ITHACA, N.Y. — Two men's hockey teams looking to shake off disappointing losses from last night will clash at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink, when Cornell and Union face off in the Big Red's regular-season home finale and subsequent Senior Night. The game will be broadcast by the host schools and can be seen on ESPN+ in the U.S. The same production can be viewed by international viewers through a different platform via Stretch Internet. Both games 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 on the call.

GAME INFORMATION

Union at #9 Cornell
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 15-7-3, 11-4-3 ECAC Hockey
                    Union, 15-9-6, 8-8-2 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 | Union
 

Big Red Rewind:

•  Cornell fought its way out of a rare early two-goal deficit and dominated most of last night's game against Rensselaer, but Todd Burgess scored an unlikely winner in overtime that deflected in off a defender.
•  Jeff Malott scored both Cornell goals, the first coming just 30 seconds after RPI's second goal. The second came early in the third period to boost his season total to five and give him his fourth career game with multiple goals.
•  The Big Red dominated once it got on the board, posting a 34-7 advantage in shots on goal after RPI's second goal (37-16 overall).
•  The loss nudged Cornell out of first place in the ECAC Hockey standings for the first time since Jan. 19, with Quinnipiac overtaking the lead by one point with three games to play. 
•  The Big Red is also winless in its last three games (0-2-1) for the first time since it started the 2016-17 season with that same record.

 

A Pairwise Moment:

•  Last night's loss dropped Cornell to 13th in the Pairwise rankings, which are used to determine and seed the NCAA tournament field. Even with the recent slip, the team's current placement is an improvement of 20 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 15 games since Jan. 1, which is most in the league and tied for sixth-most in the nation. The New York Rangers draft pick has multiple points in eight of his last 14 games.
•  Barron also remains one of the most prominent shooters in the country, with his average of 4.85 shots on goal per game ranking second-most behind just Arizona State's Johnny Walker (4.94).
•  Sophomore Cam Donaldson (11-10–21; 4 PPG) ranks second on the team in goals and rating (plus-14), and he's tied for third overall in scoring. He returned to the lineup last night after missing last weekend's games.
•  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 46 goals since Jan. 1.
•  Senior forward Mitch Vanderlaan (7-16–23) 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 90 points in 122 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 31.08.
•  The Big Red has scored first in 21 of its 26 games so far and is outscoring the opposition in first periods, 31-9.
 

More Than Just Defense:

•  A two-time All-Ivy League first-team selection, junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (4-17–21; 2 PPG) leads the team in assists and all the team's blueliners in overall scoring. He has nine assists in his last 11 games.
•  Matt Nuttle (2-13–15), one of three senior pillars on defense, has a lofty plus-17 rating is tied for third in ECAC Hockey. He is a staggering plus-40 over the last two seasons.
 

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Sophomore Matthew Galajda (11-7-2, 2.02, .909, 3 SO) a first-team All-American last year, has rounded into form after an early-season injury led to a five-game absence. Since Jan. 1, his 1.58 goals against average ranks second in ECAC Hockey and he has a .929 save percentage.
•  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:

•  Cornell enters tonight with 35 consecutive successful penalty kills. It's the longest such streak in program history since 36 straight from Dec. 3, 2005 to Jan. 14, 2006. The last power-play goal conceded by the Big Red was Jan. 5 at Quinnipiac.
•  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 36 spots to 21st at 51.7% just 17 games later. 
•  Since Dec. 1, Cornell's penalty kill (95%) leads the nation, and its power play (30%) ranks third.
 

One Crown Down:

•  Cornell clinched the program's 23rd Ivy League championship two weeks ago, marking the Big Red's second straight Ivy crown and its 19th outright title. Having won the Ancient Eight championship with a sterling 9-0-1 record last season, Cornell is 17-2-3 in its last 22 Ivy League contests.
 

Circle Time:

•  Cornell is tied for fourth in the nation in team faceoff percentage (54.5%). Senior Beau Starrett once again leads the Big Red in draws taken with a 55.6% success rate.
 

Wasting No Time:

•  Underclassmen have been at the forefront of Cornell's arsenal, scoring 46 of the team's 76 goals (60.5%).
•  The Big Red's sophomore class averages 1.38 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 on Jan. 16.
•  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 26 games this season, Cornell has used 19 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 31 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 26 games this year. Cornell has been on the penalty kill just 79 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 Union:

•  The Dutchmen are 15-10-6 overall and 8-9-2 in ECAC Hockey, including a 5-1 loss last night at Colgate. Sophomore winger Jack Adams (8-9–17; team-best plus-13 rating) scored the lone goal for Union after Colgate had already built a four-goal lead. The Dutchmen outshot the Raiders, 36-18.
•  Despite the loss, Union is 3-2-1 in six games since being blanked, 4-0, by Cornell on Feb. 1. It sits in eighth place in the league standings with a two-point lead on Rensselaer for the last home-ice playoff position.
•  Union took three of the four available points last weekend, tying Quinnipiac on Friday, 1-1, before scratched out a 3-2 victory Saturday against Princeton. 
•  With his second goal against the Tigers coming with just 14.6 seconds left in the third period, sophomore forward Liam Morgan (11-9–20, plus-12) took over the team's goal-scoring lead. He typically plays on the right wing beside senior leading scorers Cole Maier (6-19–25) and Ryan Walker (10-12–22).
•  Senior winger Sebastian Vidmar (8-10–18) leads the team with four power-play goals. Union was 0-for-5 on the man advantage last night.
•  Sophomore Darion Hanson (9-6-5, 2.35, .920, 2 SO) has emerged as the primary goaltender, though he was pulled last night for a fourth time this season. He had split starts with senior Jake Kupsky (6-4-1, 2.80, .884) earlier in the season.
•  Rick Bennett is in his eighth season as head coach at Union.
 

The Series Against Union:

•  Cornell holds a 40-21-9 lead in the all-time series and is 6-1-1 in the last eight meeting between the squads. 
•  The Big Red blitzed Union for three goals in the first period en route to a 4-0 victory in the teams' first meeting this season on Feb. 1 in Schenectady. Morgan Barron scored twice and Cam Donaldson had three assists to pace the offense, and Matthew Galajda made 24 saves for the shutout.
•  In the teams' nine meetings spanning the last three seasons, Cornell's power play is 12-for-31 (38.7%) against Union and Union's power play is 13-for-42 (31.0%) against Cornell — though the Dutchmen were 0-for-5 on the power play on Feb. 1.