With a dominate 8-1 win in their first game of the season over Lebanon Valley on Halloween night Cortland’s men’s ice hockey had a great opening night. Cortland had a good first period with two goals, an unstoppable second with four goals and topped it off with two more in the third; Cortland had it in their hand the whole game. The next day, November 1st they stayed at home and played Alvernia, losing a close game, 2-3. Cortland started off strong with a 1-0 lead in the first period but with a hard second period and going down two, they couldn’t get back up. Cortland now has a 1-1 record.
On November 7th Cortland will travel to Rye, New York to take on Manhattanville and return the next day to play St. John Fisher at home before they start playing there SUNYAC opponents.
The first SUNYAC opponent the Red Dragons will play is Buffalo State at home on November 14th, followed by Fredonia on the 15th . Both games will be played at home. On November 21st and 22nd the Red Dragons will travel to Saratoga Springs and Plattsburgh to play Skidmore and Plattsburgh.
On November 25th Cortland will pause their SUNYAC run to play Wilkes at home then go back and play Potsdam and Canton on December 5th and 6th to finish off the calendar year with both games at home.
When Cortland comes back in early January, they will play in the Norwich Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament. On January 2nd they will play Misericordia and on the 3rd they will take on Nazareth or Norwich. The tournament games will be played in Northfield, Vt.
After the tournament, Cortland will take on Hobart (twice), Oswego (twice), Morrisville (twice), Fredonia, Buffalo State, Plattsburgh, Skidmore, Canton and Potsdam before playoffs start on February 25th.
Last year, Cortland finished their season 19-7 overall and 12-2 in the SUNYAC conference. The two losses came from Buffalo State and Potsdam, who Cortland beat at some other point in the season. They did not lose a single away game the whole season. In the playoffs Cortland fell short to Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC Semifinals in a 4-3 overtime loss.
Cortland had four seniors last year, losing three of them going into the 2025 season. This year Cortland has a big senior class with seven seniors and one graduate student. With 3 of the 4 coaches returning from 2024, the staff will look very similar. Cortland welcomes new assistant coach Sean Allen to replace Conor Tierney from last year.
After a tough loss last season in the playoffs, Cortland looks to make a big run this year in the playoffs. The postseason is always a hard time of the year to win in for any team but with a big pool of upperclassmen and talent, Cortland has the ability to go far this year.