Freshman Friday is a Q-and-A feature with new members of the men's hockey team. This is the sixth of nine installments this year, featuring forward Jack Malone.

Q: What you think of Cornell hockey and campus and everything else so far?
A: It's everything I expected. It's challenging in the classroom, but it's definitely manageable. I'd talked to some other guys who have been through it, especially the guys who are in the same program. On the ice, it's been just as competitive as I thought, and we're as good as I thought. We're proving that as we go through the beginning of the season now, and we're just looking to continue to get better.

Q: So you're in the Dyson School of Business. What are you hoping to do with that degree someday?
A: I'm not sure. I always kind of wanted to go down the business path. It's something that my dad currently does. We declare our concentration at the end of our sophomore year, so I have some time to think about it. So at this point, I just want to kind of get through some of the major classes and kind of figure out what path I'm looking for and build off of that in the future.

Q: You mentioned your dad, who's an Oneonta State alum. And you also have a sister enrolled at Colgate. Was the upstate New York connection a factor when you were looking at schools?
A: I definitely wanted to stay on the East Coast, but I wouldn't say the upstate New York thing was kind of destined because of where my family went. It was cool that my sister was going to school close to here, but I still would have come here. Same thing with my dad.

Q: You call Madison, New Jersey home, but I hear you were born in California and moved east when you were 6. Do you have memories of living in California?
A: I remember a good amount of it. We still have some pretty close friends that we go on vacation with. There definitely wasn't a lot of hockey around when I lived there. When I moved to New Jersey, that's sort of started to skate and everything. But I definitely remember a lot of it. I was young, but I have some good memories.

Q: Did you then pick up hockey right when you got to New Jersey?
A: It was pretty much right away, because my dad's side of the family lives in New York, down toward the city. My cousins had played at that point. They lived on a lake and played during the winter. So I always wanted to get into hockey, and that was a great opportunity to. So when we moved, I pretty much started to play right away.

Q: But hockey was actually in the picture for you in California?
A: Yeah, a little bit. I definitely wanted to try it out, especially once I knew we were moving to New Jersey. We were fans and it wasn't too popular at that point, so it gave us a great opportunity to start when we moved.

Q: What other kinds of sports did you play as a kid?
A: I played everything – soccer, baseball, hockey. I played lacrosse for a year. Kind of everything, like every little kid does.

Q: Well, and you went to Delbarton. Lacrosse is certainly a thing there.
A: Yeah, eighth-grade middle-school lacrosse. I wasn't very good, though. But it was worth a try.

Q: So at what point did hockey become the focus and a possible next-level thing for you?
A: Probably going into my freshman year of high school. That was the year where I played only hockey. Up to that point, I'd played two or three sports. I kind of realized that it was something I focus solely on and kind of devote all my time toward.

Q: There are obviously a lot of hockey players that come out of northern New Jersey, but Cornell specifically has a decent connection with some of them. It's not exactly next door, but Joakim Ryan '15 was from Rumson. Alex Rauter '18 was right down the road from you in Chatham. Did you know anything about Alex?
A: I didn't really know him personally, but I knew a lot of people that did know him personally. But when I was going through the recruiting process here, he was definitely an outlet that I used. I got in touch with him a couple of times and asked him about the school and everything. Definitely grew a little bit of a relationship out of it.

Q: What kind of questions do you ask in that situation? Are any of them specific to your connection of being from the same area, or is it much more general?
A: I think they were more general. The reason I talked to him was because we lived so close to each other and I reached out that way, but I don't think I asked any questions regarding where we were from. It was all about Cornell. There are generic questions. What was it like? Are classes manageable? What's the atmosphere like in the locker room and on the ice? Just trying to get a feel for everything, top to bottom, about the whole school.

Q: Alex was a die-hard Rangers fan. Where are your allegiances?
A: I honestly couldn't tell you if I have one team that I like. We had season tickets to (New Jersey) Devils games when I was growing up after we moved. I've always been a fan of the Penguins, my dad and I, because Crosby is my favorite player. So we share that. I've kind of always followed him, because right when I started following hockey, he was starting his (professional) career. He was just such a great player and still is. So I like the (Pittsburgh) Penguins, too.

Q: I'm sure that during the recruiting process you figured out that we play at Madison Square Garden every year. How much of that in the back of your head as you were sorting through everything?
A: I wasn't necessarily thinking about MSG; I was thinking about Lynah. I actually went the time Cornell played UNH (The Frozen Apple in 2016) with my father, and I saw what that was like. But then I came here last year and saw a game against Michigan State – and at that, I was already going to come here – but it's same type of environment. It's obviously a lot bigger at MSG, but you get that same sort of feeling when you're here. I can feel that already. So I wasn't necessarily thinking about MSG. It was a bonus, for sure. But when it came to playing in front of fans, it was playing here.

Q: Was it set for you that you were going to go the Ivy League route?
A: I wanted to go to an Ivy League school. I didn't really say no to schools, especially earlier in the process, because I didn't really know how what kind of opportunities I would get. And there's no bad decision when it comes to playing Division I hockey. But as the process kind of drew longer and I started to get some attention from other Ivies, I kind of narrowed it down from there. It was always a goal. I always wanted to play hockey at an Ivy League school. That kind of made the decision as to where pretty easy when I visited here.

Q: You already mentioned the fans, but what else kind of stands out about Cornell?
A: It's everything. Obviously, the education goes without being said. As for the other schools I had been looking at, there were so many other factors that kind of added on to that. The rink is one. I asked Alex (Rauter) about what it was like to play here and the type of brotherhood and camaraderie that was here. He said that he had never been part of a team like this where there's no cliques, there's no groups. Everyone's with each other and it's one big group. I learned that right away when I came here. I pretty much instantly became brothers with everybody, which is pretty special. I hadn't been part of a team that had done that.The campus is awesome. And the coaching staff is awesome. I like the relationship I had with them early on in the (recruiting) process. Just everything added up.

Q: You committed pretty early going into your sophomore year at Delbarton – especially considering you didn't focus on hockey until your freshman year, right?
A: Yeah, but I had known before that, that I had wanted to focus solely on hockey. Ditching everything else was just the plan when I came in as a freshman. So after that year, I went to the (USA Hockey) Select-16 camp and did well there. That's where the recruitment process really started.

Q: Did that hit you like a ton of bricks? Because my understanding of those Select camps is that schools tend to come at you hard and heavy after that …
A: Yeah, definitely. It was probably within 24 hours of the last game, and I had been reached out to a couple times, which was really, really special. I kind of took it with a grain of salt and kind of slowed down the process with my family and made sure we were looking at every angle. We didn't want to make a decision too quick. So it definitely hit hard and quick, but I think that's how it goes for a lot of guys. It was a cool experience.

Q: You've alluded to your dad being a hockey fan. Did he play?
A: No, he didn't play organized hockey. He grew up on Greenwood Lake, which goes through the border between New York and New Jersey, and he would talk about growing up playing on the lake with his friends, and they'd walk across the street with their blades still on. So that's basically the highest level he had played. But he's always been a fan. So he introduced it to me when I was younger, especially once we moved to New Jersey. It kind of came naturally.

Q: After you commit to come here, you spend a couple years with the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL. How was that experience for you?
A: It was awesome. It was a really big jump. It definitely took a while to get used to the type of play and style of play. Everyone was bigger and faster. Some of the kids I played against at Delbarton definitely weren't going to go on and play college hockey, but when you go to Youngstown and play in the USHL, everyone is going to play college hockey. It was a great experience there. It was a tough first year. The transition was tough, but my billets were awesome. I still talk to them all the time today. Going into my second year, when I knew what was going to be like, I knew I was going to have a bigger role. It was something I was trying to build off of, especially knowing I'd be coming into here (the following year). I loved the coaches there. I still talk to them a lot. I built a lot of friendships and relationships that I'll have the rest of my life.

Q: So you really ended up taking off that second year, and the numbers were there heading into the NHL draft. The Hockey News wrote something about how high your draft stock was, but it still wasn't a given that you'd be selected. What did you end up doing for the draft? Did you end up going?
A: No, I didn't. It was a situation where I was hoping I'd get drafted and everything like that, but there was also a chance that I wouldn't. I was prepared for that. So I didn't really think it was worth it to go 4,000 miles across to Vancouver and not (be picked), whereas if I did and I was home it's a special day with my family. Luckily, that's how it turned out. It was a really cool moment.

Q: I've heard a lot of guys say they needed to have an activity, like going to the gym, or anything to keep them distracted. What was your approach?
A: I was home. I was kind of watching it on and off, but I didn't want to get too focused on it. I was kind of keeping myself busy. It just kind of happened. I was actually up in my room and wasn't watching it, and then I heard my dad scream, "Vancouver!" It was cool. I walked downstairs, saw my dad and gave him a big hug. It was something that we'd been working for for a long time. It was really special for it to come true like that.

Q: What happened after that?
A: A representative from the Canucks called me a couple minutes after and kind of gave me a rundown on the development camp. I was going to have to leave within, like, 24 hours of when I was picked. They set me up pretty nicely. They scheduled a flight and hotel. It was really easy for my family. It was the real deal and kind of hit me in the face, like, 'Oh my god, this is really happening.' Headed over to Vancouver and got set up, and then the next day we were skating. It was pretty quick.

Q: What was the camp like?
A: It was tough. We did some tough testing, on and off the ice. We were on the ice twice a day – once was a skills session, the other was by position. It was a pretty small group. We didn't play any games, because there weren't enough guys. So we just did some practices and played some small games, and stuff like that. The amount of coaches that were on the ice at your disposal to help you was pretty cool. And obviously the players there were pretty good. It was a good experience and definitely made me a better player.

Freshman Friday

•  Oct. 18: Sam Malinski
•  Oct. 25: Matt Stienburg
•  Nov. 1: Travis Mitchell
•  Nov. 15: Ben Berard
•  Nov. 22: Zach Tupker
•  Nov. 29: Jack Malone