March 20, 2005

ITHACA, N.Y. - The day after extending the school's ECAC Hockey League record to 11 league tournament titles, No. 3 Cornell found out where it will continue its quest for its second Frozen Four appearance in three seasons and its first national championship in 35 years. The NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Committee has announced that the Big Red will be the second seed in the West Regional, facing third-seeded No. 8/10 Ohio State at 5 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 26 at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, Minn.

After sweeping through the ECACHL tournament field this weekend, with 3-0 and 3-1 wins over Vermont and Harvard, respectively, Cornell is set to compete in its third NCAA tournament in four years and fourth of head coach Mike Schafer's tenure. The other two teams in the field in Minneapolis will be top-seeded No. 6 Minnesota, the host for the regional, and fourth-seeded No. 12 Maine. Those teams will face off at 1:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, with the winners of the two games meeting on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CT. The regional champion will advance to the Frozen Four in Columbus, Ohio. The national semifinal games will be played on Thursday, April 7, followed by the national championship contest on Saturday, April 9.

The Big Red (26-4-3) has faced the Buckeyes (27-10-4) 11 times since the series began in 1984-85. Ohio State holds a slim 6-5 advantage. The teams most recently met twice last season, splitting the games. The Buckeyes won 4-3 at Lynah Rink on Nov. 22, 2003, but Cornell returned the favor, earning a 4-3 overtime win in the championship of the Everblades College Classic on Dec. 28, 2003. Cornell and Maine have met 13 times over the last 26 seasons. The Big Red has a 7-4-2 record against the Black Bears, including a 4-3 win in the Florida College Classic consolation game this season. The Gophers and Big Red have only met once, a 5-2 Minnesota win in 1993-94.

For the first time since 1997-98, the ECACHL will have three teams competing in the NCAA tournament. In addition to Cornell, which earned the league's automatic bid with its league tournament win, No. 8/9 Harvard and No. 14 Colgate also see their seasons continue. The Crimson (21-9-3) received the third seed in the Northeast Regional and will play second-seeded No. 7 New Hampshire at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass. Meanwhile, the Raiders (25-10-3), the fourth seed in the Midwest Regional, will play top-seeded No. 1 Colorado College (29-8-3) on Friday at 5:00 p.m. at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Cornell ticket office will have an announcement on Monday morning about policies and procedures for purchasing tickets to the NCAA West Regional.

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