ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team concludes its weekend trip to New England with an ECAC Hockey and Ivy League contest at 7 p.m. Saturday against Brown. The game from Meehan Auditorium will be streamed by subscription-based Ivy League Network and simulcast for free on ESPN3. Additionally, Jason Weinstein will provide play-by-play that can be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM) in the Ithaca area or worldwide via the station's website here.

Game 17: #4/4 CORNELL at BROWN
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018
PLACE: Meehan Auditorium  •  Providence, R.I.
RECORDS: Cornell 13-2-1, 7-1-1 ECAC Hockey, 4-0-1 Ivy League;
                    Brown 5-9-3, 4-7 ECAC Hockey, 2-3 Ivy League
VIDEO: Ivy League Network / ESPN3
RADIO : WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: BrownBears.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Brown game notes (PDF)

Friday Night Redux:
•  Cornell scored three goals to erase its first two-goal deficit since Nov. 21, but Yale scratched out a 3-3 tie with Ryan Hitchcock's extra-attacker in the final minute of the third period last night in New Haven, Conn.
•  Mitch Vanderlaan had a pair of assists, including one on Brendan Smith's goal with 34 seconds left in the second period to cut Cornell's deficit to 2-1.
•  Alex Rauter tied the game early in the third period with his fourth goal over a six-game span. Jeff Malott recorded his team-leading 11th assist on the play.
•  Cornell survived a Yale penalty shot with 10:25 left in the third when the shot hit the post, then Alex Green – son of a Yale alumnus – gave the Big Red its first lead of the game 71 seconds later.  

The Big Red Rewind:
•  Cornell has won four straight to possess the highest winning percentage in the nation (.867). It was the tale of two games last weekend, with the Big Red flying to a resounding 7-1 victory over Princeton on Friday before surviving a 1-0 slog with Quinnipiac on Saturday.
•  Anthony Angello had a pair of goals against a Tigers team that was coming off a pair of ties against then-No. 1 St. Cloud State. Brenden Locke had three assists for his first multi-point game, and the Big Red scored seven goals in a game for the first time in nearly 10 years (Feb. 16, 2008).
•  Matthew Galajda made an impromptu start and delivered a 28-save gem to allow Trevor Yates' team-leading 11th goal to stand up as the winner against the Bobcats. It was the first time Cornell has defeated Quinnipiac at home since the 2011-12 season.
•  The Big Red started off the new semester with a convincing 6-2 victory over Atlantic Hockey-leading Canisius, featuring a hat trick from Kyle Betts. The holiday hiatus was bookended on the front side by a 4-0 win at Miami.

Such Great Heights:
•  Cornell owns the nation's best winning percentage (.844) and is off to the program's best 16-game start to a season in 46 years. The last time the Big Red owned an 13-2 record was in the 1971-72 season.

Big Red By The Numbers:
•  Cornell ranks second in the nation in team defense (1.75 goals against per game), having already posted four shutouts.
•  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 sixth in the nation in team offense at 3.62 goals per game.
•  The Big Red surrenders the second-fewest shots on goal per game in the nation (23.75), trailing just Minnesota State (22.57).

Polls Prose:
•  Cornell moved up to fourth in USCHO.com poll this week, while remaining in the same position in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. It's the highest the Big Red has been in the polls since Nov. 5, 2012.
•  The Big Red also remains fourth in the Pairwise Rankings, which are used to determine the at-large berths for the NCAA tournament.

Forward Thinking:
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates (11-6–17; 4 PPG) leads the team in scoring and is the team's leader among forwards with a plus-12 rating. With the lone goal in the Big Red's game last Saturday, Yates now ranks eighth in the country in goals per game (0.69).
•  Sophomore forward Jeff Malott (4-11–15) is second in team scoring and leads the team in assists. He has five games with multiple points, including one goal and five assists for six points over the last four games.
•  Freshman forward Morgan Barron (4-9–13) ranks third in team scoring. He's the only member of the Big Red to have points in 11 of the team's 16 games.
•  Senior forward Alex Rauter (6-7–13) ranks second in goals on the team after scoring last night for the fourth time over the last six games. Rauter had three points in games Dec. 2 at Miami and Dec. 30 vs. Canisius, becoming the first member of the program to post three points in consecutive games since Blake Gallagher did so on games Nov. 14 and Nov. 20, 2009.
•  Junior forward Anthony Angello (5-7–12) has the third-most goals on the team and ranks fifth in overall scoring.

More Than Just Defense:
•  Cornell got a total of 13 goals from its defensemen in each of the last two seasons, but it already has 14 from its blueliners in just 16 games this year.
•  Junior Alec McCrea (4-2–6; 4 PPGs) is second in the national lead for power-play goals per game for defensemen (0.25). One of the team's top defensive blueliners, McCrea has already quadrupled his goal total from a season ago.
•  Junior Brendan Smith (4-5–9), who typically plays on the same pairing as McCrea, leads the nation with a plus-18 rating. He's been on the ice for just four even-strength goals against this year, having also scored a goal last night.
•  Sophomore Yanni Kaldis (3-4–7), an All-Ivy League first team selection last year, scored his second power-play goal of the year last Friday vs. Princeton.

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 (9-2-1, 1.99, .917, 3 SO) is tied for the national lead in victories from rookie goaltenders. Galajda ranks 10th in the country in goals against average and 17th in save percentage.
•  Galajda is one of just two goaltenders in program history to have three shutouts as a freshman. Only All-American David McKee had more (five; 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 last Friday and performed well. In his first start, Stewart made 26 saves at Miami for his third career shutout in just his ninth collegiate start.
 
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).

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. All eight freshman skaters have now debuted.
•  Forward Morgan Barron (4-9–13) is the first freshman in program history to record a point in each of his first seven collegiate games. He ranks 12th in the country in points per game for freshmen (0.81).
•  Defenseman Alex Green (2-5–7) scored the Big Red's third goal last night at Yale. He's been playing top-four minutes in his first collegiate season.
•  Forward Kyle Betts (4-3–7) made the most of his four shots on goal over during consecutive games Dec. 2 and Dec. 30, scoring on each of them. His four goals over a two-game span were a first for the program since Greg Miller had two goals apiece Feb. 22-23, 2013 in games against Rensselaer and Union.

Timely Performances:
•  Last night's game at Yale marked the first time Cornell has played overtime this season. It was the first time since the 1992-93 season that the Big Red hasn't been tied at the end of regulation before New Year's Day.

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 16 games so far, and it's actually faced deficits of at least two goals on five of those occasions. The Big Red has rallied for three unanswered goals in four of those five games in which its trailed by two goals.
•  Cornell erased a two-goal deficit last night at Yale, scoring three times to take the lead before a late Bulldogs equalizer and eventual 3-3 deadlock.
•  The Big Red'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).

Scouting Brown:
•  The Bears (5-9-3, 4-7 ECAC Hockey, 2-3 Ivy League) suffered a 2-1 loss last night at home against Colgate. Sophomore forward Nolan Aible (2-4–6) scored a power-play goal moments after a two-man advantage ended in the third period to tie the game early in the third period, but the Raiders scored the winner on the next shift. 
•  Brown is winless in its last six games (0-3-3), with its last victory coming in a 5-4 overtime win Dec. 2 at RPI. Prior to last night, Brown had consecutive 4-4 ties against New Hampshire last Saturday and Maine on Monday. 
•  Sophomore forward Brent Beaudoin (4-10–14) leads the team in scoring. He often centers a line containing senior Charlie Corcoran (3-6–9), who is tied for second in team scoring with junior leading goal-scorer Tommy Marchin (7-2–9).
•  Senior forward Tyler Bird (4-3–7) leads the team with three power-play goals.  He's one of three NHL draft picks on the squad alongside classmates Sam 
Lafferty (4-4–8) and Max Willman (1-4–5).
•  Sophomore Gavin Nieto (4-6, 3.21, .902, SO) is the team's primary starting goaltender, but freshman Luke Kania (1-3-3, 2.64, .910) has started each of the last two games. He made 31 saves last night in the loss to Colgate.

The Series Against Brown:
•  The Big Red has a commanding lead in the all-time series, 76-43-7, including a nine-game unbeaten streak (7-0-2) coming into Saturday's game. Mike Schafer is a dominating 34-7-5 against the Bears during his first 22 seasons as the Big Red's head coach. 
•  Cornell used three second-period goals to pull away for a 4-2 victory Nov. 11 at Brown in the teams' first meeting last season. Connor Murphy scored his first collegiate goal. The Big Red then won the rematch Feb. 12 rematch at Lynah Rink, 5-3, with Anthony Angello scoring twice.

Up Next:
•  Cornell makes a brief return to Lynah Rink for the front end of home-and-home with Colgate at 7 p.m. Friday. The teams meet for a rematch the next night at 7:30 p.m. in Hamilton.