ITHACA, N.Y. — Linemates Jonathan Castagna and Aiden Long each had a goal and an assist to lead the 12th-ranked Cornell men's hockey team to a 4-1 victory over Harvard before an over-capacity crowd at Lynah Rink on Saturday night.

Junior forward Jake Kraft and junior defenseman George Fegaras joined Castagna and Long in the goal-scoring column, scoring 26 seconds apart to give the Big Red (14-5-0, 9-3-0 ECAC Hockey) a 2-0 lead following a scoreless first period.

"I talked to our guys, that's close to 120 minutes of our identity, of how we want to play, that we've seen this year," said Casey Jones '90, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey. "Last Saturday put us in our place. We had a really nice week of practice and they carried it into the weekend. I thought we executed pretty well tonight."

After a relatively even first period, which featured no scoring and Harvard having a slight 21-20 edge in shot attempts with both teams registering nine shots on goal, Cornell had a considerable jump coming out of the dressing room from the first intermission. The Big Red dominated the period, owning advantages in shot attempts, 27-6, and shots on goal, 12-4.

The Big Red's second-period surge was a product of relentless pressure and sustained offensive zone time.

"We sustained so much offense in their zone. That was exciting for me," Jones said. "I thought it was as close to 120 minutes [of our identity] that we've had all year long. In a big weekend, you'd kind of expect that. But just the physicality, our intensity on pucks and in terms of managing the game, it was one of our best weekends."

Picking up where he left off from Friday night's win against Dartmouth, Kraft netted the first goal of the night at 11:27 of the second period before Fegaras added a marker 26 seconds later, pouncing on a loose rebound at the right faceoff circle.

Long capped Cornell's three-goal second period with a tally with 1:05 left in the frame. An indirect clearing attempt out of Harvard's defensive zone was corralled by freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux in the neutral zone and Long squeezed between a Harvard defender and the boards to gain separation. Once at the bottom of the faceoff circle, he wristed a shot that beat Harvard goaltender Ben Charette to his five-hole.

For Long, a freshman experiencing his first Cornell-Harvard game at Lynah Rink, the goal — his fifth of the season — capped a memorable evening.

"I just kind of saw their D was tired — we'd had them in [the zone] for a while," Long said. "Next [Veilleux] gave me a pass up the wall. I thought I could beat the D and did and I thought I'd try to take it to the net and kind of just put it on net. I saw Jonny [Castagna] go in there and luckily it snuck in."

The atmosphere wasn't lost on the freshman forward.

"Obviously, being a freshman and my first taste of the Harvard rivalry at home, it definitely didn't disappoint," Long said. "The energy in the building was awesome and to come out with the win is huge."

Long, who had never played before a crowd like Saturday's, fed off the Lynah Faithful's energy.

"Obviously, MSG was probably close to that, but I've never been in an environment like that," Long said. "To have the Lynah Faithful behind us is huge and we build off that energy."

Harvard thwarted Cornell freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer's bid at his first collegiate shutout early in the third period, beating him to his high blocker side after Lucas St. Louis fanned on a pass from the top of the blue line just two seconds after the expiration of a Big Red penalty. Cournoyer finished the night with 17 saves.

Cornell retook its three-goal lead just 47 seconds later as a battle for the puck in front of Cornell's bench resulted in freshman forward Reegan Hiscock playing the puck to Castagna, setting up a 2-on-1 scoring chance with senior forward Nick DeSantis. Slowly entering the offensive zone, Castagna lasered a shot that beat Charette to his short side to restore the three-goal lead.

Castagna, who has been on fire lately with points in 11 of his last 14 games, savored the moment of scoring against Harvard at Lynah.

"Everyone's dream is to score a goal in the Harvard game, so it's nice to finally get to do that at home," Castagna said. "It was a 2-on-1, so I just tried to stay calm and slow it down a little and take what was given."

Harvard appeared to have scored a goal with an extra attacker with under three minutes left, but Cornell challenged for a potential missed offside call, which the Big Red won.

The Big Red had a pair of chances to score into a Harvard empty net, but both went wide of the goal.

GAME NOTES
• Cornell concluded its eight-game homestand with a 7-1-0 record, with its lone blemish coming in last Saturday's loss to No. 7 Quinnipiac. The Big Red are 11-1-0 at Lynah Rink this season and its 11 home wins are tied with Augustana, Dartmouth and Penn State for the national lead.

MOST WINS AT HOME THIS SEASON
Division I Hockey
• 11-1-3, Augustana
• 11-1-0, Cornell
• 11-1-1, Dartmouth
• 11-2-0, Penn State
• 10-2-0, Michigan
• 10-4-0, North Dakota
• 10-0-2, Quinnipiac

• Saturday was the 170th meeting between the bitter ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rivals. Cornell increased its lead in the series, 85-71-14, and is unbeaten in its last seven games (6-0-1) against the Crimson. It is the longest unbeaten streak over the Crimson since going 9-0-1 between Nov. 11, 1995, and Nov. 13, 1998 — the first 10 games of the rivalry under Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame head coach Mike Schafer '86.

• The victory upped Cornell's home win streak over Harvard to four games, the longest such streak since a four-game stretch from Nov. 21, 2008, to March 13, 2010.

• Jones became the third Cornell coach to sweep Harvard in the regular season of his first season coaching the Big Red, accompanied by Dick Bertrand '70 (1970-71) and Schafer (1995-96).

• Veilleux has points in 10 of his last 13 games, accruing 13 points (3-10—13) during the span, while Castagna has logged at least one point in 11 of his last 14 games, posting 18 points (8-10—18) over that stretch.

• Under Jones this season, Cornell is 10-0-0 when scoring the first goal of the game, 11-0-0 when it scores at least three goals and 9-0-0 when allowing one goal or fewer.

• Cournoyer earned his 11th career victory in his 15th career appearance, becoming the fastest netminder to reach that threshold since Matthew Galajda, who also posted 11 wins in his first 15 outings during the 2017-18 season. He is one of seven Big Red goaltenders to accomplish the feat.

MOST WINS THROUGH FIRST 14 CAREER APPEARANCES
Cornell Program History — Since 1957-58
• 14, Ken Dryden (1966-67)
• 12, Brian Cropper (1968-70)
• 12, Dave LeNeveu (2001-02)
• 11, Brian Hayward (1978-79)
• 11, Corrie D'Alessio (1987-88)
• 11, Matthew Galajda (2017-18)
• 11, Alexis Cournoyer (2025-26)

• Among active Division I goaltenders, Cournoyer is one of five netminders to amass at least 11 victories in his first 15 appearances, joining North Dakota's Jan Špunar (13 wins in first 15 games), Michigan's Jack Ivankovic (12 wins in first 15) and Minnesota's Nathan Airey and Wisconsin's Daniel Hauser (both with 11 wins in first 15).

MOST WINS THROUGH FIRST 15 CAREER APPEARANCES
Active Division I Goaltenders
• 13 wins, Jan Špunar, North Dakota (2025-26)
• 12 wins, Jack Ivankovic, Michigan (2025-26)
• 11 wins, Nathan Airey, Minnesota (2023-25)
• 11 wins, Alexis Cournoyer, Cornell (2025-26)
• 11 wins, Daniel Hauser, Wisconsin (2025-26)
• 10 wins, Luca Di Pasquo, Michigan State & Minnesota (2023-26)
• 10 wins, Ajeet Gundarah, Sacred Heart (2024-25)
• 10 wins, Louka Cloutier, Boston College (2025-26)
• 10 wins, Matteo Drobac, Miami (2025-26)
• 10 wins, Quentin Miller, Denver (2025-26)

HOBEY BAKER MEMORIAL AWARD VOTING
Cornell fans are encouraged to support junior forwards Ryan Walsh and Jonathan Castagna, both of whom have been nominated for the 2026 Hobey Baker Memorial Award. Fan voting for college hockey's top player runs through midnight on Sunday, March 8.
 
Fans can vote online at hobeybaker.com/vote or text their vote to 844-623-9688 (text "26089" for Walsh or "26090" for Castagna). Fans may vote for one player per day.
 
The Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner will be announced on Friday, April 10, in Las Vegas during the NCAA Frozen Four.

UP NEXT
Cornell begins a stretch of seven road games in its next eight contests next weekend when it travels to face ECAC Hockey and Ivy League rivals Yale (7-13-0, 6-6-0) and Brown (4-16-0, 3-9-0). Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Ingalls Rink against Yale and 5 p.m. Saturday at Meehan Auditorium against Brown. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.

The Big Red swept both teams at Lynah Rink earlier this season, defeating Brown 4-1 on Nov. 14 and Yale 5-2 on Nov. 15.