ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team will look to extend its lead in the ECAC Hockey standings and avenge an earlier loss tonight, when it takes on fellow contender Clarkson at 7 p.m. at Cheel Arena. The game will be broadcast for free at www.clarksonathletics.com. Additionally, Jason Weinstein will provide play-by-play that can be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM) in the Ithaca area and worldwide via the station's website here.

Game 24: #3/4 CORNELL at #7/7 CLARKSON
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, Feb. 9, 2018
PLACE: Cheel Arena  •  Potsdam, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 19-3-1, 13-2-1 ECAC Hockey;
                    Clarkson 19-6-3, 11-3-2 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: www.clarksonathletics.com
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/clarkson/mhockey/

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Clarkson game notes (PDF)

Big Red Rewind:
•  The Big Red had an 11-game unbeaten streak snapped Saturday with a 2-1 loss to Rensselaer at Lynah Rink. 
•  The Engineers scored just 20 seconds into the game, then added a short-handed goal in the second period that turned out to be the game-winner. It marked the first time this season Cornell has conceded a short-handed goal.
•  Jared Fiegl's unassisted goal early in the third represented all of Cornell's offense on the night. It was his second goal in as many nights after netting his first of the season in Friday's 4-3 win over Union.
•  Brenden Locke scored the winner against the Dutchmen on the power play with 2:12 left in the third period. He appeared to score a go-ahead goal late in the second period, but the play was waved off after video review.
•  Alex Rauter also scored on the power play Friday, giving Cornell two goals on the man advantage after it had scored just twice in its previous 33 power-play opportunities dating back to the second period of a Dec. 2 victory at Miami.

Highlights From Friday's 4-3 Win vs. Union:


Highlights From Saturday's 2-1 Loss vs. Rensselaer:


Need-To-Know Numbers:
•  Even after Saturday's loss, Cornell still possesses by a wide margin the highest winning percentage in the nation (.848) — its highest through 23 games since a 1969-70 season that ended with a national title.
•  Cornell leads the nation in team defense (1.52 goals against per game), having already posted seven shutouts — tied for the most in the country.
•  The Big Red surrenders the third-fewest shots on goal per game in the nation (24.52), trailing just Minnesota State (22.04) and North Dakota (24.29).
•  Cornell has been particularly dominant at even strength, leading the country with a team rating of plus-37. The Big Red has only surrendered 22 even-strength goals so far — which is less than half of a whopping 52 of the nation's other 59 teams (Clarkson is second-fewest at 32). 
•  Cornell has three players in the top five nationally in rating, led by junior defenseman Brendan Smith and his nation's best plus-19. The other leaders are Alec McCrea (plus-17; 4th), and Matt Nuttle (plus-16; tied for 5th).
•  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 tied for eighth in the nation in team offense at 3.30 goals per game.
•  Cornell's penalty kill didn't concede a single five-on-four goal in the entire month of January. The Big Red had 19 consecutive kills until Union potted a pair of power-play goals last Friday.

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 10 games.
•  The team's top six scorers are currently spread evenly across three of the team's most recent forward combinations. Also on the opposite wing of Angello's line, junior Mitch Vanderlaan (4-13–17) has 10 points over his last 10 games to take the team lead in assists.
•  Senior forward Trevor Yates (11-8–19; 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.

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 through 23 games 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 last Friday 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-36.
•  The Big Red has five defensemen with at least nine points, a first for the program since the 2009-10 campaign.

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 (15-3-1, 1.63, .934, 6 SO) was named Monday the Hockey Commissioners' Association National Division I Rookie of the Month for January after he surrendered just five goals in eight starts and posted four shutouts.
•  Galajda now owns the national lead in goals against average, is tied for national lead in shutouts, and he ranks third in the country in save percentage. He has also set a program record for shutouts by a freshman goaltender, topping the previous mark of five set by future All-American David McKee during his freshman season in 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 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.

Polls Prose:
•  Cornell has been tabbed third in the USCHO poll and fourth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll 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 seventh 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.
•  The Big Red also sits in the fourth in the Pairwise Rankings, which are used to determine the at-large berths for the NCAA tournament.

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 last Friday 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 (last Friday). 

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 23 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 Clarkson:
•  The Golden Knights (19-6-3, 11-3-2 ECAC Hockey) were perched among the national elite while on a 14-game winning streak from Nov. 3 to Jan. 13, but they have since gone 1-3-2 over their last six games.
•  Most recently, Clarkson was swept on the road last weekend with losses of 4-1 Friday at Quinnipiac and 4-3 Saturday at Princeton. It marked just the second and third times all season the Golden Knights have conceded more than three goals in a game.
•  Sophomore right wing Sheldon Rempal (18-12–30; 5 PPGs) leads the team in goals, overall scoring and 123 shots on goal. 
•  Last weekend was the first time this season Rempal was shifted off of a line containing the team's other top scorers, sophomore center Nico Sturm (10-16–26; 3 PPGs; 2 SHGs) and sophomore left wing Devin Brosseau (6-19–25; 4 PPGs) Sturm leads the country in faceoff percentage (64.1).
•  Jack Jacome (6-18–24) centers a potent line of all freshmen with Josh Dickinson (13-9–22; 6 PPGs) and Kevin Charyszyn (7-6–13) on the wings. Charyszyn scored twice last weekend, and Dickinson is tied with senior defenseman Terrance Amorosa for the team lead in power-play goals (6-16–22).
•  Senior defenseman Kelly Summers (3-18–21) leads the team in power-play points with 14. Of Clarkson blueliners' 16 goals, 11 have come on the power play.
•  Sophomore Jake Kielly (18-6-3, 1.74, .934, 6 SO) ranks third nationally in goals against average and fourth in save percentage. His six shutouts are tied for the national lead with Cornell's Matthew Galajda.

The Series Against Clarkson:
•  The Big Red owns a 65-55-17 record against the Golden Knights, though Clarkson won this season's first meeting, 4-0, on Nov. 18 at Lynah Rink. The Knights scored twice in the first six minutes and added a pair of second-period goals in a span of 28 seconds while yielding just 15 shots on goal.
•  Cornell ended Clarkson's season a year ago with a three-game win in an ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinals series in March. The Golden Knights stunned the Big Red in the opener, 6-2, but Cornell responded with a pair of 2-1 wins. Junior forward Anthony Angello scored the winning goal both nights.
•  The teams played to a pair of ties during the regular season last year. Clarkson stormed out to a 3-1 lead by the midway point of the Jan. 20 game at Lynah, but Cornell rallied to earn a point with a pair of goals from Trevor Yates. 
•  Goals by Mitch Vanderlaan and Matt Nuttle gave the Big Red a lead with 3:15 left in the third period Feb. 18 at Cheel Arena, but Clarkson equalized less than a minute later and the teams settled for another tie.
•  Cornell is 10-6-4 against Clarkson since Casey Jones '90 became head coach.

Up Next:
•  Cornell heads about 10 miles to the west-southwest to take on St. Lawrence at 7 p.m. Saturday in Canton. The Big Red then returns home for its annual Senior Night weekend, hosting Brown on Feb. 16 before taking on Yale the following night in the final home games of the regular season.