POTSDAM, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team will attempt to secure the program's second straight and 10th all-time Cleary Cup at 7 p.m. Saturday, when it visits Clarkson on the final night of the ECAC Hockey regular season. 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

#11 Cornell at #13 Clarkson
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 2019
PLACE: Cheel Arena  •  Potsdam, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 17-8-3, 13-5-3 ECAC Hockey
                    Clarkson 22-10-1, 13-7-1 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: ESPN+ — United States | International
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: ClarksonAthletics.com
TICKETS: Not available
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Clarkson
 

Friday Night Redux:

•  Cornell retained its one-point lead on first place in the ECAC Hockey standings on Friday, thanks to a 4-2 victory at St. Lawrence. Freshman forward Michael Regush scored two first-period goals just 2 minutes, 25 seconds apart, and the Big Red clinched a first-round bye in the league playoffs.
•  Brendan Smith's second goal of the year chased SLU starter Emil Zetterquist early in the second period, then Cam Donaldson's goal in the final minute 
of the frame restored the Big Red's three-goal lead heading into the third.
•  Matthew Galajda made 29 saves to earn the victory, including 16 stops in a third period in which St. Lawrence outshot Cornell, 17-4.
•  Jake Stevens' power-play goal in the third for St. Lawrence ended Cornell's streak of consecutive penalty kills at 41 — the longest such streak the program has seen since at least the turn of the century.

 

Scenario Central:

• Even though each of ECAC Hockey's 12 teams have played 21 of their respective 22 regular-season games, Cornell is among a group of four teams that can still finish anywhere from first to fourth in final standings. Cornell's one-point lead means a victory against Clarkson would sew up the top spot and a second straight Cleary Cup for the Big Red, but here is a complete rundown on the possible outcomes tonight ...

Seeded No. 1 with ...
• A win.
• A tie, and a Quinnipiac loss or tie.
• A loss, a Quinnipiac loss, and a Harvard tie.

Seeded No. 2 with ...
• A tie, and a Quinnipiac win.
• A loss, a Quinnipiac win or tie, and a Harvard tie.
• A loss, a Quinnipiac loss, and a Harvard loss.

Seeded No. 3 with ...
• A loss, a Quinnipiac win or tie, and a Harvard loss.
• A loss, a Quinnipiac loss, and a Harvard win.

Seeded No. 4 with ...
• A loss, a Quinnipiac win or tie, and a Harvard win.
 

Pairwise Moment:

•  While only securing two wins over its last five games hasn't knocked Cornell out of first place in ECAC Hockey, the speed bump has affected the team's standing nationally. The Big Red has slipped five spots over the last two weeks to 13th in the Pairwise rankings, which are used to determine and seed the NCAA tournament field.
 

Forward Thinking:

•  Sophomore forward Morgan Barron (13-17–30; 6 PPG) leads the team in goals, points and power-play goals. He has 22 points over 17 games since Jan. 1, which is most in the league and tied for fourth-most in the nation.
•  Barron also averages 4.64 shots on goal per game, which ranks second-most in the nation behind just Arizona State's Johnny Walker (4.94).
•  Sophomore Cam Donaldson (12-11–23; 4 PPG) ranks second on the team in goals and rating (plus-16). He had a goal and an assist last night at St. Lawrence, marking his first goal since Jan. 26 vs. Colgate.
•  Barron and Donaldson were placed on a line pivoted by Brenden Locke (5-8–13) following the semester break, with all but two of Locke's points coming in that span.
•  Senior forward Mitch Vanderlaan (8-16–24) 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 91 points in 124 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 30.36.
•  The Big Red has scored first in 23 of its 28 games so far and is outscoring the opposition in first periods, 34-10.
 

More Than Just Defense:

•  A two-time All-Ivy League first-team selection, junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (4-18–22; 2 PPG) leads the team in assists and all the team's blueliners in overall scoring. He has 13 assists in his last 14 games, but had a career-high scoring streak of six straight games halted last night.
•  Matt Nuttle (2-14–16), one of three senior pillars on defense, has a lofty plus-17 rating is fifth in ECAC Hockey. He is a staggering plus-40 over the last two seasons.
 

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Sophomore Matthew Galajda (13-7-2, 1.97, .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 1.57 goals against average and .933 save percentage lead ECAC Hockey.
•  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 had a streak of 41 consecutive successful penalty kills end last night. It was the longest such streak in program history since at the least the turn of the century. Jake Stevens' goal for St. Lawrence last night was the first power-play goal conceded by the Big Red since 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 33 spots to 21st at 51% just 19 games later. 
•  Since Dec. 1, Cornell's penalty kill (93.6%) leads the nation, and its power play (27.1%) ranks sixth.
 

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.
•  The Big Red is also attempting this weekend to clinch the Cleary Cup, which is awarded annually to ECAC Hockey's regular-season champion. Cornell won the Clearly Cup last year, marking the ninth in program history and the fourth in the head coaching tenure of Mike Schafer '86.
 

Circle Time:

•  Cornell is tied for third in the nation in team faceoff percentage (54.8%). Sophomore Morgan Barron ranks 17th in the country with a 59.4% success rate, and senior Beau Starrett once again leads the Big Red in draws taken with a 56.1% success rate.
 

Wasting No Time:

•  Underclassmen have been at the forefront of Cornell's arsenal, scoring 51 of the team's 81 goals (62.9%).
•  The Big Red's sophomore class averages 1.36 goals per game, which is highest in ECAC Hockey and sixth-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 28 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 33 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 28 games this year. Cornell has been on the penalty kill just 86 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 Clarkson:

•  The Golden Knights (22-10-1, 13-7-1 ECAC Hockey) had split four straight weekends of league play before a big three-point road trip last weekend, followed by a 3-2 victory over visiting Colgate last night. 
•  All three of Clarkson's goals last night came in the opening 6:23 of the third period, including a penalty-shot goal by junior center Nico Sturm (13-27–40) — the first goal on a penalty shot this season in ECAC Hockey. 
•  Sturm continues to lead the team in scoring, and the reigning ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward also has a league-best plus-22 rating a team-best 56.8 winning percentage on faceoffs. 
•  Sturm is typically flanked on the right side by classmate Heralds Egle (17-18–35), who leads the team in goals and ranks second in scoring. The left wing on the top line has changed several times, though it's a spot most recently filled by senior Juho Jokiharju (2-3–5).
•  Junior winger Devin Brosseau (9-11–20) and junior defenseman Greg Moro (5-13–18) are tied for the team lead with four power-play goals apiece.
•  Junior Jake Kielly (22-10-1, 1.92, .929, 5 SO) is in his third year as the starting goaltending, tied for third in the nation in shutouts, sixth in save percentage and eighth in goals against average.
•  Like Cornell, Clarkson has excelled at grabbing the early lead. The Golden Knights have scored first in 22 of 33 games. Clarkson also outscores the opposition 40-19 in the third period.
•  Casey Jones, a 1990 graduate and former associate head coach at Cornell, is in his eighth season as the head coach of the Golden Knights.
 

The Series Against Clarkson:

•  The Big Red owns a 66-55-18 record against the Golden Knights, boosted by two straight shutouts coming into Saturday's game.
•  Cornell won this season's first meeting on Feb. 8, 5-0, behind two goals from Jeff Malott and a stellar defensive effort that meant Matthew Galajda needed to make just 17 saves for his third shutout of the season.

•  Clarkson also didn't score in the teams' last meeting at Cheel Arena – though neither did Cornell. That scoreless draw on Feb. 9, 2018 in Potsdam is the last time the Big Red has been shut out in a game.
•  Cornell is 11-6-5 against Clarkson since Casey Jones '90 became head coach.