ITHACA, N.Y. — ECAC Hockey announced Tuesday that the Cornell men's hockey team has been predicted to finish first the coaches' preseason poll for the 2019-20 season, and junior forward Morgan Barron, senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis and junior goaltender Matthew Galajda have been named to the preseason all-league team.

The Big Red is coming off a season in which it went 13-5-4 in league play to share ECAC Hockey's Cleary Cup, awarded annually to the circuit's best regular season record. It's the second straight year the Big Red is first in the coaches' preseason poll, which has only happened once before in program history – the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. Cornell returns several key contributors from a team went 21-11-4 last year and earned the program's third straight at-large berth into NCAA tournament. Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey, returns to the helm for a 25th season.
 
In the coaches poll, Cornell garnered eight of the 12 first-place votes and 113 voting points. Quinnipiac was second with 109 points and three first-place votes. The last first-place vote went to Clarkson, which is third at 100 points. Harvard (93), Yale (74) and Dartmouth (68) round out the top half, and Brown (61) follows to put five of ECAC Hockey's six Ivy League teams in the top seven.

Barron was named to the all-league preseason team for the first time, having captured first-team all-league honors to close last season. His 11 goals were tied for fifth-most in ECAC Hockey play last also added 12 assists for 23 points. He was also named one of three finalists for the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward, frequently contributing to the league's most successful penalty-killing numbers and winning nearly 57 percent of his faceoffs.

Kaldis has been placed on the All-ECAC Hockey second team in each of the last two seasons. His 19 points in ECAC Hockey play were fourth-most in the league, and it marked the most by a Cornell defenseman in league play since Doug Murray '03 put up 21 points in the 2002-03 season. Beyond the offense, Kaldis was also among the Big Red's leaders in ice time for the season, seeing time on power plays, penalty kills and at even strength, and he was third in the league with 45 blocked shots.

Galajda has earned All-ECAC Hockey honors in consecutive seasons, a first for a Cornell goaltender since Ben Scrivens '10 was on the second team in 2009 and first team in 2010. The reigning winner of the ECAC Hockey Ken Dryden Goaltender of the Year Award bounced back from a tough start to last season and regained his form down the stretch. From Jan. 1 until the end of the regular season, Galajda ranked first in league games with a 1.56 goals against average and .935 save percentage.

The ECAC Hockey preseason media poll and all-league teams are expected to be announced Wednesday. 
 
The Big Red gets its season rolling a pair of exhibition games at Lynah Rink against Canadian university Nipissing (2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20) and the U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-18 Team (7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26). The regular season commences with a two-game series at Michigan State (Nov. 1-2), then Cornell's home and ECAC Hockey opener comes on Friday, Nov. 8 against Brown in a rematch of last year's first league semifinal.
 
Season tickets are available now at CornellBigRedTickets.com.
 

ECAC HOCKEY PRESEASON POLLS

Coaches (First-place votes) ... Points
1. Cornell (8) ... 113
2. Quinnipiac (3) ... 109
3. Clarkson (1) ... 100
4. Harvard ... 93
5. Yale ... 74
6. Dartmouth ... 68
7. Brown ... 61
8. Union ... 57
T-9. Rensselaer ... 31
T-9. Princeton ... 31
11. Colgate ... 29
12. St. Lawrence ... 21

ECAC HOCKEY PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE TEAM

F - Morgan Barron (Cornell)
F - Odeen Tufto (Quinnipiac)
F - Haralds Egle (Clarkson)
D - Yanni Kaldis (Cornell)
D - Reilly Walsh (Harvard)
G - Matthew Galajda (Cornell)