The 50th year of the University of Maine’s men’s hockey program will see a first.
The Black Bears will play at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the first time ever on Saturday, Nov. 28, when they take on Cornell. Game time is noon, and it will be the first time in the history of the biennial Frozen Apple series that it will be an afternoon contest.
Tickets can be obtained through goblackbears.com/mihtickets.
The National Hockey League’s New York Rangers have a game against Calgary later that night at 7 p.m.
“It should be a fun experience for everybody,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “Opportunities like this don’t come along often. It should be really cool for the team.”.
It will be the first time the two teams have met since Cornell ousted UMaine from the NCAA Tournament’s East Regional in Springfield, Massachusetts, 3-1, in the 2023-24 season.
Cornell leads the all-time series 8-7-3.
The Frozen Apple series began in 2012.
Cornell is 4-1-1 in its six Frozen Apple games, beating Michigan (5-1) in 2012, Penn State (3-1) in 2014, New Hampshire (3-1) in 2016 and UConn (6-0) in 2022. It lost to Harvard 4-1 in 2018 and tied Quinnipiac 3-3 in 2024 before winning the shootout.
It will be Cornell’s 31st game at Madison Square Garden and 23rd at the current venue.
The Big Red is 8-3-2 in its last 13 games at the Manhattan venue.
Cornell is coming off a 22-11-1 season and an NCAA Tournament berth. The Big Red lost to eventual national champion Denver 5-0 in the first round of the West Regional in Loveland, Colorado.
UMaine is coming off a disappointing 18-14-3 campaign and lost to Boston College 5-0 in the Hockey East quarterfinals. UMaine had reached the NCAA Tournament the previous two seasons for the first time since the 2005-06 and ’06-07 seasons.
UMaine Director of Athletics Jude Killy said in a statement, “We are excited to play Cornell at an iconic venue like Madison Square Garden. This is a wonderful opportunity for Black Bear Nation and the University of Maine to come together and share their enthusiasm for Maine’s only Division I athletic program and our men’s hockey team in New York.”
Cornell head coach Casey Jones said playing at Madison Square Garden has become “one of the premier events in college hockey and facing Maine in that environment will be a tremendous opportunity for our program. There is nothing quite like competing at the world’s most famous arena in front of our alumni and the Lynah Faithful.”
He added that he expects Maine to “bring a tough, physical brand of hockey and we look forward to the challenge.”
Barr said they are “thrilled to play a great team in a great venue in a great city. It is one of those college hockey experiences that is really special.”
UMaine and Cornell co-hosted the Florida College Hockey Classic from 2000-2013 in Estero, Florida, until UMaine dropped out.
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