The Cornell men’s hockey team secured its 27th Ivy League title on Saturday, despite a 4-1 loss to Union at M&T Bank Center. The Big Red clinched the championship after Brown defeated No. 12 Dartmouth in Providence, giving Cornell (17-7-1, 12-5-1 ECAC Hockey) its sixth league title in eight seasons and 12th since 2002.
Union’s Ben Muthersbaugh scored twice as the Garnet Chargers capitalized on their offensive momentum to hand Cornell its third consecutive game without a win. “Muthersbaugh broke open a scoreless game with two goals 1:42 apart spanning the first and second periods to give the Garnet Chargers a 2-0 lead,” according to game details.
Parker Lindauer added an empty-net goal for Union (18-10-2, 8-9-1 ECAC Hockey), while goaltender Cameron Korpi made 28 saves. For Cornell, sophomore forward Charlie Major scored the only goal late in the third period. Freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer started for Cornell and was replaced by senior Remington Keopple after allowing three goals.
Cornell challenged Muthersbaugh’s opening goal for goaltender interference but the call stood. After falling behind by three, head coach Casey Jones ’90 made a change in net.
Xavier Veilleux, a freshman defenseman from Ancienne-Lorette, Québec, assisted on Major’s goal and increased his season totals to 18 assists and 23 points. These numbers tie him for second-most assists by a freshman defenseman in program history and match the record for most points by a freshman rearguard at Cornell.
Veilleux is now one of only fifteen Division I defensemen since the 2005–06 season to record at least 23 points in his first 25 games. He is also the first ECAC Hockey blueliner since Harvard’s Adam Fox in 2016–17 to reach this milestone.
Union has now won four of its last five meetings against Cornell but still trails overall in their series history.
Fans are encouraged to vote for junior forwards Ryan Walsh and Jonathan Castagna for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award at hobeybaker.com/vote or via text message. The winner will be announced April 10 during the NCAA Frozen Four in Las Vegas.
Cornell continues its road trip next weekend against No. 5 Quinnipiac and Princeton. Both games are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., with streaming available on ESPN+.
