ITHACA, N.Y. —  The Cornell men's hockey team returns from its annual mid-season hiatus with a trip to the inaugural Fortress Invitational — a four-team tournament held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The Big Red will face off in the first day's second game, taking on Ohio State in a battle of top-10 teams at 8:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Friday. The game will be broadcast through FloHockey.tv. Featuring the call of Jason Weinstein, the game can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) and worldwide through the station's website.

Game Information:

#2 Cornell vs. #6 Ohio State
8:30 p.m. PST Friday, Jan. 3, 2020
PLACE: T-Mobile Arena  •  Las Vegas, Nev.
RECORDS: Cornell 10-1, 7-1 ECAC Hockey;
                    Ohio State 12-4-2, 6-3-1 Big Ten
BROADCAST: FloHockey.tv
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: FortressInvitational.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Ohio State

About The Fortress Invitational:

•  T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is hosting a midseason college hockey tournament for a third straight season, though this is the first season under the tournament's new moniker. Arizona State won the first rendition of the Ice Vegas Invitational in 2018, then Western Michigan won last season. The tournament has since been rebranded after the local NHL team came on board as hosts for the event.

The First "Half":

•  Cornell boasts the nation's best winning percentage coming into the new year for the second time in the last three seasons, entering this weekend at 10-1 overall. 
•  The Big Red was the last team in the nation to suffer its first loss, rattling off 10 consecutive wins to start the year before a 2-1 loss Dec. 7 at Dartmouth wrapped up game action before a four-week break for final exams and the holidays.
•  Cornell's 10-0 start marked the program's best in 50 years, dating back to a memorable 1969-70 campaign that ended with an unprecedented 29-0 record and the program's second national title.
•  The Big Red enters the weekend ranked second in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national polls.

By The Numbers:

•  The Big Red not only leads the country in team defense (1.36 goals against per game), it also ranks fourth in offense (3.82 goals per game). That leads to the nation's second-largest scoring margin (+2.45).
•  For the first time in the program's modern-era history, Cornell has not surrendered more than two goals in its first 11 games of the season. Not only is the Big Red the last remaining team in the nation yet to yield three goals in a game, it's also the last remaining team yet to concede four.
•  The Big Red's power play was the nation's best for two consecutive weeks before cooling off to the tune of 18 straight unsuccessful chances on the man advantage over the last five games. Despite the drought, Cornell still ranks seventh in the nation with a 25.5% success rate on the power play.
•  One of the keys to Cornell's hot start has been its ability to play with the lead. The Big Red scored first in each of its 10 victories and only trailed for a scant 16 minutes, 5 seconds in that stretch — all in its season opener at Michigan State. In fact, Cornell hadn't trailed for a stretch of 571:34 until Dartmouth opened the scoring in what was ultimately a 2-1 loss on Dec. 7.
•  The Big Red has scored 23 of its 42 goals in second periods this year. That's an average of 2.09 goals per middle stanza, which by a wide margin leads the country for any period. The next closest is Massachusetts' average of 1.78 goals per third period.

The Red's Barron:

•  Junior forward Morgan Barron (7-7–14) leads the team in scoring and ranks 13th in the nation with an average of 1.27 points per game. 
•  Barron became the first Cornell men's hockey player with at least 12 points through six games since Matt Moulson '06 and Ryan Vesce '04 both did so in the 2003-04 campaign. 
•  A sixth-round draft pick of the New York Rangers, Barron was named to the All-ECAC Hockey first team last season after leading the squad with 34 points on 15 goals and 19 assists. He was tabbed a Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection in September.

Forward Thinking:

•  Junior forward Brenden Locke (5-6–11) ranks second in team scoring with a team-best plus-13 rating that ranks tied for 12th in the nation. Since being reunited on a line with junior forward Cam Donaldson (2-7–9), both players have a plus-11 rating over nine games.
•  Locke's five goals have come on just 11 shots on target, giving him a national-best average of .455 goals per shot on the frame.
•  Sophomore forward Michael Regush (5-2–7) is tied with Locke for second on the team in goal-scoring after netting 12 goals in his collegiate debut. His two power-play goals are tied for the team lead with Barron and sophomore forward Max Andreev (2-7–9), all of whom play on the same power-play unit.
•  Scoring depth has powered the Big Red in the early going. Eight forwards already have multiple goals for Cornell through 11 games compared to 12 for all of last season.

More Than Just Defense:

•  Junior defenseman Alex Green (3-6–9, plus-8), a fourth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, has already more than doubled his point production from an injury-riddled sophomore campaign.
•  Sam Malinski (2-7–9, plus-8) ranks second nationally in scoring for freshman defenseman with an average of 0.82 points per game. His 29 shots on goal are tied for second-most on the team and is tops among blueliners.
•  Senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (2-7–9) is the team's leading active scorer with 70 collegiate points. The three-time selection to the All-Ivy League first team was also a Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection in September.

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda (10-1, 1.37, .941) ranks second in the nation in goals against average, having surrendered just six even-strength goals through 11 games. His save percentage also ranks fourth nationally. 
•  Galajda has returned to form after sophomore season was cut short by multiple injuries. As a freshman, he was a Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist, a Mike Richter Award finalist, a first-team All-American, the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year and Ivy League Player of the Year.
•  The Big Red has the rare claim of two all-league goaltenders from a season ago in Galajda and classmate Austin McGrath. Though McGrath hasn't appeared yet this season, he was an All-Ivy League first-team selection last year.

Go West, Young Men:

•  This weekend marks just the second time in program history that Cornell has played games in the Pacific Time Zone. The first time came Jan. 3-5, 1986 at the Thunderbird Centennial Classic in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Big Red swept three games against British Columbia, Seibu (Japan) and Yale to win the tournament title.

Honor Roll:

•  Cornell laid claim to five of ECAC Hockey's weekly awards over its first five weeks of the season and two monthly awards for November. Junior Matthew Galajda was named the league's goalie of the month and freshman defenseman Sam Malinski was tabbed rookie of the month.
•  Three of the team's five weekly honors to date were rookies of the week. Malinski earned the accolade after each of his first two weekends in the collegiate ranks (Nov. 4, Nov. 11), then freshman forward Ben Berard claimed it Nov. 25 after scoring his first collegiate goal two days earlier against Princeton.

Rare Territory:

•  Freshman forward Jack Malone is doing something that no Cornell men's hockey player has done in more than 50 years — wear #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). Zach Tupker (1-0–1) scored his first collegiate Nov. 9 vs. Yale.

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.

Scouting Ohio State:

•  The Buckeyes extended their unbeaten streak to seven games with a home sweep of Colgate last weekend. Ohio State shook off a pair of one-goal deficits to win, 3-2, in Friday's only Division I game, then Tommy Nappier's 25-save shutout powered a 3-0 victory in Saturday's rematch.
•  The defending Big Ten regular-season champions moved up one spot to sixth in the USCHO.com poll after the victories.
•  Senior forward Tanner Laczynski (6-12–18) leads the team in scoring and rating (+12). He typically centers a line with sophomore Quinn Preston (7-4–11; team-high 4 PPG) on the right wing.
•  The other wing on Laczynski's line has been transient. One of the options has been sophomore Gustaf Westlund (9-8–17), who leads the team in goals and plays center when not on Laczysnki's left.
•  Though Cornell and Ohio State haven't played each other since 2015, there are two members of the Buckeyes that have seen the Big Red before. Senior forward Carson Meyer (5-7–12) is a transfer from Miami, where he scored twice in four games against Cornell during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. Redshirt senior forward Miguel Fidler (1-4–5) is the other, competing with the team for a fifth season after missing the 2016-17 due to injury. 
•  Junior Tommy Nappier (10-4-2, 1.78, .937, 2 SO) has started all but one game in goal after splitting time with 2019 graduate Sean Romeo last year.
•  All four of Ohio State's losses this season have been one-goal affairs. 
•  Steve Rohlik is in his seventh season as the head coach at Ohio State.

The Series Against Ohio State:

•  The Buckeyes took a 7-6 lead in the all-time series against the Big Red with a shocking 8-0 victory over Cornell on Dec. 29, 2015 in the championship game of the Florida College Hockey Classic in Estero, Fla. Cornell entered that game 9-1-2 and on the heels of an exhilarating overtime victory against previously-undefeated defending national champion Providence, and rebuilding Ohio State was 4-11.
•  That meeting marked the programs' first clash since the 2005 NCAA tournament's West Region semifinals at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. Cornell won that game, 3-2. 
•  Friday's game marks the 10th time in 14 meetings between the programs that they will meet on neutral ice. They have clashed five times in Estero, Fla.; once in Minneapolis; once in Lake Placid, N.Y.; once in Cincinnati and once in Richfield, Ohio.
•  Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is 5-5 in 10 games against Ohio State.

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 468 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 last year, marking the Big Red's second straight Ivy crown and its 19th outright title. Cornell is 20-3-3 in its last 26 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 will take on either Providence or Army West Point in the second day of the Fortress Invitational on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. The consolation game is slated for 5:30 p.m. local time with the championship game following at 9 p.m.