ITHACA, N.Y. — Just 20 days after it last clashed with Rensselaer, the Cornell men's hockey team will face the Engineers again at 7 p.m. Friday at Lynah Rink. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the U.S., with Grady Whittenburg on the call and former Cornell captain and assistant coach Topher Scott '08 providing color commentary. The same production can be viewed by international viewers through a different platform via Stretch Internet. The game can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) and worldwide via the station's website with 15th-year play-by-play man Jason Weinstein and Tony Eisenhut '88.

GAME INFORMATION

Rensselaer at #9 Cornell
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, Feb. 22, 2019
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 15-7-3, 11-4-3 ECAC Hockey
                    Rensselaer 9-18-3, 6-10-2 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: ESPN+ — United States | International
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Rensselaer
 

Big Red Rewind:

•  Cornell mustered just one point on the road in its final two Ivy League games of the season, playing Brown to a 3-3 tie last Friday before a 5-2 loss to Yale the next night.
•  The Big Red got off to a strong start against the Bears, building a three-goal through two periods. But Brown rattled off three goals in a span of just 53 seconds in the third to force the deadlock, marking Cornell's first blown three-goal lead since Nov. 7, 2015.
•  Less than 24 hours later, the Big Red was on the other end of a 3-0 score. Alec McCrea and Tristan Mullin scored to cut Cornell's deficit at Yale to one goal, but the Bulldogs scored twice more to pull away. It was just the second time this year the Big Red has conceded five goals (Oct. 26 vs. Michigan State).

•  (Highlights from Yale unavailable).
 

A Pairwise Moment:

•  By virtue of just two ten-thousandths of a point in the Rating Percentage Index, last weekend's results dropped Cornell two spots to 10th in the Pairwise rankings, which are used to determine and seed the NCAA tournament field. The team's current placement is an improvement of 23 spots since a Nov. 30 loss at Dartmouth.
 

Forward Thinking:

•  Sophomore forward Morgan Barron (12-16–28; 6 PPG) leads the team in goals, points and power-play goals. He has 20 points over 14 games since 
Jan. 1, which is most in the league and tied for fifth-most in the nation. The New York Rangers draft pick has multiple points in eight of his last 13 games.
•  Barron also remains one of the most prominent shooters in the country, with his average of 4.88 shots on goal per game ranking second-most behind just Arizona State's Johnny Walker (4.94).
•  Even after missing last weekend's games due to injury, sophomore Cam Donaldson (11-10–21; 4 PPG) ranks second on the team in goals and rating (plus-14) and third overall in scoring.
•  Barron and Donaldson were placed on a line pivoted by Brenden Locke (5-6–11) following the semester break, with all but two of Locke's points coming in that span. The sophomore trio has scored 18 of the team's 44 goals since Jan. 1.
•  Senior forward Mitch Vanderlaan (7-15–22) ranks second on the team in overall scoring and assists. The Big Red's second-year captain is also the team's active leading scorer with 89 points in 121 collegiate games.
•  Cornell hasn't averaged more than 30 shots on goal per game in a season since the 2005-06 campaign, but it currently has an average of 30.84.
•  The Big Red has scored first in 21 of its 24 games so far and is outscoring the opposition in first periods, 30-7.
 

More Than Just Defense:

•  A two-time All-Ivy League first-team selection, junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (4-16–20; 2 PPG) is tied for the team in assists and lead the blueliners in overall scoring and with eight assists in his last 10 games.
•  Matt Nuttle (2-13–15), one of three senior pillars on defense, has a lofty plus-18 rating is tied for second in ECAC Hockey lead and is tied for 13th-best in the nation. He is now a staggering plus-41 over the last two seasons.
 

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Sophomore Matthew Galajda (11-6-2, 1.98, .916, 3 SO) a first-team All-American last year, continues to round into form after an early-season injury led to a five-game absence. Since Jan. 1, his 1.44 goals against average ranks third in the nation and .937 save percentage ranks seventh.
•  When Galajda hasn't played, sophomore Austin McGrath (4-1-1, 2.02, .924) has made the most of his first collegiate starts. He's unbeaten in his last five decisions, and was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 7.
 

Special Teams Resurgence:

•  The Big Red's special teams have steadily improved as the season has progressed. The team's combined special teams percentage was ranked 56th as of Dec. 1, but it has risen 39 spots to 18th at 52% just 16 games later. 
•  Since Dec. 1, both Cornell's power play (31.9%) and penalty kill (94.7%) lead the nation.
•  Cornell enters tonight with 33 consecutive successful penalty kills. It's the longest such streak in program history since 36 straight from Dec. 3, 2005 to Jan. 14, 2006.
 

One Crown Down:

•  Even though it didn't play an Ancient Eight opponent last Saturday, Cornell clinched the program's 23rd Ivy League championship when Princeton defeated Yale. It marks the Big Red's second straight Ivy League crown and its 19th outright title.
•  Having won the Ancient Eight championship with a sterling 9-0-1 record last season, Cornell is 17-1-2 in its last 20 Ivy League contests (the one loss was Nov. 30 at Dartmouth).
 

Unicorn Sighting:

•  Long regarded as a staunch team defensively, Cornell's blown three-goal lead last Friday at Brown was a true rarity. The last time the Big Red coughed up a lead of three or more goals was back on Nov. 7, 2015 in what ultimately turned into a 5-4 overtime loss to Quinnipiac.
 

Circle Time:

•  Cornell is tied for sixth in the nation in team faceoff percentage (53.8%). Senior Beau Starrett once again leads the Big Red in draws taken with a 54.8% success rate.
 

Wasting No Time:

•  Underclassmen have been at the forefront of Cornell's arsenal, scoring 46 of the team's 74 goals (62.2%).
•  The Big Red's sophomore class averages 1.44 goals per game, which is highest in ECAC Hockey and fifth-highest in the nation.
 

Hobey Hopefuls:

•  Junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis and sophomore forwards Morgan Barron and Cam Donaldson were announced among the 81 initial nominees for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award earlier this month.
•  The process for selecting college hockey's most outstanding player is in the fan voting phase, with Cornell looking to place someone in the round of 10 finalists for a second straight year. Matthew Galajda was in that elite group last year, becoming the first freshman goaltender to ever be selected among the final 10.
 

Next Man Up:

•  Through 25 games this season, Cornell has used 18 different combinations of skaters in its lineup, due to injuries. The Big Red has had its most preferred lineup for less than one period all season (Nov. 2 vs. Yale, before an injury about 10 minutes in).
•  Cornell has already lost 30 man-games to injury from its top six defensemen. All of them have been in the same lineup just twice this season (Nov. 2 vs. Yale; Feb. 1 at Union).
•  The Big Red's injury woes on defense are in stark contrast to last season, when Cornell lost just 10 man-games to injury from its top seven defensemen all year.

 

Best Behavior:

•  The opposition has had more power plays than the Big Red just five times in 25 games this year. Cornell has been on the penalty kill just 77 times to date, which is third-fewest in the nation.
•  Cornell and Princeton played a rare penalty-free game on Jan. 4. It was a first in the Division I men's ranks since AIC and Bentley met Dec. 1, 2015. 
•  It was Cornell's first outing without any penalties since a 4-1 victory over Brown on Feb. 19, 1999 — a span of 660 games.
 

Understudy Extraordinaire:

•  With Mike Schafer not in attendance for the Jan. 4-5 games due to illness, Associate Head Coach Ben Syer continued his unbeaten streak as an acting head coach. Now in his eighth season with the program, Syer is 7-0-4 all-time when at the helm. All but one of those games has been at Cornell.
 

Feel The Draft?:

•  Cornell has five players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft — one in each of the last five drafts. Sophomore defenseman Matt Cairns (Edmonton Oilers) was selected earliest in that group, having been taken in the third round with the 84th overall pick in 2016.
•  Senior forward Beau Starrett (Chicago Blackhawks) was also taken in the third round during the 2014 draft. One other forward is a draft pick in Morgan Barron, who was snagged in the sixth round by the N.Y. Rangers in 2017. He then became the first freshman in program history to have at least one point in each of his first seven games. 
•  Three underclassmen represent the Big Red's three NHL Draft picks along the blue line. Alex Green leads that group after his outstanding collegiate debut led to a fourth-round selection by the Tampa Bay Lightning last summer.
•  Defenseman Misha Song (N.Y. Islanders in 2015) is the only newcomer to have his NHL rights already owned.
 

Scouting Rensselaer:

•  The Engineers split home games last weekend, scoring six unanswered goals to rout Princeton on Friday, 6-2, before surrendering a bitter 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac on Saturday. Freshman defenseman Brady Ferner (2-2–4) scored 1:32 into the game for RPI, but the Bobcats equalized in the second and got the winner on a late power play with 34 seconds remaining.
•  RPI has enjoyed a second-half surge, going 5-4-3 in its last 12 games after a 4-14 start. Now at 9-18-3 overall and 6-10-2 with 14 points in ECAC Hockey, the Engineers are four points behind Union for eighth place — which is the final berth for a home series in the first round of the playoffs.
•  A big part of RPI's uptick can be attributed to three midseason transfer additions — junior forward Chris Zieky (6-5–11 in 15 games) via Providence; junior forward Mike Gornall (0-6–6 in 15 games) via North Dakota; and junior defenseman Shane Bear (1-1–2 in 12 games) via UMass.
•  Another big factor has been the emergence of freshman goaltender Owen Savory (4-10-3, 2.27, .933, SO). He ranks fourth in the nation in save percentage, which is highest among any goalie playing for a team with a losing record.
•  Junior Jacob Hayhurst (3-20–23) continues to lead the team in scoring despite missing the last five games. In his absence, junior Todd Burgess (6-9–15) and Zieky have flanked a line pivoted by converted defenseman Meirs Moore (2-2–4) – who scored the lone goal vs. Cornell on Feb. 2.
•  Dave Smith is in his second season as the head coach at RPI after spending 12 years at the helm at Canisius.
 

The Series Against Rensselaer:

•  Cornell owns a 63-37-11 all-time series lead. The Big Red is 26-9-8 against the Engineers since 2000, but just 2-3-2 in its last seven games in Ithaca.
•  The Big Red and Engineers played to a 1-1 tie in their first meeting this season on Feb. 2 in Troy. Mitch Vanderlaan scored a power-play goal to give Cornell a lead in the third period, but Meirs Moore poked in a rebound to tie the game and Owen Savory made 40 saves to preserve the tie for RPI.