March 4, 2013
Both men's and women's hockey teams advanced for the Big Red on this weekend's action. After splitting the road weekend, Cornell's men will visit Princeton in the first round of the ECAC playoffs. And after a pair of thrilling come-from-behind wins at Lynah in the ECAC quarterfinals, the women will host the semifinals and final matchups.
Cornell's women will face the Saints in an ECAC semifinal on Saturday. 14850 Photo.Cornell's women topped Colgate in the best-of-three quarterfinal round in two games, but the Skating Saints took three games to knock off Quinnipiac in their quarterfinal series in Hamden. Cornell swept St. Lawrence in their three meetings this season, but the Saints upset the Big Red last March in the ECAC championship game at Lynah.
The fourth-seeded Saints and league-leading Big Red play in the early semifinal at 1pm on Saturday, March 9th. Clarkson and Harvard will play the 4pm late game, and the winners of the two games will face off for Sunday's 1pm championship game. The weekend winner gets an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament, set to begin March 15th.
Tickets for the ECAC women's tournament are available at cornellbigredtickets.com. Saturday tickets are good for both semifinal games, and there are separate tickets for Sunday's final. Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for senior citizens, and $4 for children or Cornell staff. Admission is free for Cornell students, and men's hockey season-ticket holders may buy up to two tickets at $2 each per season-ticket ID card. All three games will be televised on ESPN3 on the web at WatchESPN.com or on smartphones or tablets using the WatchESPN app.
For Cornell's men, who could hypothetically have finished as high in fourth or as low as eleventh place in the league on the weekend's play, Saturday night's loss at Yale -- and other action across the ECAC -- dropped the Big Red to a ninth-place regular-season finish for the first time since the 1994-95 season.
They'll face eighth-seed Princeton at Hobey Baker Rink in the first round of the playoffs, and hope to advance to the ECAC quarterfinal round. (Ironically, the last time Cornell opened the postseason on the road, in 1999, it was also at Princeton.) The games can be watched at americaonesports.com. Which team the winner will play the weekend of March 15th, and where, will be determined by who else wins in the first round. Quarterfinal winners will advance to the ECAC tournament in Atlantic City on March 22nd and 23rd. It's the third and final seaside outing for the ECAC before the tournament moves back to Lake Placid beginning in 2014.
