ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team returns to Lynah Rink at 7 p.m. tonight, when it will host Ivy League foe Brown. The game will be broadcast on subscription-based
Ivy League Network. Jason Weinstein will provide play-by-play with color commentary from Tony Eisenhut '88 that can be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM) in the Ithaca area and worldwide via the station's website
here.
Game 26: BROWN at #4/4 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, Feb. 16, 2018
PLACE: Lynah Rink • Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 20-3-2, 14-2-2 ECAC Hockey, 7-0-1 Ivy League;
Brown 6-15-4, 5-12-1 ECAC Hockey, 2-5 Ivy League
VIDEO:
Ivy League Network
RADIO:
WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS:
CornellBigRed.com
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Brown game notes (PDF)
Big Red Rewind:
• With just one goal, Cornell secured three points in the ECAC Hockey standings in last weekend's trip to the North Country, with
Matthew Galajda recording consecutive shutouts for a third time this season.
• Cornell started the weekend at Clarkson with ninth scoreless tie in program history — with now five coming against the Golden Knights. Galajda made 34 saves to go blow-for-blow with Jake Kielly (32 saves) at the other end of the ice in a battle of the top two teams in the league standings.
•
Jared Fiegl then scored the only goal of a 1-0 victory Saturday at resurgent St. Lawrence. On a rebound set up by a deft goal-mouth pass from
Dwyer Tschantz, Fiegl's third-period strike marked his third goal over the last four games after he scored just four goals in his first 107 collegiate games.
• The weekend's results leave Cornell with a four-point lead in the ECAC Hockey standings with four games remaining in the regular season league-wide.
Highlights From Friday's 0-0 Tie at Clarkson:
Highlights From Saturday's 1-0 Win at St. Lawrence:
Need-To-Know Numbers:
• Cornell still possesses by a wide margin the highest winning percentage in the nation (.840) — its highest through 25 games since a 1969-70 season that ended with a national title.
• Cornell leads the nation in team defense (1.40 goals against per game), having already posted a national-best nine shutouts. If the season ended today, it would rank as the fourth-stingiest season in Division I history.
• Cornell has been particularly dominant at even strength, leading the country with a team rating of plus-38. The Big Red has only surrendered a paltry 22 even-strength goals so far. Fifty-eight of the nation's other 59 teams have surrendered at least twice that total (Clarkson 35, Harvard 44, etc.)
• Cornell has three players in the top five nationally in rating, all junior defensemen.
Brendan Smith leads that pack at (plus-19; second), followed by
Alec McCrea (plus-18; tied for 3rd), and
Matt Nuttle (plus-17; tied for 5th).
• The Big Red has quashed 30 of its opponents' last 32 power plays. Cornell's penalty kill has been 93.5% efficient since Jan. 1, which ranks third-highest in the country over that span (Air Force 94.7%, Mercyhurst 93.6%).
One Crown Down ...:
• Cornell clinched its 22nd Ivy League championship in program history on Jan. 27 with a 3-1 win at Dartmouth. It's the 18th outright title for the Big Red, and the third its won in the last eight years.
• The Big Red is 7-0-1 in Ancient Eight play with just this weekend's games remaining. The last time Cornell went undefeated through the Ivy slate was 1996 —
Mike Schafer's first season as head coach.
Where Things Stand:
• Cornell has a four-point cushion on first place in the ECAC Hockey standings over seond-place Clarkson and Union, seeking its first Cleary Cup — awarded to the league's annual regular-season champion — since 2005.
• The Big Red can clinch the Cleary Cup if it secures one more point than both the Golden Knights and Dutchmen in this weekend's games. With a subsequent No. 1 seed, Cornell would then face the lowest-remaining seed in a best-of-three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series March 9-11 at Lynah Rink.
Polls Prose:
• Cornell has been tabbed fourth in both the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls this week. The Big Red remains the highest-ranked team in ECAC Hockey and is in the national top five in both polls for a eighth consecutive week.
• For the first time in nearly 15 years, the Big Red was ranked No. 1 spot in both polls last week. The only other time that's happened since the polls started in the mid-90s was March 2003, when Cornell started its postseason run into the Frozen Four.
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 (16-3-2, 1.47, .941, 8 SO) was named the Hockey Commissioners' Association National Division I Rookie of the Month for January after he surrendered just five goals in eight starts with four shutouts.
• Galajda now owns the national lead in goals against average, shutouts, and he ranks third in the country in save percentage. He has also set a program record for shutouts by a freshman goaltender, and he has solo possession for third place on the program's list for clean sheets in a single season.
• 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.
More Than Just Defense:
• 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 this year.
• Junior defensemen
Matt Nuttle (2-9–11) has already more than doubled his point total from his first two collegiate seasons. His assist on Cornell's third goal Feb. 2 vs. Union moved him into a tie for the team lead in scoring among blueliners with sophomore
Yanni Kaldis (3-8–11).
• An All-Ivy League first team selection last year, Kaldis had three assists two weeks ago in games at Harvard and Dartmouth and leads the team with seven power-play points.
• Often paired together,
Alec McCrea (4-5–9; 4 PPGs) and
Brendan Smith (4-5–9) are among the nation's leaders in rating with a combined plus-37. Smith missed last weekend's games.
• The Big Red has five defensemen with at least nine points, a first for the program since the 2009-10 campaign.
Forward Thinking:
• While Cornell's attack exemplified remarkable depth through the early going, junior forward
Anthony Angello (12-9–21) was that nation's leading goal-scorer in January with nine. The reigning ECAC Hockey Player of the Month has 10 goals in his last 12 games.
• Senior forward
Trevor Yates (11-9–20; 4 PPGs) ranks second in team scoring, recording a pair of assists in a Jan. 27 win at Dartmouth to break a string of five straight without a point.
• Junior
Mitch Vanderlaan (4-13–17) has 10 points over his last 10 games to take the team lead in assists, but he missed last weekend's games and is expected to remain out of the lineup for the remainder of the regular season.
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 (4-10–14) became the first freshman in program history to record a point in each of his first seven collegiate games.
• Defenseman
Alex Green (2-7–9) returned Feb. 2 from a four-game absence and recorded a highlight-reel assist in the first period vs. Union.
• Forward
Kyle Betts (5-4–9) has taken over the team's goal-scoring lead among freshmen, netting the final goal Jan. 20 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.
• Both goals from forward
Brenden Locke (2-8–10) have been game-winners, coming in the latter stages of third periods vs. Princeton (Nov. 4) and Union (Feb. 2).
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).
What, Me Worry?:
• Cornell has trailed in just seven of its 25 games so far, including deficits of at least two goals in five of those contests. Remarkably, the Big Red has a 3-2-1 record in those games featuring a multiple-goal deficit.
• The Big Red's resilience from an early deficit has become somewhat of a trend, with the team sporting a very respectable 14-16-5 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:
• On Jan. 26 at Harvard, junior forward
Anthony Angello gave Cornell its third hat trick of the season — a first for the program since the 2003-04 season.
• The other hat tricks this season were
Kyle Betts on Dec. 30 vs. Canisius and sophomore forward
Noah Bauld on Nov. 17 vs. St. Lawrence.
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).
Scouting Brown:
• The Bears (6-15-4, 5-12-1 ECAC Hockey) were swept at home last weekend by Princeton, 7-2, and Quinnipiac, 3-0, to fall behind the 8-ball on the race for home ice in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Championship playoffs.
• Sophomore Brent Beaudoin (4-11–15) leads the team in scoring. He typically centers a line with senior Charlie Corcoran (3-6–9) and senior Tyler Bird (6-3–9; 3 PPGs) on the wings.
• Senior Sam Lafferty (5-9–14) ranks second in team scoring. He has recently been centering a line with the team's leading goal-scorer on the left wing, junior Tommy Marchin (9-4–13).
• The Bears have been splitting starts between two goaltenders. Sophomore Gavin Nieto (4-7, 3.52, .893, SO) is the incumbent, but freshman Luke Kania (2-8-4, 2.74, .909) has posted better numbers to date.
• Brown has only scored first in six of its 25 games, but it sports a 4-1-1 record when it does so. The Bears have been outscored 58-30 in the opening 40 minutes of the game, but have played opponents even in third periods (22-22).
The Series Against Brown:
• The Big Red has a commanding lead in the all-time series, 77-43-7, including a 10-game unbeaten streak (8-0-2) coming into Friday's game.
Mike Schafer is a dominating 35-7-5 against the Bears during his 22-plus seasons as the Big Red's head coach.
• Cornell won the first meeting between the teams this season, 3-1, on Jan. 13 at Meehan Auditorium.
Mitch Vanderlaan opened the scoring,
Anthony Angello had the winner in the second, and
Matt Nuttle scored a key insurance goal early in the third. Brown mustered just 19 shots on goal.
Up Next:
• Cornell will hold its annual Senior Night at 7 p.m. Saturday, when it hosts Yale in front of a sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink. The Big Red then wraps up its regular season on the road, first visiting Rensselaer at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23 before heading across Route 7 to take on Union at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24.
