ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team is 8-0 for the first time since the 1971-72 season, and the game that got it to that plateau served as somewhat of a microcosm of those eight games to date. Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda was very strong in helping the Big Red shrug off a sub-par start, then the team's scoring depth took over with an explosive second period for a 5-1 victory over Princeton in front of a sold-out crowd on Saturday night at Lynah Rink.
 
Cornell (8-0, 6-0 ECAC Hockey, 3-0 Ivy League), which is ranked second in the country in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls, got goals from five different players – four of which came in the middle frame. It marked the first time since the middle of last season that the Big Red scored four times in a period, and it effectively buried a Princeton (1-4-3, 0-4-2, 0-3) team that had performed better than the score would indicate.
 
For a second straight night, the Big Red played a scoreless opening 20 minutes – but this one had a drastically different tone than a night earlier against Quinnipiac. Princeton was flying off the hop, starting with Jackson Cressey's shot from the left circle after a defensive-zone turnover just 50 seconds into the game. Galajda was equal to that and the rest of the Tigers' 11 offerings on target in the opening period. In fact, he had more saves in three minutes than he had in the entire first period against the Bobcats.
 
"I think this weekend, our guys see how hard the teams play against us, and how hard our league is, knowing that it's never easy," said Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey at Cornell. "It will be a grind throughout the whole season. But these guys have responded well every step of the way so far."
 
That response started just 41 seconds into the second period when senior forward Noah Betts forced a turnover that led to junior forward Kyle Betts' feed for a one-timed goal by senior forward Jeff Malott. Though Princeton continued its push at the other end and required several acrobatic saves from Galajda, Cornell would take on three more goals in a span of under five minutes.
 
"We just started making better plays under pressure," Schafer said. "They love to pinch their defensemen. Their first two forecheckers obviously come really, really hard. I just think we were much better with our sticks on the forecheck in the neutral zone, just getting above them and being patient."
 
Junior forward Tristan Mullin scored a four-on-four goal directly off a faceoff to push Cornell's lead to 2-0, then freshman forward Ben Berard finished off a pretty passing play for his first collegiate goal 45 seconds later. Junior forward Cam Donaldson potted an unassisted goal with 3:12 left in the frame, giving Cornell a four-goal cushion.
 
"I think we just kind of took over with our depth and got back to playing the way we should be playing, rolling our lines and just letting our skill take over," Mullin said.
 
Junior defenseman Alex Green closed the scoring with his second goal in his last three games, and Cornell got 25 saves from Galajda for the win.

The Big Red's Lineup:

 

How The Goals Were Scored:

Cornell's 1st Goal
2nd period, 3:36  •  Malott 2 (Betts, Bauld)  •  Cornell 1, Princeton 0
•  After a power play had expired, the Tigers' attempt at a controlled breakout went awry near the blue line on a partially fanned-upon pass between the defensemen. Bauld chased down the play on the left wall and forced the turnover. Betts entered the offensive zone on what amounted to a two-on-three, but the Tigers' defense wasn't in great position. That allowed Betts to pass toward the middle for Malott, who one-timed a shot from the high slot that beat Ferland to the stick side.
 
"Pretty much on Tuesday mornings, we've been working on a play like that with (assistant coach Sean) Flanagan," Malott said. "(Betts) just kind of slipped it under the D-man's stick, and it was a quick release and kind of caught the goalie sleeping. (Betts) and I just kind of laughed about how those Tuesday mornings have been paying off."
 
Cornell's 2nd Goal
2nd period, 12:03 (4x4)  •  Mullin 2 (Betts)  •  Cornell 2, Princeton 0
•  A string of four minor penalties in just over two minutes left the teams skating through a variety of special teams scenarios. In the midst of that, the teams had a stint of four-on-four play that led to a faceoff to Ferland's left. Betts – who finished the night 12-1 on faceoffs – cleanly won the draw back to Mullin at the top inner portion of the circle, where he lasered a shot over Ferland's blocker.
 
Cornell's 3rd Goal
2nd period, 12:48  •  Berard 1 (Kaldis, Locke)  •  Cornell 3, Princeton 0
•  In the dying moments of a Big Red power play, an attempted Tigers clear was knifed down by Kaldis at the far reaches of the left point. He then swung a pass all the way across ice to Locke, who returned the pass to Kaldis. He took a few steps in before spotting a seam between Princeton's forwards and defensemen that he bisected with a pass into the wheelhouse of Berard, who one-timed a shot past Ferland's blocker from the right circle.
 
Cornell's 4th Goal
2nd period, 16:48  •  Donaldson 2  •  Cornell 4, Princeton 0
•  The Big Red's fourth goal of a single period since a Jan. 11, 2019 game against Arizona State was also the team's first unassisted goal of the season. A Princeton player flubbed an attempted pass across his blue line, allowing Donaldson to get a stick to it and skate toward goal. With pursuit coming from the other side, Donaldson shifted to his backhand and scooped the puck past Jeremie Forget's blocker.
 
Princeton's 1st Goal
3rd period, 1:37 (pp)  •  Paganelli 3 (Walton)  •  Cornell 4, Princeton 1
•  The Tigers worked up the ice unabated from behind their own net, with Walton's pass sending Paganelli into the right side of the Cornell zone. From just outside the faceoff dot, Paganelli took a shot that was jammed by a Cornell defenseman's stick, but it essentially ramped the puck over Galajda's left shoulder and just under the crossbar.
 
Cornell's 5th Goal
3rd period, 5:27  •  Green 3 (Donaldson, Mitchell)  •  Cornell 5, Princeton 1
•  A Princeton dump-in to the Cornell zone was handled with aplomb by the defense pair. Mitchell won the race to the puck and swept it to Green behind the net, and he quickly outleted to Donaldson on the outside hash mark. Donaldson had plenty of time to turn and speed up ice, gaining the offensive zone before cutting to the middle and dishing off to a hard-charging Green. The blueliner glided into the inside of the right circle, then picked a spot past Forget's blocker.

Up Next:

•  Cornell turns its attention back to non-league play when it travels to New York for a Red Hot Hockey matchup against Boston University at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Madison Square Garden.