ITHACA, N.Y. — After becoming the last team in the nation to suffer its first loss, the Cornell men's hockey team will look to rebound in a holiday week game against Niagara at 7 p.m. tonight. The game will be streamed on the Ivy League Network and simulcast on ESPN3 and the TSN GO app for viewers in Canada. Jason Weinstein (play-by-play) and Tony Eisenhut '88 (color commentary) will have the call.

Game 9: NIAGARA at #7/7 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 7-1, 5-1 ECAC Hockey, 3-0 Ivy League; Niagara 6-3-1, 5-1-1 Atlantic Hockey
VIDEO: Ivy League Network / ESPN3 / TSN GO app
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Niagara game notes (PDF)

Big Red Rewind:
•  Off to the program's best start since the 1971-72 campaign, Cornell's season-opening winning streak was halted at seven games with a 4-0 loss to Clarkson on Saturday night at Lynah Rink.
•  In a matchup of national top-10 teams, the Golden Knights jumped out to a two-goal lead in the opening six minutes. Cornell then hit a pair of posts before the visitors pulled away with another two-goal spurt in a span of 28 seconds late in the second period.
•  The Big Red mustered just 15 shots on goal, with Clarkson defenders soaking up 26 shot blocks.
•  Cornell started the weekend with a 6-1 rout of St. Lawrence on Friday night, highlighted by a hat trick from sophomore forward Noah Bauld.
•  Junior defenseman Brendan Smith and junior forward Anthony Angello had a goal and an assist apiece, helping Cornell score six in a game for the first time since Nov. 12, 2016 (6-3 win at Yale).
•  The margin of victory was Cornell's largest since Nov. 6, 2010, when it defeated Clarkson by an identical 6-1 score.
•  Freshman forward Kyle Betts and freshman defenseman Alex Green each had assists to record their first collegiate points. Betts later added a second assist.
•  Forward Morgan Barron's goal stretched his points streak to seven straight games — a record for a Cornell freshman in his first games.

Highlights From Saturday's Game vs. Clarkson:


Highlights From Friday's Game vs. St. Lawrence:


About the Big Red:
•  Cornell ranks second in the nation in team defense (1.62 goals against per game) and its penalty kill ranks fourth at a 90.2 percent success rate. Opponents scored just twice in their first 35 power-play opportunities against Cornell until Clarkson was 2-for-6 on the man advantage on Saturday.
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates (5-3–8; 3 PPG) leads the team in scoring and is the team's leader among forwards with a plus-7 rating.
•  Junior forward Jeff Malott (3-4–7), freshman forward Morgan Barron
(3-4–7) and junior forward Anthony Angello (2-5–7) are tied for second in team scoring. Angello leads the team with 21 shots on goal.

A New 'Tender's Turn:
•  The Big Red graduated three-year starting goaltender Mitch Gillam '17 after last season, but the team hasn't yet missed a beat. Freshman Matthew Galajda (6-1, 1.64, .925, 2 SO) has started all eight games to date, and he was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week earlier this month. Galajda now ranks second in the country in goals against average, and he's one of just four goalies in program history to record at least two shutouts as a freshman.

Polls Prose:
•  After suffering its first loss of the season, the Big Red slipped slightly to seventh in the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.
•  Cornell's rankings last week of fifth the USA poll was its highest since Feb. 1, 2010, and its ranking of sixth in the USCHO.com poll was its highest since March 22, 2010.
•  Though extremely early, the Big Red sits in fifth in the Pairwise Rankings, which are used to determine the at-large berths for the NCAA tournament.

Power Play Ace:
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates' power-play prowess has picked up right where it left off last year. After leading the team with eight goals on the man advantage last year, Yates potted three power-play goals in two opening-weekend games against Alabama-Huntsville. That effort earned Yates ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honors on Oct. 31. He now has 11 power-play goals in his last 41 games.

The Offensive Defense:
•  Not only has Cornell opened the scoring in six of its eight games, five of its seven first goals have come from defensemen. Junior Alec McCrea (3-1–4; 3 PPGs) has two of those goals, and juniors Matt Nuttle and Brendan Smith and sophomore Yanni Kaldis have the others. Those four defensemen have a combined eight goals in eight games this season after producing a total of five goals all of last year.

Fresh Faces:
•  Eight freshmen made their collegiate debuts during the Big Red's first two games, including seven in the opener. It marked the first time Cornell had seven freshmen skate in its season debut since 1997.
•  Forwards Morgan Barron (3-4–7) and Cam Donaldson (0-4–4) are the top scorers among newcomers, and forward Brenden Locke (1-1–2) scored the winning goal during the third period Nov. 4 at Princeton.
•  Matthew Galajda's two shutouts are tied for the second-most in program history for a freshman goaltender. Only All-American David McKee had more (five; 2003-04), and Galajda joins senior Hayden Stewart (2014-15) and Brian Hayward (1978-79) as the only others with two.

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 only trailed in three of its eight games so far, and it actually faced a two-goal deficit both Nov. 4 at Princeton and Nov. 11 vs. Harvard before rallying for victories.
•  Eight of Cornell's 21 victories last season came in games in which the Big Red surrendered the first goal, with the team maintaining a winning record even when it conceded first.
•  The Big Red's resilience from an early deficit has become somewhat of a trend, with the team sporting a very respectable 21-20-8 record when yielding the game's first strike over the last two 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).

Helping Out:
Members and friends of the Cornell men's hockey program embarked on another mission trip to the Dominican Republic through the Portal de Belén Foundation over in the summer of 2016. It was the fourth time the program has participated, following trips in 2009, 2012 and 2014. Current members of the team Ryan Bliss, Alec McCrea, Anthony Angello, Alex Rauter, Hayden Stewart, Trent Shore, Jared Fiegl and Dwyer Tschantz were among current team members on the trip, as well as Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey.


About Niagara:
•  Under first-year head coach Jason Lammers, the Purple Eagles are 6-3-1 — more victories than they had in all of last season (5-31-3).
•  Niagara has already played against three ECAC Hockey teams, including a 5-1 loss in its season opener at Colgate on Sept. 30. The Purple Eagles then defeated  Rensselaer in overtime, 4-3, on Oct. 20 before losing to Union the next night, 5-1.
•  Niagara was idle over the weekend after it split a pair of home games Nov. 10-11 against Army West Point. Seven of the squad's first 10 games have been at home.
•  Sophomore defenseman Noah Delmas (1-12–13) leads the team in scoring, but also has a team-worst minus-7 rating.
•  Junior forward Tanner Lomsnes leads the team with eight goals in 10 games. Senior forward Derian Plouffe (5-6–11) and junior forward Johnny Curran (5-3–8) have three power-play goals apiece.
•  Freshman Brian Wilson (4-2-1, 2.29, .904) has taken over the starting goaltending role.

The Series Against Niagara:
•  The Big Red owns a 15-2 advantage in the series, all under Mike Schafer's tenure, including an 11-game winning streak dating back to 2001.
•  The last time the teams met, Cornell won both ends of a home-and-home series to kick off its 2015-16 season. Christian Hilbrich scored an overtime winner in the Big Red's first-ever visit to Dwyer Arena in the opener, then Cornell blanked the Purple Eagles the following night in Ithaca, 4-0.
•  Cornell and Niagara have met memorably on the Tuesday preceding Thanksgiving before. On Nov. 26, 2013, then-freshman goaltender Mitch Gillam scored an empty-net goal to punctuate a victory in his first collegiate start.

Up Next:
•  Cornell makes its annual trip to The World's Most Famous Arena, where it takes on Boston University in the sixth edition of Red Hot Hockey at 8 p.m. Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
•  The Big Red then treks southwest for its final games of the fall semester Dec. 1-2 at Miami.