ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team returns to the ice for the unofficial start to the second half of the season today, when it hosts Canisius at 4 p.m. at Lynah Rink. The Big Red's final non-league game will be streamed by subscription-based Ivy League Network, featuring play-by-play from Jason Weinstein and color commentary from Tony Eisenhut '88. Their call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM) and worldwide via the station's website here.

Game 13: #20 CANISIUS at #5/5 CORNELL
TIME: 4 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 10-2, 5-1 ECAC Hockey; Canisius 10-5-1, 10-4 Atlantic Hockey
VIDEO: Ivy League Network
RADIO : WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Canisius game notes (PDF)

The First "Half":
•  The Big Red is coming off a four-week hiatus, consisting of the university's study break, the final exam period, and a one-week break for the holidays. 
•  Cornell leads the nation with a .833 winning percentage, having posted a 10-2 record through its first 12 games. It's the fifth-best winning percentage through the first 12 games in the program's modern era.
•  In its last game action, Cornell earned a Dec. 1-2 road split at Miami. The Big Red rebounded from a 2-1 setback on the first night at Cady Arena with a convincing 4-0 victory in the series finale. Hayden Stewart made 26 saves for the shutout — his third in just nine collegiate starts.
•  The Big Red got power-play tallies from Anthony Angello and Trevor Yates, then Kyle Betts' first collegiate goal 35 seconds after Yates' strike gave Cornell a 3-0 stranglehold of the game before it was 14 minutes old. 
•  Alex Rauter had two assists, then capped the scoring with an empty-net goal. He also scored Cornell's lone goal in the series opener.

A New Post-Break Era:
•  After 17 consecutive years, there is no Florida College Hockey Classic this season. As such, Cornell will be opening the second portion of its schedule outside of the Sunshine State for the first time since 1999. 
•  The last time Cornell hosted games in the second half of December at Lynah Rink was 1979, when it swept a two-game series against Denver.

Big Red By The Numbers:
•  Coming off its third clean sheet of the season, Cornell ranks second in the nation in team defense (1.83 goals against per game).
•  Long known as a defensive powerhouse under head coach Mike Schafer, Cornell is also showcasing its offensive wares this year. The Big Red ranks 10th in the nation in team offense at 3.42 goals per game.
•  The Big Red surrenders the fewest shots on goal per game in the nation (22.92), ahead of Minnesota State (23.33) and Miami (24.65).

Forward Thinking:
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates (8-5–13; 4 PPG) leads the team in scoring and is the team's leader among forwards with a plus-8 rating. Slated to play in his 100th collegiate game, Yates also leads the team in shots on goal with 33.
•  Sophomore forward Jeff Malott (3-6–9) is tied for second in team scoring with three multi-point efforts in the first six games. He was the Big Red's leading goal-scorer among freshmen last season.
•  A New York Rangers draft pick playing in Madison Square Garden for the first time, freshman forward Morgan Barron (3-6–9) had his first multi-point game Nov. 25 vs. Boston University to move into a tie for second in team scoring. 
•  Junior forward Anthony Angello (3-6–9) also ranks second in scoring after posting a power-play goal and assist in the team's last game, Dec. 2 at Miami.

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 (8-2, 2.10, .909, 2 SO) leads the nation in victories by rookie goaltenders. He was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week on Nov. 14.
•  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.
•  Stewart (2-0, 0.51, .977, SO) made just his second start in the last three years Dec. 2 at Miami, making 26 saves for the shutout. It was his third career clean sheet in just nine collegiate starts.

The Offensive Defense:
•  Cornell got a total of 13 goals from its defensemen in each of the last two seasons, but it already has 11 from its blueliners in just 12 games this year.
•  Junior Alec McCrea (4-2–6; 4 PPGs) is tied for the national lead for power-play goals per game for defensemen (0.33). One of the team's top defensive blueliners, McCrea has already quadrupled his goal total from a season ago.
•  Junior Brendan Smith (3-2–5), who typically plays on the same pairing as McCrea, leads the team with a plus-12 rating. That also is tied for fourth-best nationally among defensemen.
•  In the 11 games in which its scored goals this season, defensemen have opened the scoring for the Big Red (five times) nearly as often as forwards (six). 

Polls Prose:
•  Cornell occupies fifth in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, which were last updated on Dec. 11. It marks the third time over the last four ranking periods that it has occupied that standing. Before that, the last time the Big Red was a consensus top-5 pick was Nov. 9, 2012.
•  The Big Red is up to fourth in the Pairwise Rankings, which are used to determine the at-large berths for the NCAA tournament.

Fresh Faces:
•  The Big Red 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. All eight freshman skaters have now debuted.
•  Forward Morgan Barron (3-6–9) is the first freshman in program history to record a point in each of his first seven collegiate games. 
•  Defenseman Alex Green (1-4–5) had four points in games Nov. 21 vs. Niagara and Nov. 25 vs. Boston University. He was subsequently named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week.
•  Forward Brenden Locke (1-2–3) scored the winning goal during the third period Nov. 4 at Princeton, and forward Tristan Mullin (1-0–1) scored the winner Nov. 25 against Boston University.

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 five of its 12 games so far, and it's actually faced deficits of at least two goals on four of those occasions. The Big Red has rallied to win via three unanswered goals in three of those four games in which its trailed by two goals.
•  Cornell erased a 4-2 deficit Nov. 4 at Princeton to win 5-4, then shook off a 2-0 hole against Harvard to win 3-2 on Nov. 11, and most recently scored three goals in the final 15 minutes of a 5-4 win over Niagara on Nov. 21.
•  The Big Red's resilience from an early deficit has become somewhat of a trend, with the team sporting a very respectable 14-15-4 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).

Scouting Canisius:
•  The Golden Griffins sit atop the Atlantic Hockey standings after the first portion of the season under first-year head coach Trevor Large. Canisius is ranked 20th in the most recent USCHO.com poll (Dec. 11), marking the first time in history that the program has been nationally ranked during the regular season.
•  Canisius has won seven of its last eight games to improve to 10-5-1, with the lone loss over the stretch coming Dec. 2 against fourth-ranked Clarkson, 5-2, in Buffalo.
•  Offense has been the name of the game for Canisius, which ranks fourth in the country with an average of 3.69 goals per game. The Golden Griffs have scored at least four goals in six of their last eight.
•  Junior forward Dylan McLaughlin (11-14–25; 4 PPGs) leads the nation in scoring (1.67 points per game). He plays on a line with senior Ryan Schmelzer (9-11–20; plus-11) at center and senior Jeff Murray (2-9–11) on the opposite wing. 
•  As a team, Canisius ranks third in the country on the power play with a 26.5% success rate. Junior center Nick Hutchison (8-8–16) ranks third in team scoring, joining leaders McLaughlin and Schmelzer on one of the power-play units along with junior defenseman Jimmy Mazza (3-8–11). 
•  Sophomore center Matt Hoover (4-8–12) leads the team with a 55.7% success rate on draws. As a team, Canisus is 50.9% on faceoffs.
•  Sophomore Daniel Urbani (8-3-1, 2.81, .913) has assumed the starting role in goal after the graduation of All-American Charles Williams. Junior Simon Hofley (2-2, 2.78, .904) has also made four starts.
•  Canisius is the most penalized team in the country, averaging 17.1 penalty minutes per game. On average, the Griffs are shorthanded 5.44 times per game — third in the country to only Western Michigan (5.65) and Bowling Green (5.45). 
•  Trevor Large is in his first season as the head coach at Canisus after serving as an assistant coach for three years under Dave Smith, who departed to take over the program at Rensselaer. The Golden Griffins won the Atlantic Hockey regular-season title in 2016-17, but were later ousted in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

The Series Against Canisius:
•  Despite their relative proximity, the Big Red and Golden Griffins have met just once before. David McKee needed to make just 13 saves to backstop Cornell to a 3-0 victory on Nov. 27, 2004 at Lynah Rink, with Shane Hynes assisting on all three of the Big Red's goals.

Up Next:
•  Cornell returns to Lynah Rink next weekend to conclude a quick three-game home stand. Princeton visits at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5 for an Ivy League contest before Quinnipiac invades at 7 p.m Saturday, Jan. 6.