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Revisiting Quinnipiac men’s hockey’s season series vs. Cornell ahead of the ECAC semifinals

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By Zachary Carter and Cameron Levasseur

Quinnipiac and Cornell met three times in three different venues throughout the 2024-25 regular season, with the Bobcats holding a 1-0-2  advantage following a win in Ithaca and ties at Madison Square Garden and in Hamden.

Ahead of their fourth and final matchup in the ECAC Semifinals in Lake Placid, New York, on Friday at 4 p.m., QU Sports Page’s Zachary Carter and Cameron Levasseur analyzed each meeting, taking moments from the past that inform the upcoming battle between the conference’s reigning tournament champion and its perennial regular season champ. 

What’s to glean? Let’s evaluate.

Nov. 22 at Cornell: Quinnipiac 3, Cornell 1

Quinnipiac’s sole triumph over Cornell came in arguably the hardest environment to do so. The Bobcats went into Lynah Rink — a place they hadn’t won a game since 2018 — and handed the then-ranked No. 7/8 Big Red their second loss of the young season. Aaron Bohlinger opened the scoring in the first and Chris Pelosi secured the game-winning goal in the third. Mason Marcellus iced the win with an empty-net goal with 1.3 seconds remaining, while Dylan Silverstein stopped 15 of 16 shots on net. 

Limiting opposing chances and maintaining puck possession were the Bobcats’ keys. Quinnipiac outshot Cornell 23-16, playing its best defense by sustaining offense. Though Quinnipiac is one of the worst shot-blocking teams in the ECAC (ranked second-to-last ahead of Cornell) the team put bodies in the way of 14 shots to lighten Silverstein’s workload. 

The Bobcats cashed in once on the power play on two chances and have continued to be the league’s best through the end of the regular season — ranked first in power play conversion rate at 32.4%. 

Looking ahead to this weekend, the path to a win remains the same. Though, the Bobcats will take the ice against a reformed Cornell team, one that looks much like the first-place finisher the ECAC coaches predicted it would be in the preseason coaches’ poll. The Big Red have 36 goals over their last nine games for an average of four per match. If Quinnipiac can replicate the defensive success they displayed in Ithaca and keep Cornell out of its offensive rhythm, they can find a win in March much like they did in November. 

Nov. 30 at Madison Square Garden: Quinnipiac 3, Cornell 3 (Cornell wins SO)

Barely a week after their meeting in Ithaca, the Bobcats and Big Red squared off at MSG in a seesawing affair that ended in a 3-3 tie. 

Their trip to The World’s Most Famous Arena was a part of The Frozen Apple, one of two series of alternating bi-annual games hosted by Cornell to capitalize on its large alumni base around New York City. That materialized in the form of 16,593 fans and the closest thing to a playoff atmosphere a team can get in November. 

Quinnipiac learned its share of lessons that night, facing the deafening roar of the near-sold out crowd after a series of unforced errors put the Bobcats in a 2-0 hole in the first period. 

But they battled back in the second, finding and riding momentum to take a 3-2 lead in what head coach Rand Pecknold called “probably our best period of the year,” at the time. 

In its semifinal exits in 2023 and 2024, Quinnipiac scored one total goal. It struggled to build momentum and capitalize on it. The Bobcats’ surge at MSG proved they can do so, especially against a Cornell defense that is allowing more than two goals per game for the first time in three seasons. 

Herb Brooks Arena is no Madison Square Garden; its capacity is 7,700 and if history is any indication, Friday’s attendance will be around 4,000. But as history also suggests, much of that crowd will be a sea of red. 

Quinnipiac proved it can counter that on a bigger stage in November. Now it has a second chance to do so with more than bragging rights on the line. 

Jan. 18 at Quinnipiac: Quinnipiac 2, Cornell 2 (Cornell wins SO)

It would be two months before the two rivals met for the final time, and in the roughly six-week period, each team’s season ventured down different paths. Following the tie in downtown Manhattan, Quinnipiac’s record was 6-6-1. It resembled one of a middling team, but in the nine games following the Frozen Apple, the Bobcats went 8-1. Between Nov. 30 and Jan. 18, Cornell went just 3-3-1. 

Quinnipiac’s young roster at last bought into the Pecknold system, something the head coach said had taken a bit longer than it had in previous years. When it clicked, and the Bobcats found their groove, they would meet Cornell at the height of their hottest stretch of the season. 

And yet for the 60 minutes that followed, Cornell stayed poised and cooled Quinnipiac down on its home ice. The Big Red struck first, knocking in a power-play goal late in the first period. Though Quinnipiac would score twice in the second to take the lead, Cornell remained undeterred, tying the game halfway through the third period. After an unsuccessful overtime ended the game in a tie, Cornell had the upper hand on Quinnipiac in shots (25-24) and faceoff wins (32-31). 

The Bobcats took a penalty in each of the three periods, one of which led to the first Big Red goal. Cornell took just one all game. Quinnipiac beat itself, something it can’t afford do come Friday. An inability to match tempo from the two teams’ initial meeting while giving up too many man-advantage opportunities could lead to more than just a shootout loss. It could mark the end of Quinnipiac’s Whitelaw hopes. 

Of note, Silverstein was in net for all three games against Cornell this season. If Pecknold is to stick with Matej Marinov, who has played and excelled in each of Quinnipiac’s last three games, it will be an entirely new look in net for the Big Red. 

Marinov has allowed just one goal in his last three games, stopping 84 of his last 85 shots against. Against Brown in Quinnipiac’s most recent game March 15, he made 34 saves, the most in a Bobcat shutout since November 2015. 

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