Cornell Big Red The Cornell Big Red are a Men ' s Division I and Women ' s Division I Ivy League team in the ECAC Hockey League . History of the Men ' s Ice Hockey Program . Men ' s ice hockey at Cornell University began at the dawn of the 20th century . During one week in 1901 , graduate student G . A . Smith coached Cornell in its first three games , against Swarthmore , Pennsylvania , and Princeton , winning all three contests . Its next games were in 1902 - 03 , a win against Princeton and a loss to Yale . Finally in 1906 , Cornell played its first home game , a 7 - 0 win over Rochester . At the time and until 1957 , Cornell ' s home games were played on the frozen Beebe Lake . In 1909 , Cornell gained entrance to the Intercollegiate League while being coached by Talbot Hunter . During its second year in the league , Cornell won the championship by achieving a perfect 10 - 0 record , with all games being played on the road . However , by 1916 , the Cornell hockey program was disbanded due to the end of the Intercollegiate League . The program restarted in 1920 under the tutelage of Nicholas Bawlf . He coached the team for 27 years until his death in 1947 . Throughout this time , many home games couldn ' t be played because Beebe Lake did not freeze enough for games to be played . The program folded once more in 1948 , after Balwf ' s assistant Arthur Boehringer coached the team to an 0 - 4 season . Following the 1957 construction of James A . Lynah Rink , Cornell ' s first and thus far only indoor hockey facility , the Cornell hockey program was once again reborn . Under new head coach Paul Patten , the first few years were less than stellar . However , the team improved , and had a 13 - 5 record in the 1961 - 62 season , thanks in part to goaltender Laing Kennedy ' 63 posting ten shutouts . Patten left in 1963 , and was replaced by former Rensselaer coach Ned Harkness . The Harkness era is considered to be the greatest and most successful era in Cornell hockey history . During his 1963 - 70 tenure , the team achieved a record of 163 - 27 - 2 . This period included four ECAC tournament championships ( 1967 , 1968 , 1969 , and 1970 ) and two NCAA championships ( 1967 and 1970 ) . Cornell also appeared in the 1968 NCAA semifinal and the 1969 final , but lost to North Dakota and Denver respectively . In the midst of this period , future NHL goaltending legend Ken Dryden ' 69 played for Cornell from 1966 to 1969 , with a college career record of 76 - 4 - 1 . Perhaps the most important accomplishment of the Harkness era , though , was the 1969 - 70 team ( backstopped by Brian Cropper ' 71 ) going 29 - 0 - 0 , becoming the only team to have a perfect season in NCAA Division I hockey history . Harkness was succeeded the following season by former team captain Dick Bertrand ' 70 . He rode the success of the Harkness days for a few years , making it to the NCAA tournament in 1972 final and 1973 semifinal , but they lost to Boston University and Wisconsin respectively . Cornell would not appear in the NCAA tournament again until 1980 , only to lose to Northern Michigan in the semifinal . They appeared in every ECAC tournament during Bertrand ' s tenure except for his last year . Cornell won the 1973 and 1980 ECAC tournament championships and lost in the 1972 final against Boston University , but in the other years they did not get past the ECAC semifinal . Future Olympian Darren Eliot ' 83 tended goal for the final years of this era . Bertrand stepped down in 1982 . Lou Reycroft , Bertrand ' s assistant , became head coach in 1982 . By 1985 , Cornell was back in the ECAC tournament , led by defenseman Mike Schafer ' 86 and helped by future NHL star and Olympian Joe Nieuwendyk ' 88 . The following season , Cornell won the ECAC tournament in overtime against Clarkson . The team gained admission to the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years , though they lost to Denver in the quarterfinals . In 1987 , Reycroft left Cornell , only coaching for five years . Another former team captain became the next head coach , when Brian McCutcheon ' 70 took over the reins of the program . His first few seasons included relatively lackluster team performances . Cornell barely made it into the 1991 NCAA tournament , but lost in a first - round best - of - three series against Michigan . Shortly thereafter , two Cornell players , Dan Ratushny ' 92 and Kent Manderville ' 94 , departed the team to represent Canada in the 1992 Winter Olympics . Despite that loss of talent , Cornell was still able to reach the ECAC tournament finals in 1992 . All - American goaltender Parris Duffus ' 94 left for the pros soon after , beginning a disappointing period for Cornell hockey that didn ' t end until McCutcheon ' s termination in 1995 . Mike Schafer ' 86 was the third former Cornell hockey captain to become head coach when he was hired in 1995 . In his first two seasons as head coach , Schafer guided Cornell to back - to - back ECAC tournament championships and NCAA tournament appearances . Unfortunately , Lake Superior State and North Dakota ended their runs those two years . The team would not appear in the ECAC tournament final again until 2001 , when they lost to St . Lawrence . In the next year ' s final , they lost again , this time to Harvard in double overtime . Finally in 2003 , Cornell won in overtime against Harvard to gain their 10th ECAC tournament championship . Cornell made NCAA tournament appearances in 2002 and 2003 , and made it to the Frozen Four in 2003 as the top overall seed in the tournament . However , both times , Cornell ' s run was ended by New Hampshire . This period was highlighted by the exceptional play of Hobey Baker Award finalists defenseman Doug Murray ' 03 and goaltender David LeNeveu ' 05 , the latter of whom departed for professional play in 2003 . The Schafer era of Cornell hockey continues to this day , still producing strong , competitive teams . The 2004 - 05 team included 10 NHL draftees , and Cornell ' s excellent goaltending tradition endured with Hobey Baker Award finalist David McKee ' 07 who finished the season at the top of every major goaltending statistics list . The team achieved many accolades , including winning the ECACHL regular season championship and beating Harvard in the ECACHL tournament championship . Cornell appeared in the 2005 NCAA tournament , beating Ohio State in the opening round , but they lost to regional host team Minnesota in the overtime quarterfinal matchup . External Links . Official Men ' s site Official Women ' s site The Big Red What ? ELynah