in the setback.

Despite the result, Jones remained focused on his team's process-oriented approach with two games remaining before the winter break.

"We won't lose sight of the fact that we played pretty good in a lot of spurts tonight," Jones said. "We're trying to be a three-and-a-half, four-goal-a-game team. That's what we want to be."

GAME NOTES
• Cornell's five-game win streak came to a halt as the Big Red dropped its first Red Hot Hockey game since tying Boston University 3-3 and losing in a shootout in 2015.

• Saturday's attendance of 17,478 was the largest for Red Hot Hockey since a sellout crowd of 18,006 in 2013.

• Cornell has now allowed just 13 goals through nine games, its fewest total since 2019-20 when the team yielded 12 goals. It marks the seventh time in program history the Big Red have conceded 13 goals or fewer through the first nine games.

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

• Walsh extended his recent offensive surge with an assist, giving him nine points in his last five games.

• Hiscock became the 12th Cornell freshman to score at Madison Square Garden since freshmen became eligible for varsity competition in 1975-76. Eleven of the 12 instances have occurred since 2007.

CORNELL FRESHMEN TO SCORE AT MSG
Since 1975-76
• Lance Nethery (Jan. 4, 1976, vs. Penn)
• Riley Nash (Nov. 24, 2007, vs. Boston University)
• Teemu Tiitinen (Nov. 24, 2012, vs. Michigan)
• Anthony Angello (Nov. 28, 2015, vs. Boston University)
• Noah Bauld (Nov. 26, 2016, vs. New Hampshire)
• Tristan Mullin (Nov. 25, 2017, vs. Boston University)
• Liam Motley (Nov. 24, 2018, vs. Harvard)
• Kyler Kovich (Nov. 27, 2021, vs. Boston University)
• Ondrej Psenicka (Nov. 27, 2021, vs. Boston University)
• Dalton Bancroft (3 goals, Nov. 28, 2022, vs. UConn)
• Ryan Walsh (Nov. 28, 2023, vs. Boston University)
• Reegan Hiscock (Nov. 29, 2025, vs. Boston University)

NEXT UP
Cornell concludes the fall semester portion of the 2025-26 schedule next weekend with a trip to the North Country to face Clarkson (5-11-0, 1-5-0 ECAC Hockey) on Friday and St. Lawrence (2-13-1, 1-5-0 ECAC Hockey) on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+ with regional coverage on SNY.

Friday's contest marks the first time Casey Jones '90 will face Clarkson as Cornell's head coach after spending 13 seasons leading the Golden Knights. Jones compiled a 234-185-56 (.552) record at Clarkson, including winning the 2019 Tim Taylor Award as ECAC Hockey's Coach of the Year.

Under Jones' guidance, Clarkson achieved six 20-win seasons — four coming during a five-year span from 2015 to 2020. The Golden Knights made NCAA Tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019, winning the ECAC Hockey Tournament title in 2019, and were on track for a third consecutive berth in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season prematurely. Clarkson ranked in the top 16 of the pairwise rankings for five straight seasons (2017-22) and reached the ECAC Hockey semifinals three times (2018, 2019, 2022) during Jones' tenure.