Although classes have yet to resume, East Hill will be buzzing this weekend when No. 9 Cornell (10-4-3, 7-1-2 ECAC Hockey) faces a pair of Ivy foes. The Red takes on Dartmouth (7-7-2, 4-4-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. and returns to the Lynah Rink ice at the same time on Saturday to drop the puck against rival Harvard (4-6-6, 3-4-4).

The Harvard game is a Cornell tradition and a favorite of both the fans and players, according to senior forward and alternate captain Sean Collins.

“Harvard is a huge rivalry, probably the game we circle on our calendars at home from the start of the year,” he said. “It’s an electric atmosphere with throwing fish on the ice to start the game and just the long term rivalry — definitely a game we are looking forward to.”

While junior defenseman and alternate captain Nick D’Agostino shares this sentiment, he also points out that the Dartmouth squad is not one to be overlooked.        

“There’s something special when Harvard gets here,” he said. “It seems like the fans are on another level, [but] we are preparing for Dartmouth first and we will prepare for Harvard like we would any other game.”

Head coach Mike Schafer ’86 emphasized how important it is for his team to not get ahead of itself and to focus on the Green before looking too far ahead to the matchup with the Crimson.

“Part of our point of emphasis is not to stop looking at the end result of the game,” he said. “I think that’s what happened a little bit at Princeton [last weekend]. It was 3-0 and as soon as we got scored on, there was a little bit of looking at [the situation and saying] ‘God, we can’t lose this game,’ rather than just sticking with the process. 

“And on a grander scale, that goes with all of us — focusing on Dartmouth, not worrying about the rivalry game the following night. It’s a good lesson for us to learn from the Princeton game, hopefully [we can] carry that over the entire year.”

The Red returns to home ice after completing a six-game road trip that spanned nearly six weeks. The team enters Friday night’s action ranked No. 9 in both major national polls, riding a five-game unbeaten streak. Despite the recent success, one of the lower points of the team’s recent play was its game against Princeton on Jan. 14. Cornell started with a 3-0 lead, but surrendered three goals in the final period and only came away with a tie.

According to Schafer, the 3-3 tie with the Tigers demonstrated to the team that despite producing favorable results during the first half of the season there is still plenty of room for improvement.

“Keep plugging away at the things we know are our weaknesses, some minor adjustments to what were doing that’s what practice is for,” Schafer said when asked what his squad must do in order to enhance its play on the ice.

“We have been really working on perfecting a lot of out systems, working on our forecheck a lot — something that we really struggled with this past weekend — and working on our defensive zone play,” D’Agostino added.

Schafer noted that there are games the weekend before class starts each January, although often that game is often against Colgate — Cornell’s opponent in a home-and-home series Jan. 27-28. With most students already back on campus, Schafer expects the stands to be filled to the brim against Dartmouth and Harvard.

“I know it’s going to be a huge mental lift for them to play in front of our own fans,” he said. “Its been six weeks since we’ve played here and to get back and play in front of our crowd, our fans, it’s going to be uplifting — a real good opportunity to put some distance between ourselves and the rest of the league.”