PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Cornell men's hockey team will attempt to win its first NCAA region final and return to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2003, when it meets Providence in the East Region championship at 4 p.m. Sunday at Dunkin' Donuts Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 with Leah Hextall on play-by-play, Billy Jaffe providing color commentary and Quint Kessenich conducting rinkside interviews. The broadcast can also be streamed through ESPN's website on the WatchESPN app in the United States. In Canada, streaming will run through TSN.ca and the TSN app. In his 15th season on play-by-play for Cornell, Jason Weinstein's call of the game can be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) and worldwide via the station's website.

GAME INFORMATION

NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championships
East Region, Championship
#10 Cornell vs. #11 Providence
4 p.m. Sunday, March 31, 2019
PLACE: Dunkin' Donuts Center  •  Providence, R.I.
RECORDS: Cornell 21-10-4, 13-5-4 ECAC Hockey (3 seed)
                    Providence, 23-11-6, 14-7-3 Hockey East (4 seed)
TV: ESPN2
VIDEO (U.S.): ESPN.com/watch
VIDEO (Canada): TSN.ca
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: NCAA.com
TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Providence
 

Northeastern Redux:

•  The Big Red used three second-period goals to blow open a 5-1 victory over Northeastern in Saturday's second regional semifinal in Providence. It was the first Cornell victory in the NCAA tournament since 2012.
•  Making his first start in more than two months, Austin McGrath made 20 saves to earn the victory. It gives Cornell two goalies with postseason victories in the same season for the first time in Mike Schafer's 24-year tenure at the helm.
•  In his 136th collegiate game, senior defenseman Alec McCrea had three assists in a single contest for the first time in his career.
•  Playing about 30 minutes away from his hometown of Bellingham, Mass., Beau Starrett opened the scoring just 4:02 in. It marked the 28th time in 35 games this season that Cornell scored first.
•  Mitch Vanderlaan, Morgan Barron and Michael Regush scored in a 12-minute span during the second to open up the team's third 4-0 lead in its last five games.
•  The victory was Cornell's first in the NCAA tournament since a 3-2 overtime victory over Michigan in 2012 at the Midwest Region semifinal in Green Bay, Wis.
•  Highlights of the game are available through NCAA.com.
•  A photo gallery available here (Eldon Lindsay/Cornell Athletics).

 

The Red's Barron:

•  After an unassisted goal in the second period against Northeastern, sophomore forward Morgan Barron (15-19–34; 7 PPG) continues to lead the team in goals, points and power-play goals. He also averages 4.31 shots on goal per game, which ranks fourth-most in the nation.
•  Barron is the first Cornellian with 34 points in a single season since a trio of players eclipsed that plateau during the team's run to Whitelaw Cup in 2010.
He's also the first Big Red underclassman with 34 points since Riley Nash had 35 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 (7-11–18) between Morgan Barron and Cam Donaldson (12-13–25; 4 PPG) was formed after Locke returned to the lineup following the season's five-week semester break.
•  Donaldson, a All-ECAC Hockey third team and All-Ivy League honorable mention pick, is tied for the team lead in rating (plus-18) and ranks second on the team in goals.
•  Sixteen of Locke's 18 points on the season have come in the 24 games since starting to pivot a line flanked by Barron and Donaldson.
•  The Big Red's sophomore class averages 1.40 goals per game, which is highest in ECAC Hockey and fourth-highest in the nation.
 

In The Clutch:

•  There's an old adage in hockey that secondary scoring is paramount to postseason success, but Cornell is taking it a step further. Through six playoff games, the Big Red has goals from four players who didn't score at all during the 29 regular-season games: Junior forward Noah Bauld, sophomore forward Kyle Betts, sophomore defenseman Alex Green and freshman defenseman Joe Leahy.
•  The forward line of sophomore Tristan Mullin, Betts and Bauld has nine goals in the playoffs (three goals apiece) after combining for just five goals during the regular season. Bauld leads the team in postseason scoring with seven points after posting four points during the regular season.
 

Forward Thinking:

•  Senior forward Mitch Vanderlaan (11-19–30) ranks second on the team in scoring. The Big Red's second-year captain is also the team's active leading scorer with 97 points in 131 collegiate games. He's earned All-Ivy League honorable mention for a second straight year.
•  The Big Red has scored first in 80 percent of its games this season (28 times in 35 games), which leads the nation. Cornell also is tops nationally in goals during the first two minutes of a game (seven), and it's outscoring opponents 42-15 during first periods this year.
 

Freshman Force:

•  Freshman forward Michael Regush (12-3–15) 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 six power-play goals in a single season since Riley Nash had seven during the 2007-08 campaign.
 

More Than Just Defense:

•  With 19 assists in his last 21 games, junior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (4-24–28) leads the team in assists and leads blueliners in overall scoring. His 24 assists are the most for a Big Red defenseman since Steve Wilson '97 had 26 during the 1995-96 campaign. Kaldis was named to the All-Ivy League first team for a third time — a first for a Cornellian since Matt Moulson '06 from 2004-06 — and also earned a spot on the All-ECAC Hockey second team.
•  Matt Nuttle (4-15–19), one of three senior pillars on defense, has been named the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman Award. He boasts a lofty plus-18 rating that is tied for fifth in ECAC Hockey. He is a staggering plus-42 over the last two seasons, becoming the second Cornellian to win the award in as many years. Nuttle and Alec McCrea (3-9–12) are the first classmates to ever both win the award.
 

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Sophomore Matthew Galajda (16-8-3, 1.85, .921, 5 SO) rounded into form after an early-season injury led to a five-game absence. Since Jan. 1, his 1.53 goals against average and .936 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 (5-2-1, 2.00, .923) 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. McGrath made 20 saves to earn the victory Saturday against Northeastern.
 

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. 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 eighth in the nation in team faceoff percentage (53.8%). 
•  Max Andreev (56.9%) and Michael Regush (56.3%) both rank in the top eight nationally among rookies. Senior Beau Starrett once again leads the Big Red in draws taken at 618 with a 55.2% success rate.
 

Next Man Up:

•  Through 35 games this season, Cornell has used 22 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 89 man-games to injury from 10 different players. 
•  The team's top six defensemen 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 ranks second in the nation on the penalty kill with a success rate of 91.4 percent. That stretch includes a streak of 41 consecutive penalty kills, which is the program's longest since the turn of the century. 
•  Of the six power-play goals Cornell has surrendered since the new year, three have been against Clarkson.
 

Paring Down The Pairwise:

•  Cornell was ranked 11th in the Pairwise rankings at the time of the NCAA tournament selection, making Cornell and Denver the only two teams in the country that have ranked at that position or higher in each of the last three years. 
•  The Big Red's average Pairwise ranking over the last three years is 8.3 — fourth-highest in the nation (Denver 4.7, Minn.-Dulth 5.3, St. Cloud 7.3) and highest in ECAC Hockey (Cornell 8.3, Clarkson 13.0, Harvard 14.7, Union 16.0, Quinnipiac 20.0).
 

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 collegiate 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 Providence:

•  The fourth-seeded Friars (23-11-6) advanced to the regional final in improbable fashion, erasing an early three-goal hole with six unanswered goals – a season-high four on the power play – for a 6-3 victory over top-seeded Minnesota State in Saturday's first semifinal at Dunkin' Donuts Center.
•  Junior center Josh Wilkins (18-25–43) scored twice against the Mavericks and continues to lead the team in scoring. His seven power-play goals are tied for the team lead with junior left winger Kasper Björkqvist (17-12–29). 
•  Wilkins and Björkqvist typically play on the same line with freshman Jack Dugan (10-28–38) flanking them on the right.
•  Four NHL draft picks troll the blue line, including tri-captains Jacob Bryson (4-22–26) and Vincent Desharnais (5-7–12; team-best plus-22 rating).
•  Senior Hayden Hawkey (23-11-5, 1.92, .919) is tied for the national lead with seven shutouts, and he ranks 11th in the country in goals against average.
•  Providence has outshot its opposition this season, 1,370-958. It's average margin of +10.3 shots on goal per game ranks second-most in the nation behind just Minn.-Duluth (+11.44).
•  Nate Leaman is in his seventh season as the head coach after serving in the same position for eight years at Union. 
•  Associate head coach Kris Mayotte served as a volunteer assistant coach with Cornell for the 2011-12 season.
 

The Series Against Providence:

•  The all-time series between the teams is a dead heat at 9-9-1 after the Big Red secured a memorable 2-1 win over the Friars in a semifinal of the Florida College Hockey Classic on Dec. 28, 2015 in Estero, Fla.
•  Jeff Kubiak '17 scored in overtime for Cornell to hand Providence, which was the defending national champion and No. 1-ranked team at the time, its first loss of the season.


•  A fair share of the previous meetings between the teams came in ECAC Hockey tournament play during the 1970s and 1980s with Providence winning the conference championship matchup by an 8-4 tally in 1981. 
•  Mike Schafer is 2-2 against Providence as the Big Red's head coach, with the first victory coming in his first season at the helm in 1996.
 

NCAA Championship History:

•  The Big Red is appearing in the NCAA's national championship tournament for the 22nd time, which is tied for the third-most among 2019 qualifiers.
•  No other coach in this year's event has brought his current team to the NCAA tournament as often as Mike Schafer, who has guided the Big Red to its 12th trip to NCAAs in 24 years at the helm.
•  Since the NCAA tournament switched to single elimination in 1992, Cornell has advanced to the regional final or beyond in eight of 12 appearances — all under the direction of Schafer. His career record in the NCAA tournament now stands at 8-12.
 

The Road Through Rhode Island:

•  For most, the road from Ithaca to Buffalo doesn't go through Providence — but Cornell is looking to take that route for a second time in its recent history. The last time the Big Red competed in an NCAA regional in Providence was in 2003, when it defeated Minnesota State and Boston College. The Frozen Four was held in Buffalo that season — as it is this season — marking the last time Cornell has advanced as far as the national semifinals.
 

Up Next:

•  The winner of today's game will advance to the Frozen Four, where it will play in a semifinal on Thursday, April 11 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
•  Denver and UMass have already advanced and will oppose each other in one semifinal, while the winner of the Cornell/Providence game and the winner of today's Minn.-Duluth/Quinnipiac game in the Midwest Region final will square off in the other semifinal.