*Originally published in The Cornell Review Full Edition on March 29, 2020*
It was the best of times. This was my first year at Cornell and first season as a Cornell hockey fan, and I could not have asked for more. For the first time in university history, both men’s and women’s hockey teams concurrently held the respective top spot of the NCAA seedings. This unprecedented success on the ice brought exceptional school spirit to Cornell. For a good two weeks, this feat was thoroughly advertised. Cornellians posted it on their stories on social media – number one, both genders! The Cornell Store offered a 25% discount for all wearing Cornell hockey gear every weekend in the month of March. A collection of Big Red hockey jerseys, hoodies, shirts, caps, keychains, and history books were placed in the front of the store, greeting everyone who walked in.
The teams fought hard at home and on the road, and the Lynah Faithful were there every step of the way. Each team lost only twice during the entire season. For the women, the first defeat came on November 29 against the Ohio State University. The next day, they came right back with a 5-1 victory, putting Ohio in their place once again. On the same day, the men’s team conquered New York City with a victory over an old rival Boston University at Madison Square Garden, the world’s most famous arena. The men remained undefeated up until the last game of the first semester, where they lost 1-2 to Dartmouth. It was a disappointing end to the semester, although it would pale in comparison to what would happen later to the program, the university, and the entire country.
Our archrival Harvard University arrived at Lynah Rink on a Saturday night on January 25, following our 3-2 victory over Dartmouth the previous night. At this point, the men’s team had clutched the #1 spot in the country. It was the most anticipated and well-attended game of the year. Sitting in one of the student sections, the chants and cheers were deafening.
Under no better atmosphere could we have celebrated the 50th anniversary of the perfect season. During the first intermission, we welcomed back the 1970 national championship team. It had been 50 years since Cornell achieved something no other team had achieved in NCAA history. The old men we cheered for on the ice that night won every single game they played during the 1969-70 season and ended up taking the NCAA championship title, undefeated, untied. It was an accomplishment that only belonged to Cornell. As the team turned around to face the student sections, the crowd started chanting “UNDEFEATED” over and over. The players could surely see that after all these years, the Lynah Faithful had not changed, and the team was as appreciated and loved as ever.
It was a battle on the ice that night. We simply could not put the puck in the net, and neither could they. The first and second period went scoreless, as well as most of the third period. Matthew Galajda, our beloved goaltender, faced aggressive efforts and made one incredible save after another. With four minutes left in the game, the Crimson finally managed to score. The light above the net went flashing, and every heart that bled Big Red suddenly sank. There was no way we could possibly turn it around, there was not enough time. Lynah Rink was going to fall for the first time in the season, to our most hated rival, in front of our 1970 undefeated national championship team.
In the final minutes of the game, Harvard received a penalty, and we went on power play. The puck freed itself from a cluster of desperate sticks. Senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis took possession of the puck, and instead of shooting, passed it to sophomore forward Michael Regush who was right by the net, and he tipped it in. Time of the goal was 1:46, third period. The crowd was beside itself. We went overtime and ended in a tie. It was not a win, but it felt like one to me, and it is certainly one that I will never forget.
The worst game of the season for the men was away at Quinnipiac, where we took a 0-5 shutout. I remember receiving the updates from Cornell hockey’s Twitter account and staring in disbelief. Surely this was not possible, with Galajda in the net? But such was life, and we dropped from #1 in the country to #2. On February 10, the women’s team climbed to the top spot for the first time since 2010 and stayed there for the rest of the season. Two weeks later, the men’s team caught up to the women’s and reclaimed first place, and history was made.
With a 5-0 shutout against St. Lawrence University on February 28, Matthew Galajda is now tied with Ben Scrivens for the most number of career shutouts in program history, while Lindsay Browning set a new record for the most number of single-season shutouts with her 12th this season against Harvard on March 7.
On the men’s senior night, after a 5-1 win against Clarkson, the lights turned off and the rink was dark. On the center of the ice was a shining spotlight saved for the seniors. The players lined up on the ice, ready for the ceremony. Someone from the benches yelled, “we are number one!” A few of our guys on the ice looked up, pure joy on their faces. The crowd went wild. We were celebrating the best college hockey team in the country, right here at Lynah Rink, right here at Cornell.
For almost the entire season, Lynah Rink stood undefeated. That changed when the women’s team hosted Princeton for the ECAC championship title game. The Tigers scored just seconds into overtime. Our players watched as the trophy was handed to the other team and exited without saluting the Faithful. Browning skated back to the net to retrieve her water bottle, the band in Section O called out to her, and she left without looking back. The Princeton girls lingered for a good while to celebrate, and the rink slowly emptied out.
I left the rink and walked back to North Campus. It was a beautiful day in Ithaca. I thought about all the moments we had at Lynah this season – the goals, the saves, the power plays, the penalty kills – the ice truck driving around the rink, Gary Glitter playing before the third period, the names being chanted after every goal. I felt as proud as I would have if we had won. The score didn’t really matter after all. It was a promise of unconditional support from the Lynah Faithful to the Big Red.
Since that weekend, COVID-19 took away our home games, our chance to win the ECAC men’s championship, and both teams’ chances at the NCAA. The letter from Coach Schafer was heartbreaking:
“Yesterday, it was very difficult to speak to our team and watch young men cry as their chance of achieving their dreams had disappeared. In my 34 years of coaching, nothing has been more painful than yesterday’s meeting.“
It was the worst of times. We shall remember, however, that the pandemic cannot take away the teams’ accomplishments. It cannot take away the fact that both of our teams were ranked #1 when the season abruptly ended. We are number one, and no one can take it away from us. I want to thank the coaches and the players for this spectacular season, and I wish the best of luck to the three seniors on the men’s team and six seniors on the women’s in their post-graduation endeavors. Cornell hockey will continue to be an experience like no other and a permanent source of school pride, and we the fans will be back next year, and the next, and the year after, no matter how a season ends, as we are forever faithful.
