TROY, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team will look to lock up the program's ninth regular-season ECAC Hockey title when it plays 7 p.m. Friday against Rensselaer at Houston Field House. The game will be broadcast through RPI TV. Additionally, Jason Weinstein will provide play-by-play for WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM) in the Ithaca area and worldwide via the station's website here.

Game 28: #2/2 CORNELL at RENSSELAER
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, Feb. 23, 2018
PLACE: Houston Field House  •  Troy, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 22-3-2, 16-2-2 ECAC Hockey;
                    Rensselaer 5-23-4, 4-14-2 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: RPI TV
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: RPIathletics.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Rensselaer game notes (PDF)

Cleary Cup Watch:
•  With just a tie or victory tonight, or a Union tie or loss tonight, the Big Red would clinch the Cleary Cup — awarded annually to the league's annual regular-season champion.
•  The last time the Big Red won the Cleary Cup was 2004-05. 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.

Big Red Rewind:
•  Cornell won a pair of one-goal games last weekend against Brown and Yale.
•  Jeff Malott scored 87 seconds in and Alex Rauter scored the eventual winner on the power play in a 2-1 win against the Bears on Friday. Matthew Galajda making four of his 25 saves in a frenetic final 20 seconds of the game.
•  Tristan Mullin's second goal of the night with 1:47 left capped Cornell's rally for a 3-2 win over Yale on Saturday. The other goal came from Jared Fiegl — his fourth of the month after scoring just four in his first 107 collegiate games.

Highlights From Friday's 2-1 Win vs. Brown:


Highlights From Saturday's 3-2 Win vs. Yale:


Need-To-Know Numbers:
•  Cornell still possesses by a wide margin the highest winning percentage in the nation (.852) — its highest through 27 games since a 1969-70 season that ended with a national title.
•  Cornell leads the nation in team defense (1.41 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-40. 
•  The Big Red has surrendered just a paltry 23 even-strength goals so far. For perspective, the next two lowest totals in the nation are Clarkson at 41 and Minnesota State at 47 — the latter more than twice Cornell's total.
•  Cornell has three players in the top six nationally in rating, all junior defensemen. Brendan Smith leads that pack at (plus-19; third), followed by Alec McCrea and Matt Nuttle (both plus-18; tied for 4th).
•  Even after surrendering a pair of power-play goals to Yale on Saturday, the Big Red has still quashed 37 of its opponents' last 41 power plays (90.2%).

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. 
•  Last weekend's sweep of Brown and Yale gave the Big Red a 9-0-1 record in Ivy League play, marking the first time Cornell went undefeated through the Ancient Eight since 1995-96 — Mike Schafer's first season as head coach.

Polls Prose:
•  Cornell has jumped two spots to second 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 ninth consecutive week.
•  For the first time in nearly 15 years, the Big Red was ranked No. 1 spot in both polls on Jan. 29 — both it quickly fell back after a Feb. 3 loss to Rensselaer. The only other time Cornell has been a consensus No. 1 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 (18-3-2, 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. He was also named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week on Tuesday for the third time in the last four weeks. 
•  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.
•  Sophomore Yanni Kaldis (3-10–13) assisted on both of Cornell's third-period tallies against Yale last Saturday to take over solo possession of the team lead in points by defensemen. An All-Ivy League first team selection last year, Kaldis is also tied for the team lead with seven power-play points.
•  Junior defenseman Matt Nuttle (2-9–11) has already more than doubled his point total from his first two collegiate seasons. 
•  Often paired together, Alec McCrea (4-6–10; 4 PPGs) and Brendan Smith (4-5–9) are among the nation's leaders in rating with a combined plus-37. Smith has missed the team's last four games and McCrea was unavailable last Saturday against Yale.
•  The Big Red has five defensemen with at least nine points, a first for the program since the 2009-10 campaign.

Forward Thinking:
•  The key to Cornell's attack this season has been depth. To wit, six of the 10 players who have multiple points so far in February have 10 or fewer points for the entire season.
•  Junior forward Anthony Angello (12-11–23) was that nation's leading goal-scorer in January with nine. The reigning ECAC Hockey Player of the Month has 14 points in the 14 games since Jan. 1.
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates (11-10–21; 4 PPGs) ranks second in team scoring, recording assists in two of the last three games.
•  Junior Mitch Vanderlaan (4-13–17) has 10 points over his last 10 games to take the team lead in assists, but has missed the last four 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.
•  Forward Tristan Mullin (3-0–3) scored twice last Saturday vs. Yale, including the winner inside the final two minutes. His first goal of the season was also a game-winner, when Cornell beat Boston University at Madison Square Garden in New York.
•  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's also won 64.9 percent of his faceoffs so far in February.
•  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 eight of its 27 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 16-16-7 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 Rensselaer:
•  The Engineers (5-23-4, 4-14-2 ECAC Hockey) are in their first year under Dave Smith, who took over the head coaching job after 12 years at Canisius' helm. 
•  RPI has won just twice in its last 17 games, but one of those victories came against Cornell, 2-1, on Feb. 3 at Lynah Rink. Since that game, the Engineers have been outscored 18-6 in losses to Dartmouth, Princeton and Quinnipiac.
•  Sophomore center Jacob Hayhurst (9-10–19) leads the team in scoring. He is often on line with classmate and former NAHL scoring champ Todd Burgess (1-9–10) on the right wing, but the Engineers frequently shuffle their lines.
•  Senior left wing Viktor Liljegren (9-3–12) is tied with Tironese for the team lead in goals, but he did not play in either of RPI's games last weekend.
•  Three of RPI's top scorers are actually defensemen. Senior Mike Prapavessis (0-17–17) leads the squad in assists, and sophomore Will Reilly (7-6–13) and senior Jared Wilson (7-6–13) are not only tied for third on the team in goals, they have combined to score seven of the squad's 17 power-play goals.
•  Freshman Linden Marshall (4-16-2, 3.35, .902) has taken over the primary starting role in goal from junior Chase Perry (1-7-2, 3.55, .897). 

The Series Against Rensselaer:
•  Despite the loss a few weeks ago, Cornell maintains a 62-37-10 all-time series lead against Rensselaer. The Big Red is 25-9-7 against the Engineers since 2000, but just 1-3-2 in its last six trips to Troy.
•  In Cornell's last trip to Houston Field House, Yanni Kaldis scored a power-play goal with 24.6 seconds left in the third period to give the Big Red a 4-3 victory Feb. 4, 2017.

Up Next:
•  The Big Red shuttles west across state Route 7 to wrap up its season at 7 p.m. Saturday at Union. Cornell will then enjoy a bye week through the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs before ramping back up with a best-of-three quarterfinal series March 9-11 at Lynah Rink.