ITHACA, NY. - Men's Hockey took game one after a 3-1 win over No. 9 Cornell thanks to two goals from Ben MacDonald and one from Michael Callow on Friday night.

The win marks the first ranked victory of the season for the Crimson. Harvard now leads the ECAC quarterfinal series and is one win away from heading to Lake Placid.

Harvard had the first power play of the game after the Big Red were called for too many men on the ice. The Crimson was unable to generate a shot on its first look on the man advantage.

Michael Callow gave the Crimson its first lead in nearly three games against the Big Red in the first period after he found a loose puck that bounced off the back wall. Heikki Ruohonen won the faceoff back to Matt Morden, who missed wide of the net. Callow picked up the puck off the bounce and beat Cournoyer to give Harvard the early lead. Callow has three goals in his last five games.

Charette was tested in the first period but faced nothing too dangerous from the Big Red as the sophomore netminder made six saves.

Cornell tied the game halfway through the second period after hemming the Crimson into its own end. After the Crimson iced the puck, Cornell forced an offensive zone draw, won the puck back to the point, and fired a shot through traffic that beat Charette.

Shortly after the equalizer, both the Crimson and Big Red ran into some penalty trouble. Originally a Crimson power play, Aidan Lane took a penalty to make it 4-on-4. Shortly after the Cornell penalty expired, Ben MacDonald caught the Big Red in transition and looked off Ryan Healey before beating Cournoyer for a big goal to put the Crimson up 2-1.

Ben Charette was the story for the remainder of the game, keeping a puck out of the crease shortly after the Crimson go-ahead goal and stopping Cornell from tying it again midway through the third period on a partial breakaway.

Ben MacDonald gave Harvard a two-goal lead after hitting the empty net to secure a massive win in game one.

• Harvard beats Cornell for the first time since 2023.
• The Crimson also beat Cornell in the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
• The first ranked win of the season — Harvard last beat a ranked opponent last season when it defeated No. 18 Clarkson in the ECAC quarterfinals.
• Michael Callow is now on a six-game point streak, the longest of any Crimson player this season.
• Ben Charette records his first career win over the Big Red.
• Charette recorded his first career point on the MacDonald empty-netter.
• Charette is the first Crimson netminder to record a point in a playoff game since at least 2002.
• Junior Ben MacDonald added his first multi-goal game since his rookie season.