Men's Hockey Defeats No. 8 Cornell, 3-2, To Reach ECAC Championship Game

Friday, March 20

Lake Placid, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

18-12-3

No. 8 Cornell

22-10-1

Princeton

Cornell

Men's Hockey Celebrates ECAC Semifinal Win

Photo by: Caroline Sherman

Men's Hockey Defeats No. 8 Cornell, 3-2, To Reach ECAC Championship Game

March 20, 2026 | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

For the first time since 2018, Princeton will play for an ECAC Championship after the Tigers defeated No. 8 Cornell, 3-2, at Herb Brooks 1980 Arena in Lake Placid.

Joshua Karnish broke a 2-2 tie with 7:55 to go and the Tigers defended the house the rest of the way to topple the Big Red and put themselves one win away from a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Turns out, good things do actually happen when you go to the net. pic.twitter.com/d0kgbl92xA
— Princeton Men's Ice Hockey (@princetonhockey) March 21, 2026

Standing in the way is No. 9 Dartmouth which defeated Clarkson, 4-0, in the first semifinal. The Tigers went 1-0-1 against the Big Green in the regular season, defeating Dartmouth at Hobey Baker Rink, 5-4, before playing to a 2-2 tie in Hanover that the Tigers secured the extra point with a win in the shootout

Kai Daniells had two assists in the game, while the Tigers received goals from David Jacobs and Julian Facchinelli in addition to the game-winner from Karnish.

Arthur Smith made 21 saves in the win, stopping seven in each period. Alexis Cournoyer also had 21 stops.

The Tigers were 0-for-3 on the power play, Cornell was 1-for-4 on the man advantage.

Cornell scored on its first shot of the game when George Fegaras had a second attempt from the point slip through Smith's pads and in to give the Big Red a 1-0 lead 2:33 into the game.

Princeton had a prime chance to even the game in the first period when Kai Daniells fed David Ma charging down the slot only for Ma's shot to ring off the crossbar.

The Tigers finally broke through 2:34 into the second period when David Jacobs got his stick on an Ian Devlin shot and redirected the puck past Cournoyer for his 10th goal of the season.

Lake Placid Tip Drill!

The captain gets the Tigers on the board!@ecachockey | @TeamECH | @NCAAIceHockey pic.twitter.com/GmWJjCpXLH
— Princeton Men's Ice Hockey (@princetonhockey) March 21, 2026

Princeton took the lead with 13:28 to play in the second period via a Julian Facchinelli goal. After Brendan Gorman won a faceoff in the neutral zone, he and Facchinelli pushed forward into the Cornell zone where a touch from Gorman sprung Facchinelli with just enough space to roof the puck over Cournoyer for a 2-1 Princeton lead.

Roof Job!

Facchinelli puts one high above Cayuga's waters and the Tigers lead, 2-1!@ecachockey | @NCAAIceHockey | @TeamECH pic.twitter.com/Ue9wqiOhLV
— Princeton Men's Ice Hockey (@princetonhockey) March 21, 2026

Ryan Walsh would level the game at 2-2 just before the end of the second period when he swatted the rebound of a Hoyt Stanley shot out of the air and in.

As the clock moved past the midway mark of the third period, the Tigers worked a forecheck after a chip in from David Ma that led to a reload from Kai Daniells who pumped a puck towards the Cornell net that found Joshua Karnish who had stopped right at the far post to collect the loose puck and nudge it home to give the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish.

Cornell pushed heavily as expected, and Princeton stood tall with a crucial penalty kill with under five minutes to play. After that kill, Jake Manfre and David Ma each blocked two Cornell shots while the Big Red had their net empty.