ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team is opening the 2026-27 campaign ranked No. 13 in the preseason USCHO.com poll released Monday.
The Big Red earned 319 points, finishing 59 points behind No. 12 Boston College and 34 points ahead of No. 14 Minnesota.
This marks Cornell's 10th consecutive year ranked in the preseason poll, the fourth-longest active streak in Division I since the USCHO.com poll's inception in 1996. Only North Dakota (31 consecutive years), Denver (25) and Providence (14) have longer active runs.
The No. 13 ranking is Cornell's highest to open a season since 2024-25, when the Big Red began the year at No. 9.
Cornell will play 16 regular-season games against teams ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll, including five against three top-20 opponents. The Big Red meet No. 7 Quinnipiac twice (Nov. 6 in Ithaca; Jan. 16 in Hamden) and No. 11 Dartmouth twice (Jan. 23 in Ithaca; Feb. 19 in Hanover).
No. 16 Boston University visits Lynah Rink on Friday, Dec. 4, for the Terriers' first trip to Ithaca since Dec. 1, 2002, when Cornell posted a 5-1 win to cap a two-game weekend sweep. The programs have met 14 times since, with all but one of those games played at a neutral site, primarily in the biennial Red Hot Hockey series at Madison Square Garden. The lone exception came Jan. 14, 2023, when Boston University defenseman Lane Hutson scored with 3.8 seconds remaining in regulation to lead the Terriers to a 4-3 win over the Big Red at Agganis Arena.
Six other regular-season opponents are receiving votes in the poll: Sacred Heart (17), Clarkson (12), Maine (9), Princeton (7), Harvard (6) and Brown (1). Cornell will meet Maine in the Frozen Apple at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Nov. 28.
Cornell's 2026-27 slate begins Saturday, Oct. 17, when the Big Red host Waterloo in an exhibition at Lynah Rink at 7 p.m. It will be Cornell's first meeting with the Warriors since hosting them in an exhibition on Oct. 28, 2000. The regular season opens Friday, Oct. 30, with the first of two games against Sacred Heart at Lynah Rink before Cornell begins ECAC Hockey play against Quinnipiac on Friday, Nov. 6. The Big Red play their first four games at home and nine of their first 12 in Ithaca.
