The Boston University–Cornell men's ice hockey rivalry is an ice hockey sports rivalry between the programs at Boston University and Cornell University.

Due to playing in separate conferences, the two teams no longer play an annual series, however, they have continued the rivalry by meeting at Madison Square Garden every other year around Thanksgiving.

History Cornell is one of the few teams to hold a winning record against Boston University in ice hockey. Of those teams, no squad had faced the Terriers more than the Big Red.

Early years Cornell played its first ice hockey games as far back as the late-19th century. Boston University was a relative newcomer, playing its first match during the final year of World War I. Despite being two of the oldest programs in the country, they only met twice until the mid-1960s. This happened due to several factors, with the main being that Cornell only played a few games each year until building the Lynah Rink in 1957. However, even after becoming conference rivals when ECAC Hockey was formed in 1961, the two squads never got around to scheduling one another until 1968.

Championship eras During the 1966–67 season, the two sides met in the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament championship. At the time, the two were ranked as the top two clubs in the nation with only a single loss between them. They batted to an even 3–3 draw after two overtimes and, though they could have continued the match, both coaches agreed to call the game a draw. They later met in the ECAC Hockey tournament final, still ranked No. 1 and No. 2. This time, Cornell was able to come out on top with 4–3 victory. Just one week later, they had their third meeting of the season in the NCAA tournament finale. This was the first time in almost 20 years that two eastern teams met in the championship game and Cornell was able to ride an outstanding performance from Ken Dryden to the program first national championship. Cornell would dominate the meeting for the next several years as they remained one of the best programs in college hockey.

By 1971, however, the Terriers were able to reverse the trend and defeated Cornell in the league's third place game to earn an improbable bid to the NCAA tournament, eventually capturing their first championship in 1971. The next year, the two met again in the NCAA tournament championship. BU was able to get even thanks to a shutout from Tim Regan for their second consecutive title. The 1970s proved to be much more favorable for the Terriers as they won every meeting over an almost 4-year span but, just as they had at the beginning of the decade, Cornell was able to catch up by the end of the 1970s and put another 6-game winning streak together.

Separate conferences In 1984 ECAC Hockey was split with Cornell remaining in the original league while BU became a founding member of Hockey East. The two played sparingly over the next two decades, however, in 2007 they decided to renew their rivalry. Beginning in November of that year, they initiated a biannual meeting that would take place at Madison Square Garden and named the series "Red Hot Hockey", referencing the main colors of the two universities (scarlet and carnelian).

Aside from the Red Hot Hockey series, the two sides have also met three times in the NCAA tournament since 2018 with Boston University winning all three meetings by a narrow margin.

Game results Full game results for the rivalry, with rankings beginning in the 1998–99 season.

Series facts

Statistic Boston University CornellGames played 53Wins 23 27Home wins 10 8Road wins 5 12Neutral site wins 8 7Goals scored 170 194Most goals scored in a game by one team 9 (2 March 1976) 9 (13 December 1972)Most goals in a game by both teams 13 (2 March 1976 – Boston University 9, Cornell 4)Fewest goals in a game by both teams 1 (23 January 1926)Fewest goals scored in a game by one team in a win 1 (23 January 1926) 2 (18 February 1969, 30 November 2019, 25 November 2023) Most goals scored in a game by one team in a loss 4 (7 times) 6 (1966, 1976) Largest margin of victory 9 (18 December 1967) 9 (13 December 1972)Longest winning streak 6 (11 March 1968–23 January 1971) 9 (11 March 1968–23 January 1971)Longest unbeaten streak 6 (11 March 1968–23 January 1971) 11 (11 March 1966–23 January 1971)

References

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