Cornell – Harvard rivalry The Cornell - Harvard Hockey Game is a men ' s ice hockey sports rivalry between the Big Red of Cornell University and the Crimson of Harvard University dating back to 1910 . Not including playoff meetings , the teams play twice each season , once at Cornell ' s Lynah Rink in Ithaca , New York and once at Harvard ' s Bright Hockey Center in Allston , Massachusetts ( just across the Charles River from Harvard ' s Cambridge , MA campus ) . Since the first time they played , the overall series record is ( as of March 14 , 2010 ) 69 - 58 - 7 in favor of Cornell . The rivalry is so important to Cornell in particular that head coach Mike Schafer listed defeating the Crimson ( who were then unbeaten in their last 20 regular - season games against the Big Red ) as one of his three goals for his first season in 1995 - 1996 . Schafer ' s record against Harvard as a coach is ( as of March 14 , 2010 ) 29 - 12 - 2 . Harvard at Cornell . On January 6 , 1973 , a Harvard fan threw a dead chicken at Cornell goalie Dave Elenbaas . The chicken was a crack at Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences | Cornell ' s agriculture college . Later that month , Cornell fans threw dead fish on the ice , purportedly as a reference to Boston ' s seafood industry . Harvard fans retaliated during the same game by tying a live chicken to Cornell ' s goal post . Despite countermeasures by university officials , Cornell fans still continue to throw fish prior to , or occasionally during , the Harvard game at Lynah . In an interview with the " Cornell Daily Sun " , published on November 8 , 2006 , William Ruskin of Cornell ' s class of ’ 74 disputed this version of history . He said that after hearing about Harvard ' s original 1973 chicken prank , he and his friends decided to get some revenge , and started planning . " ' Contrary to what was in " The New York Times " this week , there was no intention at the time to have any symbolism of the New England fishing industry , ' Ruskin said . ' We merely wanted to put something disgusting in their net … [ and ] getting a big smelly fish seemed like the best thing we could do . ' " The tradition continued in February 1977 , when between the second and third periods in a game at Lynah Rink , a chicken was tied to the Harvard goal post . Cornell at Harvard . Due to relatively large numbers of Cornell fans traveling to away games , the significance of the rivalry on the Cornell side , and generally low attendance at Harvard hockey games , contests at Bright have sometimes been played in front of predominantly pro - Cornell crowds . This led to the idea of Cornell - at - Harvard games as de facto home games for Cornell , and earned Bright ( and by extension the Cornell - Harvard game played there ) the nickname of " Lynah East . " With the increasing success of Harvard ' s hockey program since 2002 , the size and participation of the Harvard contingent has increased and the crowd has become more balanced . " Love Story " . A Cornell - Harvard hockey game plays an important role in the first half of the Love Story ( novel ) | nove and film " Love Story ( 1970 film ) | Love Story " , whose protagonist , Oliver Barrett , is a Harvard undergraduate and member of the Crimson hockey team , and whose author , Erich Segal , is a Harvard alumnus . In the movie , Harvard ' s hockey team loses to Cornell ' s . Although exterior post - game shots were filmed on the Cornell campus , they showed characters exiting Barton Hall , the old armory where Cornell played basketball at the time , rather than Lynah Rink . In commemoration of Cornell ' s victory in that fictional game , the Cornell Big Red Pep Band plays ( Where Do I Begin ? ) Love Story | the theme from " Love Story " when Harvard takes the ice before the first two periods of each game .