ITHACA, N.Y. — A pair of teams with perfect 5-0 records in ECAC Hockey play will come together for a clash of national top-10 teams tonight when Clarkson visits for a 7 p.m. game against the Cornell men's hockey team at Lynah Rink. The game will be streamed on the Ivy League Network. Jason Weinstein (play-by-play) and Tony Eisenhut '88 (color commentary) will have the call, which can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM) and around the world via the station's website here.

Game 8: #7/8 CLARKSON at #5/6 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 7-0, 5-0 ECAC Hockey, 3-0 Ivy League; Clarkson 9-3-1, 5-0 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: Ivy League Network
RADIO : WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Clarkson game notes (PDF)

St. Lawrence Game Redux:
•  Sophomore forward Noah Bauld recorded his first collegiate hat trick last night to push the Big Red to a dominating 6-1 victory and a perfect 7-0 start to its season — a first for the program since eight straight to start 1971-72.
•  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.
•  Bauld's first goal was followed by an unassisted goal by freshman forward Morgan Barron just eight seconds later. It was three seconds off the record for the quickest two goals in program history (5 seconds; March 5, 1960 vs. Colgate).
•  Barron's goal stretched his points streak to seven straight games — a record for a Cornell freshman in his first games.

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


About the Big Red:
•  Cornell leads the nation in team defense (1.29 goals against per game) and its penalty kill is tied for first at a 94.3 percent success rate.
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates (5-3–8; 3 PPG) leads the team in scoring and is tied for 13th nationally with an average of 0.71 goals per game. He also leads the Big Red's forward corps 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 19 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 (6-0, 1.27, .941, 2 SO) has started all seven games to date, and he was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week after last weekend. After last night's victory, Galajda now leads the country in goals against average (1.27) and ranks third in save percentage (.941).

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 40 games.

The Offensive Defense:
•  Not only has Cornell opened the scoring in six of its seven 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 seven 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).

Polls Prose:
•  The Big Red rocketed up the national polls this week, all the way to fifth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and sixth in the USCHO.com poll. Cornell received the second-most first-place votes in both polls.
•  Cornell's ranking in the USA poll is its highest since Feb. 1, 2010, and its ranking in the USCHO.com poll is its highest since March 22, 2010 — right after it defeated Union to win its 12th ECAC Hockey Championship.
•  Cornell ranks highest among ECAC Hockey teams — Clarkson is #7/8; Harvard is #11/13, and Colgate is 19th in the USCHO.com poll to garner its first national ranking since Sept. 28, 2015.

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 two of its six games so far, and it actually faced a two-goal deficit both Nov. 4 at Princeton and last Saturday 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 Clarkson:
•  Like the Big Red, the Golden Knights are also 5-0 in ECAC Hockey play after a 5-2 victory last night at Colgate. Clarkson never trailed in victories over Rensselaer (Nov. 3), Union (Nov. 4) and Brown (last Friday) before scoring four unanswered goals to defeat Yale, 4-1, last Saturday. It followed a similar path last night, shaking off Colgate's game-opening strikes by rattling off the next five goals to hand Raiders goalie Colton Point his first loss of the season.
•  Offensively, Clarkson is led by the line of sophomore forwards Sheldon Rempal (10-6–16), Devin Brosseau (3-8–11; 3 PPGs, plus-9) and Nico Sturm (2-8–10; plus-9).  Add senior defensemen Terrance Amorosa (3-9–12; 3 PPGs) and Kelly Summers (2-7–9), and five of Clarkson's top six scorers play on the same power-play unit.
•  Sophomore Jake Kielly (9-3-1, 1.62, .944, 3 SO) has been Clarkson's exclusive goaltender. He was the lone goalie on the 2017 ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team.
•  Clarkson ranks first in the country in combined special teams (60.8%). The power play has clicked at a gaudy 50% over the first five league games.
•  Casey Jones '90, a former associate head coach under Mike Schafer, is in his seventh season as head coach at Clarkson.

The Series Against Clarkson:
•  The Big Red owns a 65-54-17 record against the Golden Knights after a three-game ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinals series victory last year.
•  The teams played to a pair of ties during the regular season last year. Clarkson stormed out to a 3-1 lead by the midway point of the Jan. 20 game at Lynah, but Cornell rallied to earn a point with a pair of goals from Trevor Yates.
•  Goals by Mitch Vanderlaan and Matt Nuttle gave the Big Red a lead with 3:15 left in the third period Feb. 18 at Cheel Arena, but Clarkson equalized less than a minute later and the teams settled for another tie.
•  Clarkson put the Big Red's season on the brink with a Game 1 victory in last year's quarterfinals, but Cornell responded with a pair of 2-1 wins. Junior forward Anthony Angello scored the winning goal both nights.
•  Cornell is 10-5-4 against Clarkson since Casey Jones became head coach.

Up Next:
•  Cornell closes out its current five-game home stand by hosting Niagara at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21. The game marks the first of five consecutive non-league games to close out the calendar year.
•  The Big Red wraps up the fall semester with a two-game series Dec. 1-2 at Miami. Cornell is then idle until it hosts Canisius on Dec. 30 at Lynah Rink.