LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team will compete in the ECAC Hockey Championship game for the second time in the last three years when it clashes with Clarkson at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the U.S. with Perry Laskaris on play-by-play 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 on the call, Tony Eisenhut '88 providing color commentary and Grady Whittenburg conducting rinkside interviews.

GAME INFORMATION

ECAC Hockey Championship, final
#10 Cornell vs. #9 Clarkson
7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23, 2019
PLACE: Herb Brooks Arena  •  Lake Placid, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 20-9-4, 13-5-4 ECAC Hockey (2 seed)
                    Clarkson 25-10-4, 13-7-2 ECAC Hockey (3 seed)
VIDEO (U.S.): ESPN+
VIDEO (International): Stretch Internet
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: ECACHockey.com
TICKETS: Whiteface.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Clarkson
 

Friday Night Redux:

•  Cornell earned its title game berth in resounding fashion on Friday with a 6-0 thrashing of Brown, thanks in large part to three goals on the man advantage.
•  Matthew Galajda made 17 of his 30 saves in the third period for his fifth shutout of the season, which is tied for fourth-most in the nation. It was also his third career postseason shutout and 14th overall.
•  Matt Nuttle and Noah Bauld scored their first collegiate power-play goals after the Bears were whistled for a major penalty just 2:07 into the game, then Tristan Mullin tacked on a rebound goal to give Cornell a 3-0 lead inside the first 13 minutes.
•  Morgan Barron's team-leading 14th goal came on a two-man advantage in the second period, then Joe Leahy's first collegiate goal was the product of a three-zone rush early in the third. It marked the fourth different Big Red player to score his first goal of the season during this year's four playoff games.
•  Kyle Betts capped the scoring with an empty-netter, giving him a team-leading three goals in the postseason. It was also Cornell's first shorthanded goal since Nov. 4, 2016 (Mitch Vanderlaan, at Dartmouth).
 

Paring Down The Pairwise:

•  While last night's victory against Brown didn't help the Big Red move up in the the Pairwise rankings, it also appears to prevent Cornell from any sort of a fall that could knock it out of NCAA contention. According to College Hockey News' Monte Carlo simulations, a victory tonight would yield either a No. 2 or high No. 3 seed for the Big Red in the NCAA tournament field, while a loss would still result in a No. 3 seed.
 

The Red's Barron:

•  Sophomore forward Morgan Barron (14-19–33; 7 PPG) leads the team in goals, points and power-play goals. He also averages 4.39 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 named to the All-Ivy League and All-ECAC Hockey first team and was a finalist for ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward.
 

Super Sophs:

•  An all-sophomore line of Brenden Locke (6-10–16) between Morgan Barron and Cam Donaldson (12-12–24; 4 PPG) was formed after Locke returned to the lineup following the season's five-week semester break.
•  Donaldson, who earned a spot on the All-ECAC Hockey third team and All-Ivy League honorable mention, ranks second on the team in goals and rating (plus-16).
•  Fourteen of Locke's 17 points on the season have come in the 21 games since starting to pivot a line flanked by Barron and Donaldson. That includes the primary assist on Matt Nuttle's game-winning goal last night vs. Brown.
•  The Big Red's sophomore class averages 1.39 goals per game, which is highest in ECAC Hockey and fourth-highest in the nation.
 

Forward Thinking:

•  Senior forward Mitch Vanderlaan (10-18–28) 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 95 points in 129 collegiate games. He's earned All-Ivy League honorable mention for a second straight year.
•  The Big Red has scored first in 78.8 percent of its games this season (26 times in 33 games), which leads the nation. Cornell also is tops nationally in goals during first periods, outscoring opponents 40-13 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 17 assists in his last 19 games, junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (4-22–26; 2 PPG) leads the team in assists and leads 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. He's also earned a spot on the All-ECAC Hockey second team.
•  Matt Nuttle (4-14–18), one of three senior pillars on defense, has been named the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman Award. He boasts a lofty plus-17 rating that is tied for fifth in ECAC Hockey. He is a staggering plus-40 over the last two seasons, becoming the second Cornellian to win the award in as many years. Nuttle and Alec McCrea (3-4–7) are the first classmates to ever both win the award.
 

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Sophomore Matthew Galajda (16-8-3, 1.86, .921, 5 SO) rounded into form after an early-season injury led to a five-game absence. Since Jan. 1, his 1.51 goals against average and .937 save percentage lead ECAC Hockey. He was named the league's Goalie of the Month for February and was placed on the All-ECAC Hockey third team.
•  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 sixth in the nation in team faceoff percentage (54.1%). The Big Red won 43 of 69 draws (62.3%) in last Saturday's Game 2 vs. Union — including a monster night from sophomore Kyle Betts, who was 19-2.
•  Max Andreev (56.1%) and Michael Regush (56.0%) both rank in the top 10 nationally among rookies. Senior Beau Starrett once again leads the Big Red in draws taken with a 55.7% success rate.
 

Next Man Up:

•  Through 33 games this season, Cornell has used 21 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 38 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.
 

Special Stuff:

•  Since Jan. 1, the Big Red leads the nation on the penalty kill with a success rate of 95 percent. That stretch includes a streak of 41 consecutive penalty kills, which is the program's longest since the turn of the century. Cornell enters tonight's game having killed 57 of its opponents' last 59 power plays.
 

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 (25-10-2, 13-7-2 ECAC Hockey) finished the season third in the league standings. Clarkson has rattled off three straight victories in the playoffs — a home quarterfinal series sweep of Yale, 3-1 and 5-2, before a 5-2 win over Harvard in a semifinal last night — to push its current unbeaten streak to eight games (6-0-2). 
•  Junior center Nico Sturm (14-31–45), a two-time ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward, boasts a league-best plus-24 rating a team-best 57.9 winning percentage on faceoffs. 
•  Sturm is typically flanked on the right side by classmate Heralds Egle (18-21–39), who leads the team in goals and ranks second in scoring. The left wing on the top line has changed at times, most frequently either sophomore Jack Jacome (6-18–24) or senior Juho Jokiharju (2-4–6).
•  Junior winger Devin Brosseau (12-13–25) leads the team with six power-play goals, while freshman Josh Dunne (14-7–21) has five.
•  Junior Jake Kielly (25-10-1, 1.90, .929, 5 SO) is in his third year as the starting goaltending, tied for fourth in the nation in shutouts, eighth in goals against average and ninth in save percentage.
•  Like Cornell, Clarkson has excelled at grabbing the early lead. The Golden Knights have scored first in 26 of 37 games. Clarkson also outscores the opposition 38-20 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 66-55-19 record against the Golden Knights, boosted by two straight shutouts before a 2-2 tie in the season finale on March 2.
•  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 then largely outplayed Cornell in the rematch at Cheel Arena just three weeks ago, but the hosts' one-goal lead was countered by goals from Mitch Vanderlaan (on the power play) and Michael Regush to give the Big Red what seemed to be an improbable 2-1 lead. Galajda was outstanding, making a season-high 33 saves, but Josh Dunne scored an extra-attacker goal for Clarkson in the final minute of the third period to force the tie.


•  Cornell is 11-6-6 against Clarkson since Casey Jones '90 became head coach.
 

Postseason History vs. Clarkson:

•  The Big Red is 22-9-1 against the Golden Knights in the postseason, including a 3-1 record in the ECAC Hockey finals and a 6-4 victory in the NCAA championship game in 1970 at Lake Placid. 
•  The most recent playoff meetings the programs came in the 2017 quarterfinals, when the Big Red neutralized a 6-2 loss in Game 1 with a pair of 2-1 victories in the next two games at Lynah Rink.
•  Clarkson and Cornell last met in the ECAC Hockey title game in 1997, with the Big Red prevailing 2-1 on a pair of power-play goals and 31 saves from Jason Elliott in Lake Placid.
 

The First Program To 100 ECAC Hockey Championship Wins:

•  The Big Red now owns 114 victories in the ECAC Hockey Championship playoffs, which leads the league. 
•  Cornell has won eight games in the first round, 63 in the quarterfinals, one in the preliminary round of championship weekend, 23 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:

•  Cornell has seemingly been assured of a berth in the NCAA tournament regardless of tonight's outcome, but it won't know for sure until the selection show airs at 7 p.m. Sunday. The NCAA will unveil the field of 16, with regional play staged next weekend (March 29-31) at sites in Allentown, Pa.; Fargo, N.D.; Manchester, N.H. and Providence, R.I.