ITHACA, N.Y. —  The Cornell men's hockey team commences ECAC Hockey and Ivy League play while simultaneously making its home debut this weekend, taking on Brown at 7 p.m. Friday and Yale at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink. Featuring the call of Grady Whittenburg and color commentary from former assistant coach and team captain Topher Scott '08, the games will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the U.S. (with an option for international viewers also available through portal.stretchinternet.com). Jason Weinstein's call of the game and color commentary from Tony Eisenhut '88 can be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) and worldwide via the station's website.

Game Information:

Brown at #4 Cornell
7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 2-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey, 0-0 Ivy League
                    Brown 1-1, 1-1 ECAC Hockey, 1-1 Ivy League
BROADCAST: ESPN+
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets.com
GAME NOTES (PDFs): Cornell | Brown

Yale at #4 Cornell
7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 2-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey, 0-0 Ivy League
                    Yale 1-1, 1-1 ECAC Hockey, 1-1 Ivy League
BROADCAST: ESPN+
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets.com
GAME NOTES (PDFs): Cornell | Yale

The Big Red Rewind:

•  Cornell started its season with a road sweep of Michigan State, downing the Spartans 3-2 last Friday and 6-2 last Saturday in drastically different games.
•  The Big Red shook off the rust from its annual Ivy League-mandated late start to the season to overcome a pair of one-goal deficits before getting the winner from sophomore forward Max Andreev late in the second period.
•  Cornell scored the game's first five goals to start a rout in the rematch. Sophomore forward Michael Regush scored twice before the Spartans got on the board, then freshman defenseman Sam Malinski's first collegiate goal — the Big Red's fifth on the power play for the weekend — iced the game.
•  Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda made a total of 45 saves on the weekend to post a 2.00 goals against average that led all of ECAC Hockey for the week. The Big Red did not surrender any even-strength goals to Michigan State.

By The Numbers:

•  Junior forward Morgan Barron (1-3–4) is tied with freshman defenseman Sam Malinski (1-3–4) for the team lead in scoring after leading the team with 34 points last year. Barron was named to the All-ECAC Hockey first team last season and was tabbed a Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection in September.
•  Sophomore forward Michael Regush (2-1–3) has the early team lead in goals, having struck twice in Saturday's game at Michigan State.
•  Senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (1-2–3) is the team's leading active scorer with 64 collegiate points. His goal last Friday was the 10th in 106 collegiate games, but it was his third in just four career games against Michigan State.
•  Cornell's power play is off to a blistering start with a five goals in 14 chances against the Spartans (35.7 percent).
•  Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda (2-0, 2.00, .918) is off to a solid start, posting the best goals against average in ECAC Hockey last week.

Wasting No Time:

•  Freshman forward Jack Malone scored the Big Red's first goal last Friday, marking the second straight year that a newcomer has opened the team's scoring for the season. Sophomore forward Max Andreev got the scoring started last year, which was the first time a freshman did the honors since Joe Devin '11 in 2007.

Fresh Faces:

•  Cornell had more freshmen on the ice than any other class for its first game last Friday. It marked the first time in the head-coaching era of Mike Schafer that eight freshmen debuted in the Big Red's season opening, dating all the way back to 1992.

Early Honors:

•  Freshman defenseman Sam Malinski is the reigning ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week after leading the league's freshmen and the league's defensemen with four points last week. With a goal and three assists in the two victories at Michigan State, Malinski became the first Cornell freshman defenseman with four points in his first two games since future All-American Brendon Nash '10 did it in 2006.

Rare Territory:

•  Freshman forward Jack Malone will be doing something this season that no Cornell men's hockey player has done in more than 50 years — wear number 13. The perceived unluckiest of numbers has only been donned by five previous members of the Big Red, all in the first nine years of the program's resurrection in 1957. The last to wear 13 was James Wallace during the 1965-66 season.

The Twin Tradition:

•  The arrival of freshmen Ben and Zach Tupker give the Big Red its fourth pair of twins in Mike Schafer's 25-year tenure as the program's head coach. The others were the Devins (Joe and Mike, 2007-11), the Abbotts (Chris and Cam, 2001-06), and the McRaes (Mark and Matt, 1999-2003). 

No Sophomore Slump Here:

•  An all-sophomore line headlined the Big Red attack last year, with Brenden Locke centering Morgan Barron and Cam Donaldson. But the class' contributions didn't stop there — the group averaged 1.36 goals per game for the season, which is highest in ECAC Hockey and fourth-highest in the nation.

More Than Just Defense:

•  With 19 assists in his last 22 games, senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (4-24–28 last year) led the team in assists and blueliners in overall scoring last year. His 24 assists were the most for a Big Red defenseman since Steve Wilson '97 had 26 during the 1995-96 campaign. Kaldis was named to the All-Ivy League first team for a third time — a first for a Cornellian since Matt Moulson '06 from 2004-06 — and also earned a spot on the All-ECAC Hockey second team.

About Brown:

•  The Bears are 1-1 after splitting a home-and-home series with Yale last weekend. Brown lost the first game, 3-2, but won the next night, 5-1.
•  Sophomore forward Justin Jallen (3-0–3) scored twice on the power play and is tied for the early team scoring lead with senior defenseman Zach Guittari (0-3–3) and sophomore forward Michael Maloney (0-3–3). 
•  Jallen, who had had a hat trick in Saturday's victory over Yale, has played on the opposite wing as Maloney on a line centered by senior Brent Beaudoin (0-0–0).
•  Senior Gavin Nieto (1-1, 2.03, .934) played both games in goal afer splitting time with sophomore Luke Kania last year. Nieto was named the ECAC Hockey MAC Goaltending Goalie of the Week on Monday.
•  Brendan Whittet is in his 10th season as the head coach at his alma mater after previously serving as an assistant coach at Dartmouth.
•  The Bears were selected seventh in both the preseason media association and coaches poll for ECAC Hockey.

The Series vs. Brown:

•  The Big Red has a commanding 80-43-8 lead in the all-time series with Brown, including a 6-0 victory in a semifinal in last year's ECAC Hockey Championships.
•  Cornell enters Friday's game on a 14-game unbeaten streak (11-0-3).
•  Mike Schafer is a dominating 38-7-6 against the Bears during his 25-plus seasons as the Big Red's head coach.

Scouting Yale:

•  The Bulldogs are 1-1 after splitting a home-and-home series with Brown last weekend. Yale won the first game, 3-2, but lost the next night, 5-1.
•  Sophomore forward Curtis Hall (2-0–2) scored twice in the opener to take the early team lead in scoring. Senior forward Mitchell Smith and freshman forward Cole Donhauser have the other goals.
•  Senior Corbin Kaczperski (1-1, 3.50, .897) takes over the starting goaltending role this year after platooning each of the last two seasons with Sam Tucker, who is now playing a graduate transfer year at Boston University.
•  Yale's special teams struggled in the Brown series. The power play was 0-for-7 and the penalty kill was gouged for five goals on just nine opportunites.
•  There are four NHL draft picks on the Bulldogs, including a pair of defensemen who are particular dangerous on the power play, junior Phil Kemp (Edmonton Oilers) and sophomore Jack St. Ivany (Philadelphia Flyers)
•  Keith Allain is in his 15th season as the head coach at Yale.
•  The Bulldogs were selected fifth in the preseason coaches poll and sixth in the media association poll for ECAC Hockey.

The Series vs. Yale:

•  The Big Red has tangled with the Bulldogs 154 times since the series started in 1902, with the Cornell holding a 85-61-8 lead.
•  Cornell opened a three-goal lead en route to a 4-2 victory when the teams first last met at Lynah on Nov. 2, 2018.
•  The Bulldogs avenged that performance with a 5-2 win over the Big Red on Feb. 16 at Ingalls Rink.

Feel The Draft?:

•  Cornell has six players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft — at least one in each of the last five drafts. Freshman forward Matt Stienburg (Colorado Avalanche) was selected earliest in that group, having been taken in the third round with the 63rd overall pick in June.
•  Junior defenseman Matt Cairns (Edmonton Oilers) was also taken in the third round with the 84th overall pick in the 2016 draft. Classmate Alex Green was taken with an overaged selection by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2018 draft, and Misha Song (2015 sixth round, New York Islanders) gives the Big Red blue line three NHL picks.
•  Two sixth-round picks also give Cornell three NHL picks when joined by Stienburg. Junior Morgan Barron, a fellow St. Andrew's graduate, was snagged in the sixth round by the N.Y. Rangers in 2017. Freshman Jack Malone was taken by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round last summer.

First Ivy Coach To 400:

•  Already the winningest coach in program history and in Ivy League history, Mike Schafer ranks fifth among active coaches with 458 victories at the Division I level. He also leads all actives coaches of Cornell's 37 varsity teams in career victories.

Two Crowns Down:

•  Cornell won the program's 23rd Ivy League championship, marking the Big Red's second straight Ivy crown and its 19th outright title. Cornell is 17-2-3 in its last 22 Ivy League contests.
•  In winning the Cleary Cup for a second straight year (though shared this time around), the Big Red has won the ECAC Hockey's regular-season title in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2002 and 2003.

Up Next:

•  Cornell's first ECAC Hockey road trip is the same as its last — up to the North Country. The Big Red opens on Friday, Nov. 15 at Clarkson in a rematch of last year's league championship game before wrapping up the trip the next night against St. Lawrence at SUNY Canton's rink.