Quinnipiac men’s hockey normally plays Cornell twice throughout the ECAC slate.
This year, nestled between its two annual matchups, was a third — the sixth installment of the Frozen Apple at Madison Square Garden in which Cornell pulled out a shootout win in a 3-3 tie.
The Big Red selects opponents to host every other year in late November to recognize alumni and present players at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Plucked from the crop this season were the Bobcats, who haven’t skated at the venue since 2016 where they defeated Harvard 5-4 in overtime.
“It was excellent,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We played here before in 2016 that was an interesting game too. It was crazy, but it was awesome and really appreciative to Madison Square Garden and Cornell for inviting us.”
Eight years later, Quinnipiac has a national championship banner and currently holds the longest streak of consecutive NCAA Tournament berths in college hockey.
And Cornell isn’t anything to sneeze at either. It’s also been a consistent powerhouse in the ECAC under head coach Mike Schafer, who is retiring in 2025 after 30 seasons at the helm.
The Big Red has been on the Bobcats’ heels for over a decade, making seven NCAA Tournament appearances in 14 seasons, as well as taking home the Whitelaw Cup this past March in Lake Placid.
“Cornell is a really good team,” Pecknold said. “I mean, I think they have a great chance to go to the Frozen Four.”
So yes, the draw was there. In fact, it brought in a record 16,593 people, the largest crowd college hockey has seen this season.
“I think it’s a big deal,” junior computer information systems and business analytics major Maeve Sullivan said. “(Quinnipiac) doesn’t even play with this amount of people at (its) home rink.”
Despite it being a non-conference bout, the matchup was a measuring stick for Quinnipiac, who just came off a 3-1 victory over Cornell on Nov. 22 and a discouraging overtime loss at Colgate the next day.
For a lower-ranked team to take out a stallion like the Big Red — despite recent inconsistent performance — on the road no less, and then do the exact same thing one week later in an arena that holds 19,500 spectators is an extremely tall order.
An order Quinnipiac came oh so close to delivering on.
Cornell on the other hand was right at ease, holding a four-game winning streak at MSG — where it’s played 29 times prior — coming into Saturday night’s puck drop.
“I guess it’s just another home game when you’re sitting on the blue line for the national anthem and you hear “red” echo through the stadium, you know, it’s going to be a good night,” Cornell’s junior forward Dalton Bancroft said. “So just a really cool atmosphere, really cool venue to play in.”
And yes, a loss is a loss and the less fortunate team is forced to remember the spectacle at MSG as a red ‘L’ on paper.
But the atmosphere? The rink? Unbeatable.
“MSG is magical,” Jack Mendato ‘23 said. “It’s special. Everyone who’s in line should be super thankful, super happy. You’re part of something special.”
It’s the perfect opportunity for the league, the conference and the individual teams to be recognized on a larger scale.
“I was very excited,” Robert Gorsline ‘05. “I couldn’t wait. Marked it down on the calendar immediately, just excited to see (Quinnipiac) play on a big stage and get some recognition.”
Not everyone watches NCAA hockey on ESPN+ on the weekends or at all for that matter, but heads turn when teams besides the New York Rangers or the New York Knicks call The Garden home for the night.
“I mean, where do you get a sporting event like that from college hockey?” Cornell head coach Mike Schafer said.
