The biggest unknown was the offense since the team had lost three of its top four scorers, but Cornell was also bringing in a talented crop of freshman that included five NHL draft picks.

[1] The Big Red started well with their first two weeks going to form; the defense was usually stout, allowing less than 20 shots per game, and the unperturbed Shane had no trouble staking Cornell to a 4–0 record.

Jonathan Castagna, Ben Robertson and Ryan Walsh did their level best to replace the lost offense and the team benefitted greatly from their efforts.

Remington Keopple was inserted for the final two and a half periods but the backup goaltender was not up to the task of holding off defending national champions Quinnipiac.

With their season beginning to spiral out of control, Cornell had a huge opportunity during Thanksgiving when they took on #5 Boston University for their biannual Red Hot Hockey showdown.

In front of 15,000 spectators at Madison Square Garden, Shane returned with a triumphant performance, stopping 35 shots (6 from prospective #1 overall pick Macklin Celebrini) and led the Big Red to victory.

Disaster then struck as Cornell stumbled in the final two weeks and a pair of losses dropped the Big Red below the cut line for the NCAA tournament.

As they finished second in the ECAC, the Big Red received a bye into the quarterfinal round and, after taking a week off, found that Harvard would be their opponent.

Apparently having learned their lesson, Cornell put the clamps on Harvard even after getting an early lead and this time their hated foes could only manage a single goal.

Constant pressure from the offense eventually led to two goals in 50 seconds and gave the Big Red their first lead with 10 minutes to play.

The Green pulled their goaltender in desperation but that only gave Nick DeSantis the opportunity to score twice into an empty net and cap off a 5-goal third period that saved the season.

A loss to the Saints would drop the Big Red back down and knock them out of the national tournament so their only hope of continuing was to win the title.

Shane was finally beaten in the third but he only allowed one to get past him and Cornell first ECAC championship in 14 years sent the Big Red back to the NCAA tournament.

Shortly after Walsh left the box, team captain Kyle Penney tied the game on a straight shot from the high slot.

[5] With Denver the only thing standing between the Big Red and the Frozen Four, Cornell got off to a quick start and Nick DeSantis opened the scoring less than 7 minutes into the match.

The nation's top offense found it difficult to crack the Big Red defense and few of the Pioneers' shots on goal were at risk of going in.

With Cornell content to play their style and wit for an opportunity, Castagna made a costly mistake and was called for a penalty at the end of the second.

Cornell tried to hold back the Denver attack but with just 4 seconds left, a show was tipped between Shane's legs and the Big Red found themselves trailing for the first time.

As the third was winding down and Mike Schafer was getting ready to pull Shane for an extra attacker, Walsh took a slashing penalty that threw their plans into chaos.

As the period wore on, Maine began to take control of the game but on one of the few established zone times for Cornell, Parker Lindauer was whistled for holding and gave the Big Red their first power play of the night.

The Big Red kept the puck in the Bears' end as much as they could, generating scoring chances when they could, but doing so primarily to prevent any shots from being directed at their own cage.

Just after the midway point of the game, Sullivan Mack deflected the puck away from Bradly Nadeau in front of his own net and broke out on an odd-man rush.

The Big Red were able to use a sizable advantage in the faceoff circle to ice the puck and get out of trouble without giving Denver a subsequent scoring chance.

It wasn't until well past the midway point of the period that either team was able to get some extended zone time and Cornell was able to cycle the puck in the Denver end.

Cornell quickly got the puck up the ice but with Shane remaining in goal the Big Red had little chance to score on the penalty kill.