CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Ivy League and ECAC Hockey contenders will clash at 7 p.m. tonight when Cornell visits Harvard for a game at Bright-Landry Hockey Center. The game will be streamed on subscription-based Ivy League Network and simulcast for free on ESPN3. Jason Weinstein will also provide play-by-play for WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM) in the Ithaca area and worldwide via the station's website here.

Game 20: #2/4 CORNELL at HARVARD
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, Jan. 26, 2018
PLACE: Bright-Landry Hockey Center  •  Cambridge, Mass.
RECORDS: Cornell 16-2-1, 10-1-1 ECAC Hockey, 5-0-1 Ivy League;
                    Harvard 9-6-4, 8-3-3 ECAC Hockey, 4-2 Ivy League
VIDEO: ESPN3 / Ivy League Network
RADIO : WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: GoCrimson.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Harvard game notes (PDF)

Polls Prose:
•  Cornell has vaulted up the national rankings this week to second in the USCHO.com poll and second in the Pairwise Rankings, which are used to determine the at-large berths for the NCAA tournament. The Big Red remained fourth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
•  Cornell's standing at No. 2 is its highest in the USCHO.com poll since Oct. 24, 2005. The 15 first-place votes it got in the poll is also the highest the program has garnered since March 7, 2005.

Eye On The Ivy:
•  With a win tonight, the Big Red could put itself in position to clinch its 22nd Ivy League title on Saturday. Cornell would win the crown outright with victories against both Harvard and Dartmouth, and it would clinch at least a share if it defeats Harvard and ties Dartmouth.
•  Of Cornell's 21 Ivy League titles, 17 have been won outright and four shared. The Big Red's last Ivy League title came in 2013-14.

Big Red Rewind:
•  Matthew Galajda made 24 saves in Friday's opener at Lynah Rink, then turned away 23 shots Saturday in Hamilton to backstop Cornell to a home-and-home sweep of Colgate last weekend with matching scores of 2-0.
•  Galajda became the Big Red's first freshman to record back-to-back shutouts since David McKee in December 2003. He has subsequently been named NCAA First Star of the Week and ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week. 
•  Anthony Angello scored both goals in Friday's victory, the first in just the game's third minute after a terrific solo effort by Mitch Vanderlaan to send Angello in alone on goal, and the second on the power play in the second period off a crafty feed from Yanni Kaldis.
•  Cam Donaldson opened the scoring Saturday after creating a turnover in the neutral zone, then Kyle Betts provided the insurance in the third period with a wraparound goal. 

Highlights From Friday's 2-0 Win vs. Colgate:


Highlights From Saturday's 2-0 Win at Colgate:


Need-To-Know Numbers:
•  Cornell possesses the highest winning percentage in the nation (.868) and its eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) is tied for the nation's longest with its Friday opponent. Harvard is 5-0-3 in its last eight games.
•  Long known as a defensive powerhouse under head coach Mike Schafer, Cornell is also showcasing its offensive wares this year. The Big Red now ranks eighth in the nation in team offense at 3.42 goals per game.
•  One of the keys to Cornell's success this season has been an increase in offensive production from its defensemen. After receiving 13 goals from blueliners in each of the last two seasons, the Big Red already has 15 goals from defensemen through just 19 games this year.
•  Cornell leads the nation in team defense (1.53 goals against per game), having already posted six shutouts.
•  The Big Red surrenders the second-fewest shots on goal per game in the nation (23.47), trailing just Minnesota State (22.64).
•  Three Cornell defensemen are ranked in the top 10 nationally in rating, led by junior Brendan Smith (4-5–9) and his nation's best plus-20. 
•  Junior forward Mitch Vanderlaan (4-11–15) is on a team-best scoring streak of four games, and he has eight points over his last six games. He's also moved into a tie for the team lead in assists with sophomore forward Jeff Malott (4-11–15).
•  Cornell leads the nation with a .868 winning percentage, its highest through 19 games since a 1969-70 season that ended with a national title.

Forward Thinking:
•  Cornell continues to get the job done offensively with unparalleled depth. The team's top six scorers are current spread evenly across the team's three most recent forward lines. The team's leading scorer, senior forward Trevor Yates (11-6–17; 4 PPG), ranks 80th in the nation in points per game — lower than 36 of the nation's 59 other team leaders in scoring.
•  Junior forward Anthony Angello (8-8–16) has six goals in his last eight games to move into solo possession of second in team scoring.

More Than Just Defense:
•  The Big Red has five defensemen with at least eight points, but none with more than nine. It's the first time since the 2009-10 campaign that Cornell has five defensemen with eight points in a season.
•  The aforementioned Smith is in a three-way tie with classmates Matt Nuttle (2-7–9; plus-14) and Alec McCrea (4-5–9; 4 PPGs; plus-15) for the team lead in scoring from blueliners.
•  Sophomore Yanni Kaldis (3-5–8), an All-Ivy League first team selection last year, leads the team with seven power-play points. 

Goaltending, Inc:
•  Despite entering the season with just eight career collegiate starts among its three goaltenders, the Big Red has not only found one solid starter in net this season — it has two.
•  Freshman Matthew Galajda (12-2-1, 1.66, .930, 5 SO) owns the national lead in victories from rookie goaltenders. Galajda ranks second in the country in goals against average and fifth in save percentage.
•  Galajda is tied for second in the nation in shutouts, also tying the program record for clean sheets from a freshman goaltender. Future All-American David McKee also had five during his freshman season in 2003-04.
•  After making just one start over the last two seasons, senior Hayden Stewart (4-0, 1.01, .956, SO) started three straight from Dec. 2 to Jan. 5 and performed well. In his first start, Stewart made 26 saves at Miami for his third career shutout in just his ninth collegiate start.

Fresh Faces:
•  The Big Red is the youngest team in ECAC Hockey and boasts one of the largest freshman classes in the country, with seven of the team's 10 newcomers appearing in the season opener — a first at Cornell since 1997.
•  Freshman forward Morgan Barron (4-9–13) became the first freshman in program history to record a point in each of his first seven collegiate games.
•  Defenseman Alex Green (2-6–8) had a goal and an assist in Jan. 12-13 games at Yale and Brown, but did not play in either game last weekend.
•  Forward Brenden Locke (1-7–8) has four points over the last six games, finding a home centering a line with Anthony Angello and Mitch Vanderlaan.
•  Forward Kyle Betts (5-3–8) has taken over the team's goal-scoring lead among freshmen, netting the final goal Saturday at Colgate. He made the most of his four shots on goal during consecutive games Dec. 2 and Dec. 30, scoring on each of them.

Feel The Draft?:
•  Cornell has six players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including four from 2014. Junior forward Beau Starrett (Chicago Blackhawks) was selected earliest in that group, having been taken in the third round with the 88th overall pick. 
•  Classmate Anthony Angello, also a forward, was selected in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Junior forwards Jared Fiegl (Arizona Coyotes) and Dwyer Tschantz (St. Louis Blues) were then picked in the seventh round. 
•  Two newcomers are also NHL draft picks — forward Morgan Barron (N.Y. Rangers in 2017) and defenseman Matt Cairns (Edmonton Oilers in 2016).

First Ivy League Coach To 400:
•  Already the winningest coach in program history and in Ivy League history, Mike Schafer eclipsed another milestone in his career with his 400th victory last January.
•  Schafer ranks 10th in victories among active Division I coaches and is Cornell's fifth-winningest coach across all sports — second among current coaches, behind just Dave Eldredge (men's and women's polo).

What, Me Worry?:
•  Cornell has trailed in just six of its 19 games so far, including deficits of at least two goals in five of those contests. Remarkably, the Big Red has a 3-1-1 record in those games featuring a multiple-goal deficit.
•  The most recent occurrence of a two-goal hole came last Friday at Yale, but the Big Red rallied for three straight strikes in a span of 11:12 before eventually settling for a deadlock in its first overtime game of the season.
•  Cornell's resilience from an early deficit has become somewhat of a trend, with the team sporting a very respectable 14-15-5 record when yielding the game's first strike over the last two-plus years. That's a stark turnaround from the team's 14-34-5 record when yielding the game's first goal from the previous three seasons (2012-15).

Turning The Trick:
•  Freshman forward Kyle Betts gave Cornell its second hat trick of the season Dec. 30 vs. Canisius. Sophomore forward Noah Bauld had the first Nov. 17 vs. St. Lawrence. Cornell also had a pair of hat tricks last season, and once again it was then-underclassmen that delivered — Mitch Vanderlaan (Nov. 12, 2016 at Yale) and Jeff Malott (Jan. 13, 2017 at Princeton).

Scouting Harvard:
•  The Crimson (9-6-4, 8-3-3 ECAC Hockey, 4-2 Ivy League) has shaken a difficult, road-heavy start to the season to enter Friday's game matched with Cornell for the longest unbeaten streak in the nation. 
•  Harvard is 5-0-3 in its last eight, the last three of which have required overtime. 
•  The Crimson started last weekend with a wild 6-6 tie Friday in which it held three separate leads at Clarkson, but still needed an extra-attacker goal from junior forward Lewis Zerter-Gossage (7-12–19; 3 PPGs) in the final minute of the third period to pull even.
•  Harvard blew another two-goal in the third period the next night at St. Lawrence, but Jack Badini scored in overtime to give the Crimson the win.
•  Junior center Ryan Donato (20-9–29; 4 PPGs; plus-11) leads the nation in goals and ranks second nationally in overall scoring (1.53 points per game). He is scheduled to join the U.S. Olympic team following this weekend's games. Zerter-Gossage typically plays on his right wing.
•  Sophomore Adam Fox (0-12–12), an all-ECAC Hockey first team selection last year, and freshman Reilly Walsh (3-9–12) are tied for lead in defenseman scoring. All three of Walsh's goals have come on the power play, and Harvard has just three even-strength goals from blueliners.
•  Senior Merrick Madsen (6-5-3, 2.29, .920, 3 SO) was the lone goalie on the All-ECAC Hockey Preseason Team, but he's lost playing time this year. He was pulled in Friday's tie with Clarkson, then junior Michael Lackey (3-1-1, 2.65, .904) earned the start and victory the next night at St. Lawrence.
•  Ted Donato is in his 14th season as head coach of his alma mater.

The Series Against Harvard:
•  Cornell has been battling with ancient rival Harvard since 1910, and they have matched up 151 times with the Big Red holding a 75-65-11 lead.
•  The Big Red won an exhilarating 3-2 affair on Nov. 11 at Lynah Rink, storming back after the Crimson scored the first two goals inside 16 minutes. Yanni Kaldis and Jeff Malott scored to knot the score by the 1:15 mark of the second period, then Alec McCrea's one-timer on the power play with 2.3 seconds left in the third period proved to be the winner.
•  Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is 35-18-6 in 59 games against Harvard.

Up Next:
•  Cornell concludes its trip at 7 p.m. Saturday at Dartmouth.