ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team's postseason gets under way with an ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series against Union this weekend at Lynah Rink. Game 1 between the second-seeded Big Red hosts the seventh-seeded Dutchmen is slated for 7 p.m. Friday. The games will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the U.S. with Grady Whittenburg on play-by-play and Will LeBlond and former Cornell assistant coach and captain Topher Scott '08 splitting color commentary duties. 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 and Tony Eisenhut '88 providing color commentary.

SERIES INFORMATION

Union at #10 Cornell
GAME 1: 7 p.m. Friday, March 15, 2019
GAME 2: 7 p.m. Saturday, March 16, 2019
GAME 3: 4 p.m. Sunday, March 17, 2019
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 17-8-4, 13-5-4 ECAC Hockey (2 seed)
                    Union 19-11-6, 10-10-2 ECAC Hockey (7 seed)
VIDEO (U.S.): ESPN+ — Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
VIDEO (International): Stretch Internet
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Union
 

The Regular Season In Brief:

•  Cornell won a share of the program's 10th Cleary Cup — awarded annually to ECAC Hockey's regular-season champion. It's the Big Red second consecutive Cleary Cup and the fourth during the tenure of 24th-year head coach Mike Schafer.
•  Since Dec. 1, the Big Red has led the nation on the penalty kill with a 92.2 percent success rate. That stretch includes a streak of 41 consecutive penalty kills, which is the program's longest since the turn of the century.
•  The Big Red's power play has also excelled over that stretch, scoring on 27.4 percent of its opportunities — fourth-best in the nation over that span. 
•  Cornell posted a 12-3-4 record over its final 18 games of the regular season. The team has surrendered just 32 goals in that stretch (1.68 per game). 
•  The Big Red remains 10th in both the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls for a second straight week. Cornell is also tabbed 12th in the Pairwise rankings, which are used to determine and seed the NCAA tournament field. 
 

The Red's Barron:

•  Sophomore forward Morgan Barron (13-17–30; 6 PPG) leads the team in goals, points and power-play goals. He also averages 4.52 shots on goal per game, which ranks third-most in the nation behind just Arizona State's Johnny Walker (4.94) and Princeton's Ryan Kuffner (4.71).
•  Barron is the first Cornellian to eclipse the 30-point plateau since Greg Miller '13 had 33 points during his senior season on East Hill. The last Big Red underclassman with 30 points was Riley Nash's 35 points during a 2008-09 campaign in which he was a sophomore.
•  Barron has also been named a finalist for ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward, as announced by the league Tuesday.
 

Super Sophs:

•  An all-sophomore line of Brenden Locke (5-8–13) between Morgan Barron and Cam Donaldson (12-11–23; 4 PPG) was formed after Locke returned to the lineup following the season's five-week semester break, and the combination immediately caught fire. 
•  Donaldson ranks second on the team in goals and rating (plus-16). He had a goal and an assist at St. Lawrence in the team's penultimate regular-season game on March 1, marking his first goal since Jan. 26 vs. Colgate.
•  Eleven of Locke's 13 points on the season have come in the 17 games since pivoting a line flanked by Barron and Donaldson.
•  The Big Red's sophomore class averages 1.31 goals per game, which is highest in ECAC Hockey and sixth-highest in the nation.
 

Forward Thinking:

•  Senior forward Mitch Vanderlaan (9-16–25) ranks second on the team in overall scoring and third in assists. The Big Red's second-year captain is also the team's active leading scorer with 92 points in 125 collegiate games.
•  The Big Red has scored first in 79.3 percent of its games this season 
(23 times in 29 games), which leads the nation. Cornell also is tops in nation in goals during first periods, outscoring opponents 34-11 inside 20 minutes.
 

Freshman Force:

•  Freshman forward Michael Regush (11-3–14) scored nine of his goals in ECAC Hockey play, which tied for the most in the league among newcomers.
•  Appearing at both center and on the wing this season, Regush is the first Big Red freshman with five power-play goals in a single season since Riley Nash had seven during the 2007-08 campaign.
 

More Than Just Defense:

•  A two-time All-Ivy League first-team selection, junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (4-19–23; 2 PPG) leads the team in assists and all the team's blueliners in overall scoring. He has 14 assists in his last 15 games.
•  Matt Nuttle (2-14–16), one of three senior pillars on defense, has been named one of three finalists for the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman Award. Boasting a lofty plus-17 rating that ranks fifth in ECAC Hockey. He is a staggering plus-40 over the last two seasons and looking to be the second Cornellian to win the award in as many years, following in the footsteps of classmate Alec McCrea (3-4–7).
 

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Sophomore Matthew Galajda (13-7-3, 1.97, .916, 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 1.59 goals against average and .934 save percentage lead ECAC Hockey, and he was named the league's Goalie of the Month for February. 
•  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.
 

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. 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.
•  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.
 

Circle Time:

•  Cornell ranks fourth in the nation in team faceoff percentage (54.6%). Freshman Max Andreev (60.5%) ranks eighth in the nation individually and first among rookies. Senior Beau Starrett once again leads the Big Red in draws taken with a 55.7% success rate.
 

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 29 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 34 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 six times in 29 games this year. Cornell has been on the penalty kill just 90 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 19-11-6 overall and were 10-10-2 in ECAC Hockey, finishing as the seventh seed. Union advanced through the first round with a two-game home sweep of 10th-seeded Colgate last weekend, 4-1 and 4-0.
•  Senior center Cole Maier (8-23–31) leads the team in scoring, and he has Union's lone goal in two games against Cornell this season (a shorthanded tally Feb. 23 at Lynah Rink). 
•  Maier typically centers a line with senior Ryan Walker (15-14–29) and sophomore Liam Morgan (14-11–25, plus-17) on the wings. Walker leads the team in goals, including five in his last four games.
•  After the top line, Union has five players with 20 or 21 points. Its top-scoring defenseman is in that group, sophomore Brandon Estes (5-15–20).
•  Sophomore Darion Hanson (12-7-5, 2.20, .922, 3 SO) has emerged as the primary goaltender after splitting starts with senior Jake Kupsky (7-4-1, 2.80, .885) earlier in the season.
•  Union is 9-2 in one-goal games and 12-2-2 when it scores first in a game.
•  Rick Bennett is in his eighth season as head coach at Union.
 

The Series Against Union:

•  Cornell holds a 41-21-9 lead in the all-time series and is 7-1-1 in the last nine meeting between the squads. 
•  The teams met just three weeks ago in the Big Red's Senior Night at Lynah Rink, which resulted in a 3-1 victory for the hosts. Michael Regush scored an early power-play goal, Mitch Vanderlaan scored the winner on a redirected Alec McCrea shot, and Matthew Galajda made 30 saves.
•  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' 10 meetings spanning the last three seasons, Cornell's power play is 13-for-36 (36.1%) against Union and Union's power play is 13-for-46 (28.3%) against Cornell — though the Dutchmen were 0-for-9 on the power play in the games last month.
 

Postseason History vs. Union:

•  The Big Red is 6-3 all-time against the Dutchmen in postseason play, and this will mark the fifth time in the last six seasons that the teams will meet during the ECAC Hockey Championships.
•  The most recent meeting between the teams in the playoffs came in the 2017 semifinals in Lake Placid, when junior Noah Bauld and senior Beau Starrett bookended the scoring in a 4-1 victory for the Big Red.
•  En route to its national title in 2014, Union defeated Cornell, 5-2, in the league semifinals in Lake Placid.
•  Union swept Cornell in a 2015 first-round series at Lynah Rink, 4-2 and 7-0, then the Big Red returned the favor in the same round in 2016, 1-0 and 2-1.
•  Cornell's most recent of a league-best 12 ECAC Hockey championships came in 2010 after a 3-0 victory over Union in the finals in Albany.
•  Union was in its 17th season in ECAC Hockey before the teams crossed paths in the playoffs, with Cornell sweeping a quarterfinal series in 2008 at Messa Rink.
 

The First Program To 100 ECAC Hockey Championship Wins:

•  The Big Red enters this weekend with 111 all-time ECAC Hockey Championship playoff victories, which leads the league. 
•  Cornell has won eight games in the first round, 61 in the quarterfinals, one in the preliminary round of championship weekend, 22 in the semifinals, seven consolation games and 12 championships. 
•  Of note: Preliminaries and consolation games are no longer part of the ECAC Hockey playoff format.
 

Up Next:

•  The winner of this weekend's series will advance to the ECAC Hockey Championship semifinals on Friday, March 22 at 1980 Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. Those semifinals are slated for 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., then the championship game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. the following night.
•  Cornell is also currently in contention for one of the 16 berths for the NCAA tournament. The selection show is scheduled for noon Sunday, March 24, with regional play March 29-31 at sites in Allentown, Pa.; Fargo, N.D.; Manchester, N.H. and Providence, R.I.