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Boston University’s hockey team took a quick three-goal lead Saturday night to win 6-3 against Cornell University; but the score didn’t seem to matter to nearly 12,000 Cornell students, alumni, and friends who helped sell out Madison Square Garden’s 18,000 seats.

“Screw B.U. and Harvard too,” went one chant. Another, directed at Boston’s goalie, employed the refrain “You’re a sieve.” The most powerful cheers were the visceral ones: yelps when Cornell did something good, and loud, drawn out boos when Boston did something good.

Cornellians warmed up their vocal chords at a pre-game pep rally, with help from the band, which arrived trailed by the University’s president, Dr. David Skorton, and the men’s hockey team coach, Mike Schafer. Dr. Skorton, who is a musician and internist, conducted a couple of fight songs himself. “I’m an honorary band member,” he said.

Band cameos are just one way Dr. Skorton tries to get to know undergraduates. During freshman orientation he lives in the dorms, happily tolerating the foot-races held for his benefit on the floor above his, he said.

Having spent 25 years at the University of Iowa, Dr. Skorton is used to the sports-oriented Big 10 culture. At Cornell he sees alumni enthusiasm take many forms. “What I like about Cornell is the way alumni are engaged with the university,” Dr. Skorton said. Several alumni noted Cornell graduates’ connection to professional hockey: the commissioner of the National Hockey League, Gary Bettman, is a 1974 graduate of the undergraduate School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Cornell pride was so strong that several Boston University graduates even attended the Cornell pep rally. “Cornell has way more unity and spirit,” a B.U. graduate who is the wife and mother of Cornellians, Lona Whitmarsh, said. “I have a smidgen of ambivalence.”

“I’m a B.U. girl, but I’m dating a Cornell man,” Irene Ryan said.

Former hockey players Ed Ambis, Larry Hughes, and Murray Deathe, and former coach Ned Harkness, were among the attendees who’ve had a part in the hockey team’s distinguished history. And there were a few aspiring players, too, such as Ben Friedlander, 15, currently a right wing for the Midget Snowbelt youth hockey league in Ithaca, N.Y.

Once in the arena, the Lynah Rink faithful had no trouble making the garden feel like home. All the red sweatshirts helped, too; from a distance who could tell that some actually belonged to Boston University fans?

agordon@nysun.com