SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — The top two seeds in the ECAC Hockey Men's Championship playoffs will wrap up their regular seasons when Cornell clashes with Union at Messa. The game will be broadcast through subscription-based UnionAthletics.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 29: #2/2 CORNELL at #19 UNION
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018
PLACE: Messa Rink  •  Schenectady, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 23-3-2, 17-2-2 ECAC Hockey;
                    Union 20-13-2, 15-5-1 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: UnionAthletics.tv
RADIO : WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: UnionAthletics.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Union game notes (PDF)

Cleary Cup Champions:
•  With a 4-2 victory last night at Rensselaer, Cornell clinched sole possession of the program's ninth Cleary Cup — awarded annually to ECAC Hockey's regular-season champion. It's the Big Red first Cleary Cup since 2004-05, and the fourth during the tenure of 23rd-year head coach Mike Schafer.
•  Now armed with the No. 1 seed through the league playoffs, Cornell will face the lowest-remaining seed in a best-of-three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series March 9-11 at Lynah Rink.
•  With a victory tonight, the Big Red would tie a program record for victories in a regular season (24), and it would become the first ECAC Hockey men's program to rack up 38 points in a season since Cornell did it in 2004-05.

Friday Night Redux:
•  Morgan Barron scored the eventual winner early in the third period, then assisted Cody Haiskanen's first collegiate goal about 10 minutes later in Cornell's 4-2 win last night at Rensselaer.
•  Brendan Smith opened the scoring just 93 seconds into the second period in his first game back after a four-game absence. It marked the first time a Cornell defenseman has scored in the last 10 games.
•  Anthony Angello pulled the Big Red ahead for good with his team-leading 13th goal, tapping in a beautiful pass from Yanni Kaldis.
•  Six of the Big Red's 11 points last night came from freshmen.

Highlights From Last Night's 4-2 Win at Rensselaer:


Need-To-Know Numbers:
•  Cornell still possesses by a wide margin the highest winning percentage in the nation (.857) — its highest through 28 games since a 1969-70 season that ended with a national title.
•  Cornell leads the nation in team defense (1.43 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-42. 
•  The Big Red has surrendered just a paltry 25 even-strength goals so far. For perspective, the next two lowest totals in the nation are Clarkson at 43, and Denver and Minnesota State at 48.
•  Cornell has three players in the top six nationally in rating, all junior defensemen. Brendan Smith and Matt Nuttle lead that group (plus-20; tied for 2nd), followed by Alec McCrea (plus-18; sixth).
•  The Big Red has still quashed 39 of its opponents' last 43 power plays (90.7%) — but two of those conceded PPGs came against Union on Feb. 2.

Another 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 (19-3-2, 1.49, .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 17 goals from defensemen this year — including two last night.
•  Sophomore Yanni Kaldis (3-11–14) has three assists over the last two games, taking 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 defensemen 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 (5-5–10) are among the nation's leaders in rating with a combined plus-38. Both returned to the lineup last night after missing time due to injury.
•  The Big Red has five defensemen with at least 10 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 12 players who have multiple points so far in February have 10 or fewer points for the entire season.
•  Junior forward Anthony Angello (13-11–24) was that nation's leading goal-scorer in January with nine. The reigning ECAC Hockey Player of the Month has 15 points in the 15 games since Jan. 1.
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates (11-12–23; 4 PPGs) ranks second in team scoring, recording four assists over the last four 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 five games and will miss tonight's game as well.

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 (5-11–16) 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 (5-5–10) is tied with Barron for the team's goal-scoring lead among freshmen, netting the final goal Jan. 20 at Colgate. He's also won 63.7 percent of his faceoffs so far in February.
•  Both goals from forward Brenden Locke (2-10–12) 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 28 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.

Scouting Union:
•  For all the struggles the Dutchmen (20-13-2, 15-5-1 ECAC Hockey) had in non-league games early this year, they've won nine of their last 11 games to secure second place in the final league standings.
•  The two non-wins over the last 11 games were a 4-3 loss Feb. 2 at Cornell and a 1-1 tie with Colgate last night. The Raiders scored the tying goal with 49 seconds left in the third period.
•  Senior left wing Ryan Scarfo (19-13–32) leads the team in scoring, and his eight power-play goals are tied for sixth-most in the country. He scored the team's lone goal last night late in the second period.
•  Scarfo typically plays on a line centered by junior captain Cole Maier (9-22–31), who is second on team scoring, and freshman Liam Morgan (5-7–12) on the right wing.
•  The Dutchmen have another potent line in junior left wing Sebastian Vidmar (10-19–29; 7 PPGs), junior center Brett Supinski (8-19–27; plus-12) and sophomore right wing Anthony Rinaldi (15-9–24).
•  Junior Jake Kupsky (10-9-2, 2.30, .924) has reclaimed the starting job in goal, having post a 1.15 goals against average and .962 save percentage while backstopping Union during its current six-game unbeaten streak.
•  Rick Bennett is in his seventh season as Union's head coach.

The Series Against Union:
•  Cornell holds a 39-20-9 lead in the all-time series and is 5-0-1 in its last five games against the Dutchmen — including a 4-3 victory on Feb. 2 at Lynah Rink. Brenden Locke scored the winner on the power play with 2:12 left.
•  The Big Red was 2-0-1 in games against Union last year, including a 5-3 victory at Messa Rink on Feb. 3, 2017. A memorable power-play goal late in the third period from Jake Weidner '17 was followed by Anthony Angello's exclamation point 37 seconds later.
•  Cornell then pulled away for a 4-1 victory over Union in the ECAC Hockey semifinals in Lake Placid on March 17. Noah Bauld opened the scoring for the Big Red, and Beau Starrett closed it with 2:10 remaining.

Up Next:
•  Having already clinched the Cleary Cup and the subsequent No. 1 seed for the ECAC Hockey Championship playoffs, the Big Red has earned a first-round bye and will be back in action when it hosts the lowest-remaining seed in a best-of-three quarterfinal series March 9-11 at Lynah Rink.