ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team will be fighting to keep its season alive at 7 p.m. tonight, when it hosts Union for Game 2 of an ECAC Hockey Championship best-of-three quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the U.S. with Grady Whittenburg on play-by-play and former Cornell assistant coach and captain Topher Scott '08 providing color commentary. 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.

GAME INFORMATION

ECAC Hockey Championship, quarterfinals (best-of-three series)
Union at #10 Cornell
(Union leads best-of-three series, 1-0)
GAME 2: 7 p.m. Saturday, March 16, 2019
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 17-9-4, 13-5-4 ECAC Hockey (2 seed)
                    Union 20-11-6, 10-10-2 ECAC Hockey (7 seed)
VIDEO (U.S.): ESPN+
VIDEO (International): Stretch Internet
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Union
 

Game 1 Redux:

•  Union stunned Cornell by scroing twice in the final 10 minutes of the series' Game 1 on Friday night to secure a 3-2 victory. It marked the first time since Nov. 16 that the Big Red lost a game in which it entered the third with a lead.
•  After a scoreless first period, the teams engaged in a wild second period that saw three video reviews on possible goals. Sebastian Vidmar opened the scoring for Union on a wraparound goal before Cornell equalized on a low-percentage shot from senior defenseman Matt Nuttle that squeaked between Dutchmen goaltender Darion Hanson and the near post.
•  Union appeared to take the lead back three minutes later on a converted rebound by Liam Morgan, but officials reviewed the play and washed out the goal due to goaltender interference. Cornell then took the lead with 1:02 left in the frame on a redirection by sophomore forward Kyle Betts for his first goal of the season. 
•  Cole Maier and Brett Supinski capped the scoring for the Dutchmen, who escaped with a victory despite being outshot, 34-19.
 

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 (13-18–31; 6 PPG) leads the team in goals, points and power-play goals. He also averages 4.53 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.
•  Earlier this week, Barron was named to the All-Ivy League first team and a finalist for ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward.
 

Super Sophs:

•  An all-sophomore line of Brenden Locke (5-9–14) 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, who earned All-Ivy League honorable mention, is tied for the team lead in rating (plus-15) and ranks second on the team in goals. 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.
•  Twelve of Locke's 14 points on the season have come in the 18 games since starting to pivot a line flanked by Barron and Donaldson.
•  The Big Red's sophomore class averages 1.30 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 126 collegiate games. 
He's earned All-Ivy League honorable mention for a second straight year.
•  The Big Red has scored first in 76.7 percent of its games this season (23 times in 30 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.
•  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:

•  With 14 assists in his last 16 games, 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 been named to the All-Ivy League first team for a third time — a first for a Cornellian since Matt Moulson '06 from 2004-06.
•  Matt Nuttle (3-14–17), one of three senior pillars on defense, has been named one of three finalists for the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman Award. He boasted a lofty plus-17 rating that ranked fifth in ECAC Hockey during the regular season. He is a staggering plus-39 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 (13-8-3, 2.02, .914, 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 1.69 goals against average leads ECAC Hockey. He was named the league's Goalie of the Month for February, and he is again a finalist for the ECAC Hockey Ken Dryden Top Goalie Award. 
•  When Galajda hasn't played, sophomore Austin McGrath (4-1-1, 2.02, .924) has made the most of his first collegiate starts — enough to earn All-Ivy League first team honors despite making just four starts in Ancient Eight games.
 

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 is tied for fourth in the nation in team faceoff percentage (54.4%). Freshman Max Andreev (58.9%) ranks second in the nation among rookies. Senior Beau Starrett once again leads the Big Red in draws taken with a 56.0% 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 30 games this season, Cornell has used 20 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 35 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.
 

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 20-11-6 overall and were 10-10-2 in ECAC Hockey, finishing as the seventh seed. Union has now won five straight, defeating Cornell in last night's Game 1 after advancing 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 (9-23–32) leads the team in scoring, and he has two of Union's four goals in three games against Cornell. He's a finalist for ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward for a second straight year.
•  Maier typically centers a line with senior Ryan Walker (15-14–29) and sophomore Liam Morgan (14-12–26, plus-18) on the wings. Walker leads the team in goals, including five in his last five games.
•  After the top line, Union has five players with 21 or 22 points. Its top-scoring defenseman is in that group, sophomore Brandon Estes (5-16–21).
•  Sophomore Darion Hanson (13-7-5, 2.19, .923, 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. Hanson is reigning ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week.
•  Union is 10-2 in one-goal games and 13-2-2 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 41-22-9 lead in the all-time series and is 7-2-1 in the last 10 meetings 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' 11 meetings spanning the last three seasons, Cornell's power play is 13-for-39 (33.3%) against Union and Union's power play is 13-for-48 (27.1%) against Cornell — though the Dutchmen are 0-for-11 on the power against the Big Red through three games this year.
 

Postseason History vs. Union:

•  The Big Red is now 6-4 all-time against the Dutchmen in postseason play, with this series marking the fifth time in the last six seasons that the teams have met 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 entered 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.