ITHACA, N.Y. — ECAC Hockey announced Thursday that sophomore forward Morgan Barron of the men's hockey team has been named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Month.
 
Coming off the Big Red's annual mid-season hiatus for final exams and the holidays, Barron returned to the ice with on a tear – racking up four goals and nine assists for 13 points in just eight games. Joining a line with classmates Cam Donaldson and Brenden Locke that caught fire, the sophomore trio accounted for 14 of the team's 26 goals over a month in which it posted a 6-1-1 record.
 
Barron's 13 points were best in the league for the month by a four-point margin, also ranking tied for fourth-most in the nation. He also had a plus-10 rating over the month, which was best in the nation, having only been on the ice for two even-strength goals against. His seven-game scoring streak tied a career high, and his stretch of five consecutive games with multiple points was a first for the program since at least the turn of the century.
 
The ECAC Hockey honor is Cornell's fourth of the month, though Barron wasn't a recipient of any of the three weekly awards collected by the Big Red earlier on. Classmates Austin McGrath (Jan. 7) and Matthew Galajda (Jan. 21) were both named goalies of the week, and Donaldson was once tabbed player of the week (Jan. 14). It also marks the second straight season in which Cornell collected the ECAC Hockey Player of the Month for January, with Anthony Angello garnered the award last year.
 
The Big Red – which enters the weekend ninth in the Pairwise rankings, which are used to determine the NCAA tournament field and seeding – returns to action this weekend with road games against Union at 7 p.m. Friday and Rensselaer at 7 p.m. Saturday.