A Brief History

Cornell hockey dates back to 1900; they won the Intercollegiate League Championship in 1911, despite playing home games on Beebe Lake. But modern Cornell history begins with the opening of Lynah Rink in 1957.

The Big Red struggled in their early seasons in the newly formed ECAC, despite the goaltending of their first great star, future Athletic Director Laing Kennedy. But after coach Ned Harkness came over from RPI in 1963 they improved dramatically. Cornell's dynasty builder was known around campus as "God" and his achievements are sufficient testament. Ned's recruiting zeal brought the best talent in college hockey to Ithaca, including the Ferguson brothers (Doug and Dave), Harry Orr, Brian Cornell, Walt Stanowski, Bruce Pattison, Brian McCutcheon, Pete Tufford, and Dan Lodboa.  Over Harkness' final four seasons, 1967 through 1970, three with future NHL Hall of Famer Ken Dryden in net, the Big Red won four consecutive ECAC championships to go with two national championships and an astonishing 110-5-1 record.  Dryden's successor in goal, Brian Cropper, led the 1970 team that won the NCAA title at 29-0-0: the only perfect champion in NCAA history.

Dick Bertrand took the helm in the 1970's at the height of the great rivalry with fellow ECAC power BU. Bertrand guided the Big Red to ECAC titles in 1973 and 1980, the latter sparked by offensive greats Lance Nethery and Brock Tredway, and the All-American goaltending duo of Daren Eliot and Brian Hayward.  The team stayed in annual NCAA title contention during this period until the early 80's.

Lou Reycroft became coach, Harvard became the dominant rival, and five longtime rivals including BC and BU left the ECAC to form Hockey East. Cornell captured a storybook ECAC title in 1986, winning both games in the Boston Garden in overtime, anchored by subsequent NHL player Joe Nieuwendyk, goalie Doug Dadswell, and team captain Mike Schafer.

McCutcheon returned as coach and brought several blue-chip performers to Lynah in the late 80's and early 90's. His early squads, featuring future NHL workhorse Kent Manderville, defensive stalwart Dan Ratushny, and scorers Doug Derraugh and Ryan Hughes, were frequently mentioned as national title contenders. Paris Duffus continued Cornell's tradition of phenomenal goaltenders. The legacy of these teams is mixed, as they made it to four consecutive ECAC Final Fours, yet came away empty.

After a downturn in the mid-90's, Schafer returned as a head coach with the express mission of waking Lynah's echoes. The Renaissance came more quickly and dramatically than any of the Faithful could have dreamed. Sparked by goaltender Jason Elliot, the Big Red responded with back-to-back ECAC championships in 1996 and 1997, and two NCAA seeds. A win in the 1997 Western Regional left Cornell just one game short of the NCAA Frozen Four.

As the 21st century dawned, the team reloaded in the span of two standout classes with Mark and Matt McRae, Doug Murray, Ryan Vesce, Stephen Bâby, and Sam Paolini.  They made trips to the ECAC championship game in 2001 and 2002, the latter in front of the goaltending duo of Matt Underhill and David LeNeveu.  The 25 wins in 2002 was their best in 30 years.  In 2003, they added forwards Shane Hynes, Matt Moulson and Chris and Cam Abbott and climbed even higher: to their tenth ECAC championship, #1 in the polls, their first trip to the Frozen Four in 23 years, and a record-setting 30 victories.

David McKee replaced LeNeveu and led the team to break their former defensive records while capturing ECAC Rookie of the Year and then Player of the Year.  The Red won their eleventh ECAC Championship in 2005, skating their way to their third season of at least 25 wins in the previous four.  Between 2001 and 2006 Cornell played in the ECAC title game five times, four against arch-rival Harvard.

In 2008, buoyed by the strong leadership of senior Topher Scott and the ECAC rookie of the year Riley Nash, as well as his brother Brendon Nash, Cornell returned to Albany.  The Nashes, Michael Kennedy, Colin Greening and goalie Ben Scrivens helped Cornell to a 12th ECAC title in 2010.  Despite the loss of all of these talented players a very young Big Red surprised everyone to return to their third consecutive ECAC final in 2011.  With a solid bueline, rising stars Greg Miller and Mathieu Brisson and the solid goaltending of Michael Garman and Ithaca native Andy Iles all returning, Cornell will welcome two more highly anticipated incoming classes including prospects Madison Dias and Joakim Ryan (Fall 2011) and Phillipe Hudon (Fall 2012).

Cornell First Team All-Americans