ITHACA, N.Y. — Three unanswered goals across the first and second periods aided the ninth-ranked Cornell men's hockey team to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead before holding off a third-period surge by sixth-seeded Harvard as the third-seeded Big Red defeated the visiting Crimson 5-2 in the decisive third game of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals before a sold-out crowd of 4,267 at Lynah Rink on Sunday afternoon.

Sophomore defenseman Michael Fisher's first goal as a member of the Big Red, and his first NCAA tally in 57 games, capped the string of goals for the Big Red (22-9-1), which secured its spot in ECAC Hockey's annual championship weekend in Lake Placid for a fourth straight year.

Freshman forward Reegan Hiscock and junior forward Ryan Walsh tallied the markers to set up Fisher for what proved to be the game-winner. Junior forwards Jake Kraft and Jonathan Castagna tallied empty-net goals in the final minute.

"After a tough start on Friday, we really found our way to bounce back on Saturday," Walsh said. "They're a really good team, so to be on the winning side of it feels pretty good."

Harvard (16-16-2) drew first blood on a power-play goal by Lucas St. Louis, who redirected a Michael Callow pass from the left faceoff dot past Cornell freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer for his first goal of the season.

Hiscock answered just 1:15 later, finishing a 2-on-1 rush set up by sophomore forward Charlie Major, who powered past two Harvard defenders, who ended up collided into each other, to spring the odd-man break.

Walsh put Cornell ahead on the power play in the second period, redirecting a shot by freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux from the top of the right faceoff circle into the far post.

Fisher, who transferred to Cornell after a season away from Division I hockey, capped the unanswered run with a shot from the right faceoff circle that beat Harvard goaltender Ben Charette to his near side.

Harvard trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the third period when Will Hughes pounced on a loose puck after Justin Solovey's shot was blocked by Walsh on the edge of the crease, but Cournoyer had already kept the deficit at two with a key breakaway stop on freshman forward Richard Gallant minutes earlier.

The Crimson had 25 shot attempts compared to Cornell's 11 after Hughes' goal, but the Big Red blocked 10 of those attempts and finished the period blocking 12 of its 21 shots overall.

Walsh credited Cournoyer, who was named ECAC Hockey's Ken Dryden Goaltender of the Year on Thursday, for keeping Cornell ahead.

"Courns stood on his head," Walsh said. "He made a bunch of really good saves down the stretch. It's good to see guys rally around the team."

"The breakaway save was huge for us," said Casey Jones '90, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey. "That's what you want from goaltending — you want saves when you need them. He just swallows pucks up. He doesn't give a lot of second-chance opportunities, which is a real difference-maker in those situations."

Kraft and Castagna put the game on ice with their empty-net goals in the final minute.

POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM CASEY JONES '90 AND RYAN WALSH


GAME NOTES
• Cornell improved to 87-72-14 all-time against Harvard and is 8-1-1 in its last 10 meetings with the Crimson. In postseason play against Harvard at Lynah Rink, the Big Red improved to 11-1-1.

• The Big Red registered its sixth Game 3 victory in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Hockey Championship and its first since 2019, when it also dropped the opening game against Union before winning the final two in the series. It is the fourth time Cornell has posted a reverse sweep in a best-of-three series, also joining quarterfinal series against RPI (2009), Clarkson (2017) and Union (2019).
 
GAME 3 VICTORIES BY CORNELL IN A BEST-OF-THREE QUARTERFINAL SERIES
ECAC Hockey Championship
• 2009, RPI (lost, 1-0; won, 4-0; won, 4-3)
• 2011, Quinnipiac (won, 2-1; lost, 1-0; won, 3-2 in overtime)
• 2014, Clarkson (won, 2-1; lost, 4-1; won, 1-0 in overtime)
• 2017, Clarkson (lost, 6-2; won, 2-1; won, 2-1)
• 2019, Union (lost, 3-2; won, 4-0; won, 4-2)
• 2026, Harvard (lost, 4-1; won, 4-0; won, 5-2)
 
• Freshman forward Caton Ryan raised his season point total to 30 with his primary assist on Fisher's game-winning goal (11-19—30), marking the 13th 30-point season by a Cornell freshman and the first since Riley Nash (12-20—32) in 2007-08.
 
30-POINT SEASONS BY A CORNELL FRESHMAN
Cornell Program History – Since 1975-76
• 59, Roy Kerling (29-30—59), 1977-78
• 45, Lance Nethery (18-27—45), 1975-76
• 45, Joe Nieuwendyk (21-24—45), 1984-85
• 41, Brock Tredway (28-13—41), 1977-78
• 35, Gary Cullen (18-17—35), 1981-82
• 38, Trent Andison (21-17—38), 1987-88
• 35, Gary Cullen (18-17—35), 1981-82
• 34, Duanne Moeser (17-17—34), 1982-83
• 33, Kyle Knopp (11-22—33), 1995-96
• 32, Doug Derraugh (11-21—32), 1987-88
• 32, Riley Nash (12-20—32), 2007-08
• 31, John Olds (13-18—31), 1978-79
• 30, Caton Ryan (11-19—30), 2025-26
 
• Veilleux's assist on Walsh's second-period power-play goal upped his season total to 20, the most by a Cornell freshman defenseman in program history and just the eighth Big Red first-year player with a 20-assist season. Veilleux and Ryan are just the second freshman tandem in program history to have at least 19 assists, joining Joe Nieuwendyk (24) and Chris Norton '88 (19) in 1984-85.
 
MOST ASSIST BY A CORNELL FRESHMAN
Cornell Program History
• 30, Roy Kerling (29-30—59), 1977-78
• 27, Lance Nethery (18-27—45), 1975-76
• 24, Joe Nieuwendyk (21-24—45), 1984-85
• 22, Kyle Knopp (11-22—33), 1995-96
• 21, Doug Derraugh (11-21—32), 1987-88
• 20, Ryan Vesce (7-20—27), 2000-01
• 20, Riley Nash (12-20—32), 2007-08
• 20, Xavier Veilleux (6-20—26), 2025-26
• 19, Larry Tobin (4-19—23), 1979-80
• 19, Chris Norton (4-19—23), 1984-85
• 19, Ryan Moynihan (8-19—27), 1996-97
• 19, Topher Scott (5-19—24), 2004-05
• 19, Caton Ryan (11-19—30), 2004-05

• With their points on Cornell's pair of second-period goals, Walsh and Ryan both reached the 30-point threshold, joining Castagna (15-19—34) as the first trio of Big Red teammates with 30-point seasons since 2009-10 (Blake Gallagher – 18-19—37; Colin Greening – 15-20—35; Riley Nash – 12-23—35).

• Sunday's victory was Cornell's 15th home win at Lynah Rink this season, tying the program record for home wins in a season, matching outputs set by the teams from 2002-03 (15-0-0), 2004-05 (15-0-1) and 2017-18 (15-2-0).

• Along with his empty-net goal, Castagna went 23-for-29 at the faceoff dot, becoming the first Division I player with at least 23 faceoff wins in a game ending in regulation since Dartmouth's Luke Haymes (25-for-28) against St. Lawrence on March 8, 2025. The 23 faceoff wins are the most by a Cornell player since Gabriel Seger '24 went 23-for-32 in the Big Red's overtime win over Quinnipiac on Jan. 20, 2024.

• Cornell improved to 22-2-0 when scoring multiple goals and reached the five-goal threshold for the 11th time this season, its most five-goal games since 2022-23 (11). The Big Red upped its record to 9-3-1 when entering the second period tied and is 17-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes of play.

UP NEXT
Cornell will face fourth-seeded Princeton (17-12-3) in the semifinals of the 2026 ECAC Hockey Championship on Friday, March 20, at 7 p.m. at the 1980 Rink — Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.