TROY, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team returns to ECAC Hockey with its annual trip to the state's Capital District, starting the weekend at 7 p.m. Friday at Rensselaer. The game against the Engineers will be broadcast for free through RPITV.org. Featuring the call of Jason Weinstein, the game can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) and worldwide through the station's website.

Game Information:

#2 Cornell at Rensselaer
7 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 10, 2020
PLACE: Houston Field House  •  Troy, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 11-1-1, 7-1 ECAC Hockey;
                    Rensselaer 8-10-1, 5-5-1 ECAC Hockey
BROADCAST: RPITV.org
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: RPIathletics.com
TICKETS: RPIathletics.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | RPI

The First "Half":

•  Cornell led the nation in winning percentage coming into the new year for the second time in the last three seasons, but a 2-2 tie with Providence last Saturday at the Fortress Invitational in Las Vegas edged the Big Red back into second with a record of 11-1-1 (.885).
•  The Big Red started last weekend with an impressive 5-2 victory over Ohio State in a match-up of two teams ranked nationally inside the top six.
•  Cornell enters this weekend holding steady at second in the Pairwise Comparison Rating and in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national polls.
•  The Big Red was the last team in the nation to suffer its first loss, rattling off 10 consecutive wins to start the year before a 2-1 loss Dec. 7 at Dartmouth.

Highlights From The Ohio State Game:

Highlights From The Providence Game:

By The Numbers:

•  The Big Red ranks second in the country in team defense (1.46 goals against per game) and ranks fifth in offense (3.77 goals per game). That leads to the nation's second-largest scoring margin (+2.31).
•  For the first time in the program's modern-era history, Cornell has not surrendered more than two goals in its first 14 games of the season. Not only is the Big Red the last remaining team in the nation yet to yield three goals in a game, it's also the last remaining team yet to concede four.
•  Cornell broke an 0-for-18 slump on the power play with a perfect 2-for-2 performance on the man advantage last Friday against Ohio State. The Big Red now ranks fifth in the nation with a 27.5% success rate on the power play.
•  One of the keys to Cornell's hot start has been its ability to play with the lead. The Big Red has scored first in each of its last 10 victories and it has only trailed for a scant 16 minutes, 5 seconds in its 11 wins.
•  The Big Red has scored 25 of its 49 goals in second periods this year. That's an average of 1.92 goals per middle stanza, which by a wide margin leads the country for any period. The next closest is Boston University's average of 1.65 goals per second period.

The Red's Barron:

•  Junior forward Morgan Barron (9-8–17) leads the team in scoring and ranks third in ECAC Hockey and 10th in the nation with an average of 1.31 points per game.
•  Barron pulled off the heroics needed to salvage a 2-2 tie with Providence last Saturday, scoring the tying goal on a one-timer from the right circle with 1:12 left in the third period. It marked the first time in 114 games the Big Red scored a goal with its goalie pulled in favor of an extra attacker, dating back to a goal from Mitch Vanderlaan '19 on Oct. 28, 2016 at Merrimack.
•  Barron became the first Cornell men's hockey player with at least 12 points through six games since Matt Moulson '06 and Ryan Vesce '04 both did so in the 2003-04 campaign.
•  A sixth-round draft pick of the New York Rangers, Barron was named to the All-ECAC Hockey first team last season after leading the squad with 34 points on 15 goals and 19 assists. He was tabbed a Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection in September.

Forward Thinking:

•  Junior forwards Brenden Locke (5-7–12) and Cam Donaldson (2-10–12) are tied for second in team scoring. Since being reunited together on a line, both Locke and Donaldson have a plus-13 rating over 11 games. Locke's plus-15 rating ranks tied for eighth in the country.
•  Locke's five goals have come on just 12 shots on target, giving him a national-best average of .417 goals per shot on the frame.
•  Sophomore forward Michael Regush (5-4–9) is tied with Locke for second on the team in goal-scoring after netting 12 goals in his collegiate debut. His two power-play goals are tied for the team lead with Barron, sophomore forward Max Andreev (2-7–9) and junior forward Tristan Mullin (3-3–6). 

More Than Just Defense:

•  Junior defenseman Alex Green (3-8–11, plus-11), a fourth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, has already more than doubled his point production from an injury-riddled sophomore campaign. He enters the weekend ranked tied for 12th in the nation in scoring for defensemen (0.85 points per game).
•  Tied with Green in scoring is senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (2-9–11) is the team's leading active scorer with 72 collegiate points. The three-time selection to the All-Ivy League first team was also a Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection in September.
•  Sam Malinski (2-7–9, plus-9) ranks fourth nationally in scoring for freshman defenseman with an average of 0.69 points per game. His 33 shots on goal are tied for second-most on the team and is tops among blueliners.

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda (11-1-1, 1.46, .939) ranks second in the nation in goals against average, having surrendered just eight even-strength goals through 13 games. His save percentage also ranks sixth nationally.
•  Galajda has returned to form after sophomore season was cut short by multiple injuries. As a freshman, he was a Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist, a Mike Richter Award finalist, a first-team All-American, the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year and Ivy League Player of the Year.
•  The Big Red has the rare claim of two all-league goaltenders from a season ago in Galajda and classmate Austin McGrath. Though McGrath hasn't appeared yet this season, he was an All-Ivy League first-team selection last year.

Honor Roll:

•  Cornell laid claim to five of ECAC Hockey's weekly awards over its first five weeks of the season and two monthly awards for November. Junior Matthew Galajda was named the league's goalie of the month and freshman defenseman Sam Malinski was tabbed rookie of the month.
•  Three of the team's five weekly honors to date were rookies of the week. Malinski earned the accolade after each of his first two weekends in the collegiate ranks (Nov. 4, Nov. 11), then freshman forward Ben Berard claimed it Nov. 25 after scoring his first collegiate goal two days earlier against Princeton. 

The Twin Tradition:

•  The arrival of freshmen Ben and Zach Tupker give the Big Red its fourth pair of twins in Mike Schafer's 25-year tenure as the program's head coach. The others were the Devins (Joe and Mike, 2007-11), the Abbotts (Chris and Cam, 2001-06), and the McRaes (Mark and Matt, 1999-2003). 

Feel The Draft?:

•  Cornell has six players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft — at least one in each of the last five drafts. Freshman forward Matt Stienburg (Colorado Avalanche) was selected earliest in that group, having been taken in the third round with the 63rd overall pick in June.
•  Junior defenseman Matt Cairns (Edmonton Oilers) was also taken in the third round with the 84th overall pick in the 2016 draft. Classmate Alex Green was taken with an overaged selection by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2018 draft, and Misha Song (2015 sixth round, New York Islanders) gives the Big Red blue line three NHL picks.
•  Two sixth-round picks also give Cornell three NHL picks when joined by Stienburg. Junior Morgan Barron, a fellow St. Andrew's graduate, was snagged in the sixth round by the N.Y. Rangers in 2017. Freshman Jack Malone was taken by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round last summer.

Scouting Rensselaer:

•  The Engineers improved to 8-10-1 overall and 5-5-1 in ECAC Hockey after an impressive road sweep in the North Country last weekend. RPI upset nationally-ranked Clarkson on Friday, 3-1, then posted its first shutout of the season Saturday with a 3-0 victory against St. Lawrence. It was the program's first road weekend sweep in league play since February 2013.
•  All five of RPI's leading scorers are seniors, led by defenseman Will Reilly (7-8–15). The Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick also leads the team with three power-play goals and a plus-8 rating.
•  Senior Chase Zieky (5-9–14) leads the team in assists and senior Patrick Polino (6-5–11) ranks behind just Reilly in goals. The duo typically flanks a line with freshman Zach Dubinsky (1-6–7) at center. The Engineers' second line is also centered by a freshman, Tristan Ashbrook (4-3–7).
•  Sophomore Owen Savory (4-7-1, 2.92, .896, SO) is coming off a 25-save shutout of St. Lawrence as the team's primary goaltender for a second straight year – but also for a second straight year, there are others in the mix. Junior Linden Marshall (3-2, 2.65, .909) backstopped the Engineers to the upset win over Clarkson last Friday, and junior import Alec Calvaruso (1-1, 2.52, .919) started the two games prior in his first action since transferring in from Colorado College.
•  Dave Smith is in his third season as the head coach after serving in the same position for 12 years at Canisius.

The Series Against Rensselaer:

•  Cornell owns a 63-38-11 all-time series lead and 26-10-8 against the Engineers since 2000 – but RPI was one of two teams to take three of four league points against the Big Red last year.
•  Both of last year's games between Cornell and RPI required overtime, starting with a 1-1 deadlock on Feb. 2, 2019 in Troy. The Big Red outshot the hosts, 41-15, and Tristan Mullin and Morgan Barron assisted on a power-play goal by Mitch Vanderlaan '19, but the Engineers eked out a time behind 40 saves from Owen Savory.

Rare Territory:

•  Freshman forward Jack Malone is doing something that no Cornell men's hockey player has done in more than 50 years — wear #13. The perceived unluckiest of numbers has only been donned by five previous members of the Big Red, all in the first nine years of the program's resurrection in 1957. The last to wear 13 was James Wallace during the 1965-66 season. The number must not be too unlucky, though. Malone scored in his first collegiate game; a goal that was also the team's first of the season.

Two Crowns Down:

•  Cornell won the program's 23rd Ivy League championship last year, marking the Big Red's second straight Ivy crown and its 19th outright title. Cornell is 20-3-3 in its last 26 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.

First Ivy League Coach To 400:

•  Already the winningest coach in program history and in Ivy League history, Mike Schafer '86 ranks fifth among active coaches with 469 victories at the Division I level. He also leads all actives coaches of Cornell's 37 varsity teams in career victories.

Up Next:

•  Cornell wraps up a stretch of 11 games away from home in its first 15 contests of the season with a visit to Union at 7 p.m. Saturday in Schenectady.