The 1966–67 Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey season was the 51st season of play for the program. The Big Red represented Cornell University in college ice hockey. In its 4th year under head coach Ned Harkness the team compiled a 27–1–1 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in its history. The Big Red defeated Boston University 4–1 in the championship game at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse, New York. Cornell tied the record, held by several teams, for the fewest losses by an NCAA champion.
Season
Early season In the first three seasons under Ned Harkness Cornell had steadily risen in the ECAC, finishing third in the conference and ending the season as the conference runner-up. With the Big Red seemingly just hitting their stride, the team suffered a blow before the season even began with senior netminder David Quarrie going down with an ankle injury. The team turned to sophomore Ken Dryden to hold the fort and hope that they could survive until Quarrie's return. Fortunately they began their season with a relatively easy matchup against McMaster at home and after scoring seven goals in the first period the Big Red skated to a 14–2 win. The game was notable in that the scoring was spread out across all three lines, showing signs that the depth issue that had plagued them the year before may have been addressed.
Cornell opened their ECAC schedule the following game against Rensselaer and while the team as a whole played inconsistently throughout the game, Dryden was particularly notable for how calm and collected he was in goal, holding the Engineers to two goals in Cornell's 7–2 victory. For their third game Cornell took on defending ECAC champion and national runner-up Clarkson. With the Walker Arena filled to capacity Cornell battled the Golden Knights in a very close game that was tied three separate times. Clarkson opened the scoring with a power play marker, putting Cornell down on the scoresheet for the first time all season. The Big Red failed to score on a two-man advantage but continued to put pressure on Clarkson's goal and eventually potted two quick goals in the later half of the first period. Clarkson knotted the score off of a deflection before the frame was over and the two teams went into the first intermission tied at two-all. Cornell's attack kept the puck in Clarkson's end for much of the next two periods but Clarkson's John Miller held the fort and sent the two teams into overtime. While the boisterous crowd continued to root on the Knights it was Cornell's Harry Orr who netted the game-winner at 4:31.
The Big Red returned home for their next two games, first hosting Guelph where sophomore Bob McGuinn scored a hat-trick in the team's 6–1 victory, then welcomed in a good St. Lawrence team only to trounce the Saints 8–0 with Peter Tufford scoring four times while Ken Dryden earned his first varsity shutout. While the win helped propel Cornell to the top of the ECAC the game was marred by penalties and included a stick-swinging incident from the Larrie's Dick Smith who opened a gash in the side of Mike Doran's face that required 14-15 stitches to close. Smith received a 5 minute major penalty for the infraction Doran was able to return later in the game.
Their next game saw Cornell's first Ivy League match of the year at Yale. The Bulldogs' first score was one of the only bad goals Ken Dryden allowed that year and though Cornell tied the game three minutes later, Yale quickly regained the lead. Bobby Ferguson was able to tie the game with a short-handed goal and as the first period was coming to a close Yale took two successive penalties and Dave Ferguson was able to score on both to give Cornell their first lead. The Big Red's defense had fairly poor game and allowed Yale to have many good scoring opportunities but the heroics from Ken Dryden kept the score in Cornell's favor. Bruce Pattison was cut in the third period after being checked into the wire mesh that surrounded the rink rather than plexiglass, leaving the Big Red with just three defenseman for the final 11 minutes but the team was able to rally and skate to a 5–3 win.
Holiday tournaments With a perfect 6–0 record Cornell headed to Boston to play in the ECAC Christmas Hockey Tournament. The Big Red opened against Northeastern at the Boston Garden and, despite playing at what amounted to a home game for the Huskies, Cornell trounced their opponents 9–1 with Doug Ferguson's 4 goals leading the way. The next night Cornell took on defending national champion Michigan State for the tournament title and opened the scoring with a Bobby Ferguson goal. The Spartans played the same tough defense that garnered them the 1966 National Title and held Cornell back until late in the second when Dave Ferguson notched a power-play marker. MSU showed their mettle by scoring twice in the third period, first on the power play and then short-handed, to tie the game. Both teams had chances to end the game but Dryden and fellow netminder Gaye Cooley were both stellar and sent the game into overtime. It only took 59 seconds to decide the game when Mike Doran scored on a screened Cooley to win the tournament for Cornell and keep their perfect record.
Just before the winter break Cornell took on Harvard, narrowly escaping with a 4–3 win on the strength of four consecutive goals. Before classes resumed, however, Cornell played in their second holiday championship, this time competing in the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament. Once more they opened against Northeastern and the team appeared to be rusty after their 8-day layoff. The Huskies went ahead twice by one goal before Bobby Ferguson's marker got Cornell their first least with just under nine minutes to play. Tufford got an empty-net goal to close out the game but the injury bug bit the Big Red again when Brian Cornell tore ligaments in his right knee and missed the rest of the season. After their lack-luster performance, Harkness shuffled his lines before the game against Harvard and got an immediate return when Doug Ferguson scored 28 seconds into the game. Cornell scored twice more before the period was out and with Dryden making 33 saves in the game The Big Red won 4–1 and set up a showdown against Boston University.
In 'The Game' Cornell and BU entered the contest with a combined 22–1 record with both vying for the top spot in the ECAC. Cornell opened the scoring with Harry Orr's goal on a two-man advantage early in the first but were answered by two BU power play goals before the period was over. Bobby Ferguson tied the game early in the second and was followed a minute later by Skip Stanowski to give the lead back to Cornell. The Big Red were unable to score another goal for the remainder of the game despite the pressure they put on BU's Wayne Ryan. Still holding the narrow lead late in the third, while on the power play Stanowski was beat out to a loose puck by Darrell Abbott who proceeded to flip the puck over Dryden's shoulder and tie the game. With the game heading into overtime, neither team showed the stamina required to prevail after their third game in as many days. After the first 10-minute period ended both coaches agreed to play one more extra frame but the additional time proved nothing and the two teams agreed to end with a tie. Fittingly Dryden shared the tournament MVP award with his counterpart Wayne Ryan while Doug Ferguson, Stanowski and Orr were named to the All-Tournament team along with their netminder.
New Year With BU and Cornell now tied atop the ECAC standing with no more games between the two neither could afford to slip much if they wanted to win the ECAC championship. The Big Red headed home for their next game against Yale and welcomed back David Quarrie in net for his first game since being injured. Though his ankle had not been badly hurt it was the otherworldly play of Dryden that kept Quarrie out of the net. In Quarrie's return to action he didn't play poorly but he wasn't able to overcome his team's defensive lapses, bad penalties and inability to score when they had their opportunities. Even worse was a second period goal that was waved off by the referee that could have given Cornell the game. It was, however, two power play goals by Yale in the third period put the Bulldogs ahead but with less than five minutes remaining Sophomore Ted Coviello tied the game at 3–3. Despite outshooting Yale 112 to 49 in the contest Cornell was unable to earn a fourth goal and it was Yale's Jack Morrison who scored the game winner at 6:09 of extra time.
Because BU had won their contest against Clarkson, Cornell was now in second-place in the ECAC and would have to hope that BU would slip up. In any event Dryden returned to the net for the next game and the Big Red punished Colgate on the road, winning 8–0 while Ken Dryden earned his second shutout with only light duty. At the same time the NCAA held a vote that ended the Ivy League's petition to eliminate the 1.6 rule from the athletic participation bylaws. The rule had been put into place the year before and stipulated that the all students must maintain a 1.6 grade point average on a 4.0 scale (equivalent to a D+ average) to be eligible for an athletic scholarship. The Ivy League fought the ruling on the grounds that its member schools did not give out scholarships solely for athletic ability and that the rule violated institutional autonomy. The Ivies received support from the greater ECAC as well as the Southwest and ACC conferences but the proposal was defeated 153 to 113. While the ruling went against their interests, the decision made it so that Cornell would be eligible for the 1967 tournament after having to decline the invitation to the previous year's championship.
Cornell regained their lead in the Ivy League race by defeating Brown 6–1 in a fast-paced game that saw very few shots on net despite the action. Though he was hardly fatigued from making 13 saves, Dryden was replaced in goal for the next game against Colgate by Quarrie. The visiting Red Raiders were mercilessly vanquished by the Big Red who scored the first nine goals of the game before surrendering two fairly meaningless markers in the third. The win was Quarrie's first of the season and it would also end up being the final minutes he would play in a Cornell uniform.
Down the stretch After taking the rest of January off, the team returned to the ice at Boston College on the first of February and fought to a close 3–2 road victory. The Big Red offence remained muted over the next to games against Western Ontario and Princeton, scoring only three times in each contest but Ken Dryden continued to show that he was the best goaltender in the college ranks by surrendering a single score in each game. When Cornell's offensive firepower returned against Dartmouth Dryden upped his game again by recording his third shutout of the season. In the final four games of their schedule Cornell dominated their Ivy League competition, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 19–5 and finishing the season 18–1–1 in conference play. Unfortunately, Boston University had not lost a single conference game and finished just ahead of the Big Red, denying Cornell a conference championship despite a .925 winning percentage.
ECAC Tournament