Ned Harkness - Moving To Ithaca

Moving To Ithaca

In 1963, Harkness moved to Cornell University, where he replaced Paul Patten as the head coach of the hockey team. In his first year at Cornell, Harkness helped the team to a 12–10–1 record in the fledgling ECAC league. His second season saw the team record improve to 19 wins. His stature rose to legendary status with the recruitment of Ken Dryden.

In 1966, Harkness bested the previous year's total by winning 22 games while losing only 5 times. The following season, Ken Dryden came to Ithaca to play in net, and the team began reaping dividends immediately. The 1967 record was 27–1–1. Cornell participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, with Harkness' second NCAA championship as the Big Red defeated North Dakota and Boston University for the title.

The domination continued for the remainder of Harkness' time at Cornell. The next season, Cornell again went to the NCAA Tournament, again with 27 victories, but would lose to North Dakota in the semifinals before defeating Boston College for third place. Harkness again won 27 times in the 1968–69 campaign, the only regular season loss coming at the hands of his old team at Rensselaer in a game which later proved to save hockey at his old school a second time. Cornell would defeat Michigan Tech in the NCAA Tournament before dropping the championship game to the Denver Pioneers.

Seemingly with little opportunity to improve upon the team's success, Harkness and his Cornell team achieved a perfect record, undefeated and untied, in 1970. Cornell capped the 29–0–0 season with victories over Wisconsin and Clarkson University in the NCAA Tournament, bringing Harkness his third and final NCAA championship, and Cornell's second title in four years. Ironically, Harkness and his team accomplished this feat without Dryden, who is most often associated with the dominance of Cornell during the late 1960s.

While coaching ice hockey at Cornell, his overall record was 163–27–2 over seven seasons, and his teams won 2 NCAA titles, one in 1967 and one in 1970.

Amidst his success at Lynah Rink, Harkness returned to coaching lacrosse, coaching the Cornell lacrosse team to the 1966 and 1968 Ivy League titles, and reaching an astounding 35–1 record during his three years at the helm. Following the 1970 regular season, Harkness left Cornell on top to coach in the National Hockey League.