Money: Cornellians lost to (and gained from) the portal

[Will]

Jane's article was updated:

According to head coach Casey Jones '90, the move initially "blindsided" him and his staff, who had not anticipated losing their starting goaltender. Upon speaking with Cournoyer in the wake of his entering the portal, it was evident that the program and the goaltender had different understandings of what the future held.

"Coming to Cornell, we surely want people that understand the connections and the value of the education," Jones said. "We've just moved on. We wish him well, and we'll pivot."

Jones pivoted by acquiring Mathis Rousseau, a rising sophomore goaltender who spent his freshman year at the University of Maine. The Montreal, Quebec, native posted a .896 save percentage across 17 games in 2025-2026, backing up Maine's starter, Albin Boija. Rousseau challenged Boija for the starting position down the stretch and will certainly bolster the goaltending position for the Red next season.

"There's no shortage of people that want to play here," Jones said. "No shortage of people that want this opportunity right now with the roster we have."

[...]

"We've got a lot of good players here. Our roster is loaded next year," Jones said. "We feel good about that, and we'll have the right guys in the room that want to be here, and then just move on from there. We just move on. That's the landscape."

Jane mentions in her Twitter post that it seems Cournoyer wants to sign with MTL ASAP.

Welp, more cryptic quotes.

Let me translate from Coach to English:

"Cournoyer really fucked us over by telling us he wanted to transfer... he doesn't care about being at Cornell or the Cornell education, he only seems to care about hockey... so he can screw off as far as we're concerned, we have no shortage of people who'd want to play here, especially because we're deep at F/D and a good team, and actually care about being here."

That part I got. But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know, and that is still a mystery. Did he transfer because he though Wisconsin would give him a better opportunity to sign pro? Because he was struggling in school/didn't want to go to class anymore? "He only cares about hockey" seems clear, but why transfer? I can think of several reasons, but we don't have much clarity as to the ones that led to the decision, other than maybe a vague allusion to the "education" bit.

I get the feeling that we've gotten as much official, on-the-record information about this whole ordeal as we're going to get.  Anything else going forward will be limited to speculation, hearsay, and rumors, or otherwise the typical diplomatic/canned responses.

[stereax]

Jane's article was updated:

According to head coach Casey Jones '90, the move initially "blindsided" him and his staff, who had not anticipated losing their starting goaltender. Upon speaking with Cournoyer in the wake of his entering the portal, it was evident that the program and the goaltender had different understandings of what the future held.

"Coming to Cornell, we surely want people that understand the connections and the value of the education," Jones said. "We've just moved on. We wish him well, and we'll pivot."

Jones pivoted by acquiring Mathis Rousseau, a rising sophomore goaltender who spent his freshman year at the University of Maine. The Montreal, Quebec, native posted a .896 save percentage across 17 games in 2025-2026, backing up Maine's starter, Albin Boija. Rousseau challenged Boija for the starting position down the stretch and will certainly bolster the goaltending position for the Red next season.

"There's no shortage of people that want to play here," Jones said. "No shortage of people that want this opportunity right now with the roster we have."

[...]

"We've got a lot of good players here. Our roster is loaded next year," Jones said. "We feel good about that, and we'll have the right guys in the room that want to be here, and then just move on from there. We just move on. That's the landscape."

Jane mentions in her Twitter post that it seems Cournoyer wants to sign with MTL ASAP.

Welp, more cryptic quotes.

Let me translate from Coach to English:

"Cournoyer really fucked us over by telling us he wanted to transfer... he doesn't care about being at Cornell or the Cornell education, he only seems to care about hockey... so he can screw off as far as we're concerned, we have no shortage of people who'd want to play here, especially because we're deep at F/D and a good team, and actually care about being here."

That part I got. But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know, and that is still a mystery. Did he transfer because he though Wisconsin would give him a better opportunity to sign pro? Because he was struggling in school/didn't want to go to class anymore? "He only cares about hockey" seems clear, but why transfer? I can think of several reasons, but we don't have much clarity as to the ones that led to the decision, other than maybe a vague allusion to the "education" bit.

He might have been struggling at school, but it feels like the coaches would have been aware of that after the fall semester. Not passing judgment as to whether he was or wasn't.

I suspect it was moreso driven by his agent cold emailing all the bluebloods and then getting a "hell yeah, we'll throw you some money" from Wisc. But at least from Jane's reporting (and ability to do so, because it'd be difficult for her to get Cournoyer to admit it on record), there's no specific reason given. She does mention, again, that he seems to want to sign with MTL sooner rather than later, so maybe he and his agent think that he does one year at Wisconsin and then signs. Idk.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

"...we'll have the right guys in the room that want to be here, and then just move on from there."

I like that statement.

[BearLover]

By far the most shocking thing in those quotes is that it sounds like he didn't provide any advance warning that he'd enter the portal? That's the way the story is written. I have a hard time believing that could be true.

According to head coach Casey Jones '90, the move initially "blindsided" him and his staff, who had not anticipated losing their starting goaltender. Upon speaking with Cournoyer in the wake of his entering the portal, it was evident that the program and the goaltender had different understandings of what the future held.

[marty]

Jane's article was updated:

According to head coach Casey Jones '90, the move initially "blindsided" him and his staff, who had not anticipated losing their starting goaltender. Upon speaking with Cournoyer in the wake of his entering the portal, it was evident that the program and the goaltender had different understandings of what the future held.

"Coming to Cornell, we surely want people that understand the connections and the value of the education," Jones said. "We've just moved on. We wish him well, and we'll pivot."

Jones pivoted by acquiring Mathis Rousseau, a rising sophomore goaltender who spent his freshman year at the University of Maine. The Montreal, Quebec, native posted a .896 save percentage across 17 games in 2025-2026, backing up Maine's starter, Albin Boija. Rousseau challenged Boija for the starting position down the stretch and will certainly bolster the goaltending position for the Red next season.

"There's no shortage of people that want to play here," Jones said. "No shortage of people that want this opportunity right now with the roster we have."

[...]

"We've got a lot of good players here. Our roster is loaded next year," Jones said. "We feel good about that, and we'll have the right guys in the room that want to be here, and then just move on from there. We just move on. That's the landscape."

Jane mentions in her Twitter post that it seems Cournoyer wants to sign with MTL ASAP.

Welp, more cryptic quotes.

Let me translate from Coach to English:

"Cournoyer really fucked us over by telling us he wanted to transfer... he doesn't care about being at Cornell or the Cornell education, he only seems to care about hockey... so he can screw off as far as we're concerned, we have no shortage of people who'd want to play here, especially because we're deep at F/D and a good team, and actually care about being here."

That part I got. But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know, and that is still a mystery. Did he transfer because he though Wisconsin would give him a better opportunity to sign pro? Because he was struggling in school/didn't want to go to class anymore? "He only cares about hockey" seems clear, but why transfer? I can think of several reasons, but we don't have much clarity as to the ones that led to the decision, other than maybe a vague allusion to the "education" bit.

And as everyone knows BL needs clarity. 

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know

Mick and Keith had something to say about that.

[BearLover]

But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know

Mick and Keith had something to say about that.

When you hear about the concept of journalism it's gonna blow your mind

[Weder]

I had popped open Wehmann's page too, just to peer at it, that's gone as well.

I feel like some version of this briefly happens every year with some of the offseason updates (not just with men's hockey). I wonder if they have some weird content management system that requires them to publish updates before they can "hide" them.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know

Mick and Keith had something to say about that.

When you hear about the concept of journalism it's gonna blow your mind

🤯

Does journalism even exist anymore?  Asking for a friend.

[ugarte]

That part I got. But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know, and that is still a mystery. Did he transfer because he though Wisconsin would give him a better opportunity to sign pro? Because he was struggling in school/didn't want to go to class anymore? "He only cares about hockey" seems clear, but why transfer? I can think of several reasons, but we don't have much clarity as to the ones that led to the decision, other than maybe a vague allusion to the "education" bit.

I think it's pretty clear that if he doesn't care about the degree and is ready to jump ship to the pros ASAP, he'd rather be someplace that has the B1G's NIL budget, scholarship generosity and academic support (TAs who will take his exams). I don't know if Cornell's coaching/schedule came into it at all but it seems secondary. I honestly doubt that MTL cares very much which program he was at. 

[BearLover]

That part I got. But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know, and that is still a mystery. Did he transfer because he though Wisconsin would give him a better opportunity to sign pro? Because he was struggling in school/didn't want to go to class anymore? "He only cares about hockey" seems clear, but why transfer? I can think of several reasons, but we don't have much clarity as to the ones that led to the decision, other than maybe a vague allusion to the "education" bit.

I think it's pretty clear that if he doesn't care about the degree and is ready to jump ship to the pros ASAP, he'd rather be someplace that has the B1G's NIL budget, scholarship generosity and academic support (TAs who will take his exams). I don't know if Cornell's coaching/schedule came into it at all but it seems secondary. I honestly doubt that MTL cares very much which program he was at. 

That's true but it seems relevant which of those purported reasons was decisive. It's vague as to which of the following affected his decision and to what degree:
—he wanted more of a challenge (I suspect it's not this but that's basically the answer he gave to the Wisconsin journalist)
-money, whether scholarship or NIL (not mentioned in either of the articles but could of course be a reason)
-he didn't want to go to school (sort of alluded to by Casey but only if you squint)

I know people roll their eyes when I harp on this stuff but it's a lot different if a kid is dipping because he has to pay tuition versus because he thinks the ECAC is weak versus because he isn't a serious student. Yeah the answer could be "all of the above" but in terms of future recruiting it's good to know why a player like this would leave Cornell when so many other good players do not. The coaching staff got burned and it'd be nice to not have that happen again.

[adamw]

No, it probably is very good- I'd be shocked if it wasn't. What I'm implying is that Wisconsin probably has a larger goaltending coaching staff and resources, because it's a bigger program with more money. Training/Coaching is SO important for goalies in this era. They train to be robots. Playing approximately the same amount of games at Wisco Vs Cornell but against a full slate of Big 10 goon squads and snipers. I'm not shitting on our program, but I do see that there are limits to what we offer, and the impression of quality in the hockey world. Seeing things through non Carnelian glasses...
Of course I think Cornell is awesome. Teams should fear us. But in the wider hockey world, we're on the B tier (and the ECAC is C/B- tier in their eyes...) in spite of our consistency and success. Is what it is. It's ridiculous obviously considering that the Big Whoop hasn't claimed a Natty since it started, but, even we on e-lynah get worried when we have to face off against them with the season on the line.

My insights come from being a fan my whole life and playing ice hockey for a long time- and playing with and interacting with on a regular basis former Junior, College and pro players. I'm not that good, but they are and they know. I skate with (literal) kids on their way to College and Juniors with pro ambitions- I have a sense of how they think and feel, not that anyone cares about credentials- only Adam W has the street cred that matters.

Gee thanks - but FYI - Wisconsin is not allowed to have more coaches than Cornell has. Almost every kid has their own personal/private goalie coach these days.

[adamw]

That part I got. But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know, and that is still a mystery. Did he transfer because he though Wisconsin would give him a better opportunity to sign pro? Because he was struggling in school/didn't want to go to class anymore? "He only cares about hockey" seems clear, but why transfer? I can think of several reasons, but we don't have much clarity as to the ones that led to the decision, other than maybe a vague allusion to the "education" bit.

I think it's pretty clear that if he doesn't care about the degree and is ready to jump ship to the pros ASAP, he'd rather be someplace that has the B1G's NIL budget, scholarship generosity and academic support (TAs who will take his exams). I don't know if Cornell's coaching/schedule came into it at all but it seems secondary. I honestly doubt that MTL cares very much which program he was at. 

That's true but it seems relevant which of those purported reasons was decisive. It's vague as to which of the following affected his decision and to what degree:
—he wanted more of a challenge (I suspect it's not this but that's basically the answer he gave to the Wisconsin journalist)
-money, whether scholarship or NIL (not mentioned in either of the articles but could of course be a reason)
-he didn't want to go to school (sort of alluded to by Casey but only if you squint)

I know people roll their eyes when I harp on this stuff but it's a lot different if a kid is dipping because he has to pay tuition versus because he thinks the ECAC is weak versus because he isn't a serious student. Yeah the answer could be "all of the above" but in terms of future recruiting it's good to know why a player like this would leave Cornell when so many other good players do not. The coaching staff got burned and it'd be nice to not have that happen again.

roll my eyes is one way to say it ... I mean, if you think the definition of journalism is forcing a run-of-the-mill college hockey player to confess, on the record, all of his deep thoughts about why he transferred, just to satisfy the burning curiosity of 10 people who absolutely need to know or it will kill them ... then ... good luck waiting on that.

You've been given way more to infer on this one case, either by my comments here or Jane's articles, than 99.9% of all the other 200 kids that transferred last week and pissed off the fans/coaches of the place they left.

[BearLover]

That part I got. But his reasoning for transferring is what I want to know, and that is still a mystery. Did he transfer because he though Wisconsin would give him a better opportunity to sign pro? Because he was struggling in school/didn't want to go to class anymore? "He only cares about hockey" seems clear, but why transfer? I can think of several reasons, but we don't have much clarity as to the ones that led to the decision, other than maybe a vague allusion to the "education" bit.

I think it's pretty clear that if he doesn't care about the degree and is ready to jump ship to the pros ASAP, he'd rather be someplace that has the B1G's NIL budget, scholarship generosity and academic support (TAs who will take his exams). I don't know if Cornell's coaching/schedule came into it at all but it seems secondary. I honestly doubt that MTL cares very much which program he was at. 

That's true but it seems relevant which of those purported reasons was decisive. It's vague as to which of the following affected his decision and to what degree:
—he wanted more of a challenge (I suspect it's not this but that's basically the answer he gave to the Wisconsin journalist)
-money, whether scholarship or NIL (not mentioned in either of the articles but could of course be a reason)
-he didn't want to go to school (sort of alluded to by Casey but only if you squint)

I know people roll their eyes when I harp on this stuff but it's a lot different if a kid is dipping because he has to pay tuition versus because he thinks the ECAC is weak versus because he isn't a serious student. Yeah the answer could be "all of the above" but in terms of future recruiting it's good to know why a player like this would leave Cornell when so many other good players do not. The coaching staff got burned and it'd be nice to not have that happen again.

roll my eyes is one way to say it ... I mean, if you think the definition of journalism is forcing a run-of-the-mill college hockey player to confess, on the record, all of his deep thoughts about why he transferred, just to satisfy the burning curiosity of 10 people who absolutely need to know or it will kill them ... then ... good luck waiting on that.

You've been given way more to infer on this one case, either by my comments here or Jane's articles, than 99.9% of all the other 200 kids that transferred last week and pissed off the fans/coaches of the place they left.

She had Casey on the record. I was hopeful this would reveal more than we already knew, but it didn't. Not expecting her to grill Cournoyer, obviously. I think Jane is a promising journalist and the Sun's hockey coverage has been great, to be clear. But people wanted to know why he transferred and it's still extremely murky.

[stereax]

By far the most shocking thing in those quotes is that it sounds like he didn't provide any advance warning that he'd enter the portal? That's the way the story is written. I have a hard time believing that could be true.

According to head coach Casey Jones '90, the move initially "blindsided" him and his staff, who had not anticipated losing their starting goaltender. Upon speaking with Cournoyer in the wake of his entering the portal, it was evident that the program and the goaltender had different understandings of what the future held.

I mean Adam told us basically how it went a week ago. Makes sense that they WERE blindsided, honestly.