ITHACA, N.Y. — Armed with a seven-game unbeaten streak and tied for the ECAC Hockey lead, the Cornell men's hockey team starts a home-and-home series with Colgate on Friday in Hamilton. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ in the U.S. The same production can be viewed by international viewers through a different platform via Stretch Internet. The game can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) and worldwide via the station's website with 15th-year play-by-play man Jason Weinstein on the call.

GAME INFORMATION

#11/12 Cornell at Colgate
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
DATE: Friday, Jan. 25, 2019
PLACE: Class of 1965 Arena  •  Hamilton, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 11-5-1, 7-2-1 ECAC Hockey, 7-1 Ivy League
                    Colgate 6-14-2, 3-5-2 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: ESPN+ — United States | International
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: GoColgateRaiders.com
TICKETS: GoColgateRaiders.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Colgate
 

Big Red Rewind:

•  Cornell earned four league points last weekend, both in ECAC Hockey and in the Ivy League, with a 2-0 victory over Harvard on Friday and 5-1 triumph over Dartmouth on Saturday.
•  Brenden Locke's line continued its torrid scoring pace, with the trio of Locke, Morgan Barron and Cam Donaldson having now potted 12 of the team's 21 goals in six games since the semester break.
•  Matthew Galajda made 25 saves against the Crimson for his first shutout of the season and the 10th of his collegiate career in just 40 starts. He was subsequently named ECAC Hockey's Goaltender of the Week on Monday. 
•  The win over Harvard also gives Cornell at least one shutout for a 24th straight season — a stretch that mirrors the tenure of head coach Mike Schafer.


•  Against the Big Green, power-play goals from Donaldson and Mitch Vanderlaan broke a 1-all tie. The Big Red power play is now converting at a 40 percent success rate since Dec. 1 — tops in the country. 
•  The win over Dartmouth also improved Cornell's record to 17-1-2 in its last 20 Ivy League games and leaves it one point away from repeating as Ivy champs.

 

Pairwise Power Move:

•  Cornell starts the week sitting No. 9 in the Pairwise rankings, which is an improvement of 23 spots since a Nov. 30 loss at Dartmouth.
 

January Juggernaut:

•  Cornell is now 14-0-2 in its last 16 January games, dating back to a Jan. 28, 2016 loss to Dartmouth.
 

Forward Thinking:

•  With points in seven straight and multiple points in each of his last five games (the latter being a first for Cornell since at least the turn of the century), sophomore forward Morgan Barron (8-11–19; 4 PPG) leads the team in points and power-play goals. He also leads the team with 78 shots on goal and ranks third in the nation with an average of 4.59 shots on goal per game.
•  Sophomore Cam Donaldson (10-6–16; 4 PPG) leads the team in goals and is second in team scoring and rating (plus-10). His average of 0.59 goals per is tied for second-best among ECAC Hockey players.
•  Barron and Donaldson were placed on a line pivoted by Brenden Locke (4-2–6) following the semester break, with all four of Locke's goals coming in that six-game span.
•  Senior forward Mitch Vanderlaan (3-12–15) leads the team in assists. The Big Red's second-year captain is also the team's active leading scorer with 82 points in 113 collegiate games.
•  Cornell hasn't averaged more than 30 shots on goal per game in a season since the 2005-06 campaign, but it currently has an average of 30.88.
•  The Big Red has scored first in 14 of its 17 games so far and is outscoring the opposition in first periods, 18-5.
 

More Than Just Defense:

•  A two-time All-Ivy League first-team selection, junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (4-8–12; 2 PPG) leads the team's blueliners in scoring with assists in each of last weekend's games.
•  Matt Nuttle (1-9–10), one of three senior pillars on defense, has a lofty plus-17 rating and is now a staggering plus-40 over the last two seasons.
•  Senior Brendan Smith (1-2–3) celebrated his return to the lineup Jan. 4 with a goal, but he's also started off as one of the country's best shot-blockers. His average of 2.74 blocks per game would rank third in the nation if he had enough games played to qualify.
 

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Sophomore Matthew Galajda (7-4, 2.29, .902, SO) a first-team All-American last year, recently returned to the lineup after a five-game absence and continues to round into form after a shaky start to the year.
•  But since returning, Galajda has been splitting starts because of the strong play of sophomore Austin McGrath (4-1-1, 1.71, .935). Unbeaten in five straight starts, the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week from Jan. 7 ranks third in the country in both goals against average and save percentage. 
 

Special Teams Resurgence:

•  The Big Red's recent unbeaten streak has a strong correlation to improved special teams. The team's combined special teams percentage was ranked 56th of 60 teams in Division I as of Dec. 1, but now sits 29th at an even 50% just seven games later. 
•  Since Dec. 1, Cornell's power play is the best in the nation with a 40% success rate, and the penalty kill ranks eighth at an 88.9% clip.
 

Hobey Hopefuls:

•  Junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis and sophomore forwards Morgan Barron and Cam Donaldson were announced among the 81 initial nominees for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award earlier this month.
•  The process for selecting college hockey's most outstanding player is in the fan voting phase, with Cornell looking to place someone in the round of 10 finalists for a second straight year. Matthew Galajda was in that elite group last year, becoming the first freshman goaltender to ever be selected among the final 10.
 

Next Man Up:

•  Cornell has already lost 22 man-games to injury from its top six defensemen, having played six straight games without two of its top four before Brendan Smith's return on Jan. 4 (Alex Green has remained out).
•  The Big Red's injury woes on defense are in stark contrast to last season, when Cornell led the country in team defense. For the entirety of the 2017-18 season, the Big Red lost just 10 man-games to injury from its top seven defensemen.
 

#OneIvy Update:

•  Having won the Ancient Eight crown with a sterling 9-0-1 record last season, Cornell is 17-1-2 in its last 20 Ivy League contests (the one loss was Nov. 30 at Dartmouth).
•  Cornell extended its lead to six points in the Ivy League standings after last weekend's wins over Harvard and Dartmouth and is now one point away from clinching the program's 23rd Ivy League championship. The earliest it could clinch is Feb. 2, if Brown ties or defeats Yale.
 

Best Behavior:

•  The opposition has had more power plays than the Big Red just three times in 17 games this year. Cornell has been on the penalty kill just 57 times so far, which is third-fewest in the nation.
•  Cornell and Princeton played a rare penalty-free game on Jan. 4. It was a first in the Division I men's ranks since AIC and Bentley met Dec. 1, 2015. 
•  It was Cornell's first outing without any penalties since a 4-1 victory over Brown on Feb. 19, 1999 — a span of 660 games.
 

Wasting No Time:

•  Underclassmen have been at the forefront of Cornell's arsenal, scoring 31 of the team's 51 goals (61 percent).
•  The Big Red's sophomore class averages 1.47 goals per game, which is highest in ECAC Hockey and second-highest in the nation (trailing only Massachusetts, 1.95).
 

Circle Time:

•  Cornell ranks fifth in the nation in team faceoff percentage (54.5%). Senior Beau Starrett leads the Big Red in draws taken with a 57.3% success rate.
•  Max Andreev (60.5%) ranks second among the nation's active freshmen in faceoff percentage and ranks 12th overall..
 

Understudy Extraordinaire:

•  With Mike Schafer not in attendance for the Jan. 4-5 games due to illness, Associate Head Coach Ben Syer continued his unbeaten streak as an acting head coach. Now in his eighth season with the program, Syer is 7-0-4 all-time when at the helm. All but one of those games has been at Cornell.
 

Feel The Draft?:

•  Cornell has five players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft — one in each of the last five drafts. Sophomore defenseman Matt Cairns (Edmonton Oilers) was selected earliest in that group, having been taken in the third round with the 84th overall pick in 2016.
•  Senior forward Beau Starrett (Chicago Blackhawks) was also taken in the third round during the 2014 draft. One other forward is a draft pick in Morgan Barron, who was snagged in the sixth round by the N.Y. Rangers in 2017. He then became the first freshman in program history to have at least one point in each of his first seven games. 
•  Three underclassmen represent the Big Red's three NHL Draft picks along the blue line. Alex Green leads that group after his outstanding collegiate debut led to a fourth-round selection by the Tampa Bay Lightning last summer.
•  Defenseman Misha Song (N.Y. Islanders in 2015) is the only newcomer to have his NHL rights already owned.
 

Scouting Colgate:

•  The Raiders dropped a pair of one-goal games to Dartmouth and Harvard last weekend to fall to 6-14-2 overall and 3-5-2 in ECAC Hockey.
•  Colgate has just two goals over its current four-game losing streak, entering this weekend ranked 59th of 60 Division I teams in the country with an average of 1.36 goals per game.
•  As he did last season, junior forward Bobby McMann (5-7–12; 3 PPG) leads the team in goals and overall scoring. He typically plays on the left wing of a line with sophomore Josh McKechney  (2-7–9) at center and junior John Snodgrass (1-3–4) on the right side. 
•  Two of the team's top four scorers are sophomore defensemen, Nick Austin (2-8–10; 2 PPG) and Trevor Cosgrove (4-4–8; 3 PPG).
•  Colgate ranks second in the nation with a 56.2% success rate on draws. senior Adam Dauda (2-5–7) and junior Ben Sharf (0-3–3) both rank in the top 10 nationally at 62% and 61.7%, respectively.
•  At 69.7%, the Raiders' penalty kill ranks at the bottom of Division I.
•  After the early departure of Colton Point following last season, all three of Colgate's goaltenders are freshmen. Mitch Benson (5-12-2, 2.79, .908) has started all but three games. 
•  Don Vaughan is in his 26th season as head coach at Colgate.
 

The Series Against Colgate:

•  Cornell holds an 83-57-15 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to 1921. 
•  The Big Red has won its last six games against the Raiders and has lost only four times in the last 34 meetings between the teams.
•  Cornell enters the weekend with a shutout streak of 188 minutes, 17 seconds against Colgate. That span covers three shutouts over the last two seasons, including a pair of 2-0 victories last year.
•  Matthew Galajda made a combined 47 saves to claim both shutouts. Cam Donaldson and Kyle Betts scored the Big Red's goals in the game at Colgate.
 

Up Next:

•  The regional rivalry shifts back to the southwest for a rematch at 7 p.m. Saturday in Ithaca.
•  After that, Cornell starts February with a pair of games on the road. The Big Red heads to Union on Friday, Feb. 1, then plays at Rensselaer the next night.