ITHACA, N.Y. — The regular season hits the home stretch with all 12 of ECAC Hockey's men's teams having six games to play. For the Cornell men's hockey team, four of those remaining games come at home — starting with visits from Union at 7 p.m. Friday and Rensselaer at 7 p.m. Saturday. Featuring the call of Grady Whittenburg and color commentary from former assistant coach and team captain Topher Scott '08, the games will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the U.S. (with an option for international viewers also available through portal.stretchinternet.com). The games can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) with Jason Weinstein back for his 16th season on play-by-play and Tony Eisenhut '88 on color commentary.

Game Information:

Union at #2 Cornell
7 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 14, 2020
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 17-2-4, 12-2-2 ECAC Hockey;
                    Union 7-18-3, 5-10-1 ECAC Hockey
BROADCAST (U.S.): ESPN+
BROADCAST (Int'l): Stretch Internet
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: BigRedTix.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Union

Rensselaer at #2 Cornell
7 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 17-2-4, 12-2-2 ECAC Hockey;
                    Rensselaer 12-14-2, 8-7-1 ECAC Hockey
BROADCAST (U.S.): ESPN+
BROADCAST (Int'l): Stretch Internet
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: BigRedTix.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell | Rensselaer

The Big Red Rewind:

•  Cornell enters the weekend on a three-game winning streak, including a home-and-home sweep of Colgate last Saturday and Sunday.
•  The Big Red scored seven of its nine goals in the games' first periods.
•  Morgan Barron scored twice on the power play, and Cornell stifled Colgate in a 4-1 victory in Saturday's opener in Hamilton. The Big Red yielded just nine shots on goal in a game for the first time since March 14, 2009.
•  Cornell then scored a season-high four goals in the first period in Sunday's rematch, then held on for a 5-3 victory. Michael Regush had a goal and an assist.
•  Tristan Mullin had four assists over the weekend, tying for the most points by a player in ECAC Hockey for the week.

Highlights From Saturday's Game at Colgate:

Highlights From Sunday's Game vs. Colgate:

By The Numbers:

•  On the heels of spending three consecutive weeks at the top spot for the first time in program history, Cornell remained at #2 in both national polls this week. The Big Red now sits third in the Pairwise Comparison Ratings.
•  With three weeks remaining in the regular season, Cornell is tied with Clarkson for first place in ECAC Hockey with 26 points. Quinnipiac is in third place with 22 points.
•  The Big Red still ranks second in the nation in team defense (1.74 goals against per game). Cornell also ranks eighth in offense (3.39 goals per game), which leads to the nation's third-largest scoring margin (+1.65).
•  Cornell's power play ranks eighth in the nation with a 25.5% success rate. Junior forward Tristan Mullin leads the team with six goals on the man advantage. Five of those came in January.
•  One of the keys to Cornell's success is its ability to play with the lead and – failing that – erasing deficits. Opponents have taken a one-goal lead on the Big Red 14 times this season, and in 12 of those instances Cornell has scored the next goal.
•  For the first time in the program's modern-era history, Cornell did not surrender more than two goals in its first 14 games of the season. That helped the Big Red remain the last team in the nation to yield three or four goals in a game.
•  Cornell has 14 goals over its last three games after scoring just 12 in its six games prior to that.

Forward Thinking:

•  Junior forward Morgan Barron (#27; 11-13–24, 4 PPGs) continues to lead the team in scoring. The Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection 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.
•  Barron typically plays on a line centered by junior Brenden Locke (#28, 7-13–20), who leads ECAC Hockey with a plus-18 rating. Classmate Cam Donaldson (4-12–16) has frequently joined them on the right wing, but he was out of the lineup for last weekend's games.
•  Junior forward Tristan Mullin (#26, 8-9–17; 6 PPGs) leads the team in power-play goals. He has 11 points over the last 10 games, and he was reunited last weekend with linemate Kyle Betts (#11, 2-4–6) after his return following a five-game absence.
•  Sophomore forward Michael Regush (9-7–16), who has spent time at both center and on the wing, ranks second on the team in goal-scoring. With his next goal, Regush would become just the fifth player at Cornell to score 10 goals in both his freshman and sophomore seasons since the turn of the century (Anthony Angello, Riley Nash, Colin Greening and Matt Moulson are the others).

More Than Just Defense:

•  Senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis (#8, 2-16–18) continues to lead the team in assists. His second helper last Saturday at Colgate gave him 79 points for his career, which is the most for a Cornell defenseman since Mark McRae '03
(98 points) and Doug Murray '03 (84 points). The three-time selection to the All-Ivy League first team was also a Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection in September.
•  Not only has Cornell surrendered just 21 even-strength goals this year (an average of 0.91 per game), it also ranks fifth in the nation with 2.78 points per game for defenseman.
•  Junior defenseman Alex Green (6-9–15, plus-15), a fourth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, has already more than doubled his point production from his first two collegiate seasons combined. His average of .171 goals per shot on frame is best in the nation among defensemen.
•  Travis Mitchell (2-9–11, plus-17) leads the nation's freshman defensemen in rating.
•  Sam Malinski (2-9–11, plus-17) is tied for second among ECAC Hockey freshman defensemen scoring in league games.

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda (17-2-4, 1.74, .926, 2 SO) has started every game to date. He ranks fourth in the nation in goals against average, having surrendered just 21 even-strength goals through 23 games.
•  He recorded a 25-save shutout Jan. 10 at Rensselaer, which was the 16th of his collegiate career. That keeps him in third place on the program's all-time list, trailing just 18 posted by David McKee (2003-06) and 19 by Ben Scrivens '10.
•  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 started a game yet this season, he was an All-Ivy League first-team selection last year.

The League Within The League:

•  Even though it doesn't take on an Ivy League team this weekend, it could lock up its third straight and 20th overall Ivy League title Saturday. Both Harvard and Dartmouth are hosting Yale and Brown this weekend, and if Harvard secures one or fewer points and Dartmouth secures three or fewer points in those games, then Cornell wins at least a share of the crown.
•  If the Big Red doesn't win the Ivy title this weekend, it will have the opportunity to do soon after with potential clinchers Feb. 21 at Yale and Feb. 22 at Brown.
•  Cornell is 22-3-4 in its last 28 Ivy League contests.

Honor Roll:

•  Cornell has laid claim to six of the ECAC Hockey's weekly awards already this season. Five came in the first five weeks of the Big Red's season, and Cornell also collected a pair monthly awards for November. 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 in November 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 Union:

•  The Dutchmen are trying to climb into home-ice position in the standings, trailing Brown by two points for eighth. Union is 7-18-3 overall and 5-10-1 in ECAC Hockey play.
•  Union was idle last weekend after a pair of home games that featured 20 total goals. The Dutchmen suffered an 8-5 loss to Harvard on Jan. 31, then rebounded for a 4-3 win over Dartmouth on Feb. 1.
•  Senior forward Anthony Rinaldi (5-14–19) leads the team in scoring, and his 89 shots on goal are 34 more than anyone else on the team. He typically plays on a line centered by freshman Gabriel Seger (4-11–15), who ranks second in team scoring and leads the squad with a plus-1 rating.
•  The Dutchmen have played the first periods even this season (17-17), but have been outscored in second periods by a 2-to-1 margin (36-18).
•  Junior Darion Hanson (6-17-3, 2.79, .906, 2 SO) started the team's first 27 games in goal before freshman Josh Graziano (1-1, 4.82, .844) made his first collegiate start and earned a victory on Feb. 1 against Dartmouth.
•  Rick Bennett is in his ninth season as the head coach at Union.

The Series Against Union:

•  Cornell holds a 43-22-10 lead in the all-time series and is 9-2-2 in the last 12 meetings between the squads, though it had to scratch itself out of two third-period deficit to salvage a 3-3 tie on Jan. 11 in Schenectady.
•  Tristan Mullin had a goal and an assist, and Michael Regush and Brenden Locke scored third-period goals for the Big Red – the latter coming just 38 seconds after Union had retaken the lead with its second power-play goal of the night.
•  In its most recent games against Union at Lynah Rink, Cornell won a best-of-three ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series last March. The Big Red won the final two games of the series after the Dutchmen took the opener.
•  In the teams' 15 meetings spanning the last four-plus seasons, Cornell's power play is 15-for-53 (28.3%) against Union, while the Dutchmen's power play is 15-for-58 (25.9%) against the Big Red over the same span.

Scouting Rensselaer:

•  The Engineers are tied for fifth in the league, but licking their wounds after non-league losses of 8-4 and 6-2 last weekend at Western Michigan. RPI was 7-3-1 in its 11 games prior to that, now 12-14-2 overall and 8-7-1 in league play.
•  Sophomore Owen Savory (8-8-2, 2.42, .919, 3 SO) was ECAC Hockey's goalie of the month for January. All three of RPI's goaltenders have started at least four games.
•  Senior defenseman Will Reilly (7-10–17) is tied for second in team scoring, but first in power-play goals (3), rating (plus-10) and shots on goal (75).
•  Senior forward Chase Zieky (7-12–19) leads the team in scoring. He often plays on the opposite line as senior Patrick Polino (8-6–14), who leads the team in goals.
•  The Engineers' power play is clicking at just 7.7% in league games.
•  RPI has not lost when leading after two periods (10-0-1).
•  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 64-38-11 all-time series lead and 27-10-8 against the Engineers since 2000.
•  Though RPI was one of two teams to take three of four league points against Cornell last year, the Big Red defeated the Engineers, 3-0, in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 10 in Troy.
•  Matthew Galajda made 25 saves for his second shutout of the season. Tristan Mullin scored a power-play goal in a first period that saw the Big Red outshoot the hosts, 16-3. Goals by Brenden Locke and Jeff Malott just 2:19 apart in the second period closed out the scoring.
•  Both of last year's games between Cornell and RPI required overtime, including a 3-2 victory for the Engineers in their last visit to Lynah Rink on Feb. 22, 2019. Todd Burgess scored the winner. Jeff Malott had both goals for the Big Red.

Perfect Turns 50:

•  A reunion for the 50th anniversary of Cornell's second national championship and the only team in men's hockey history to win an NCAA title after an undefeated season with no ties was held Jan. 24-25. The Big Red wore special commemorative jerseys for a game at Dartmouth that listed the team's list of accomplishments from a memorable 1969-70 season that featured a sterling 29-0 record.
•  Festivities dotted the weekend, culminating with a ceremony to honor the returning members of the team during the first intermission of the annual rivalry game against Harvard.

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.

Chasing Whitelaw:

•  Cornell is tied with Clarkson for the top spot in the ECAC Hockey standings with all of the league's 12 teams facing six games left in the regular season.
•  The Big Red is the two-time defending Cleary Cup champion, sharing the honor last year. Cornell has won the ECAC Hockey's regular-season title in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2002 and 2003, and winning it again this year would mark the first time in program history that it could boast three straight.

Draw Drama:

•  Cornell ranks 16th in the nation with a 51.8% success rate of faceoffs, but that's well down from its standing of sixth at 53.4% on Jan. 23.
•  The Big Red is just 158-180 (46.7%) on faceoffs over its last six games. Junior forward Morgan Barron (56.1%) leads the team in faceoff percentage, and junior forward Brenden Locke (55.3%) leads with 320 faceoffs taken.

January Juggernaut:

•  Cornell is 19-2-6 during the month of January over the last three seasons. Oddly enough, both of those losses came on the Big Red's final game of the month in each of the last two seasons.

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 475 victories at the Division I level. He also leads all actives coaches of Cornell's 37 varsity teams in career victories.

Neither Here Nor There:

•  Cornell is one of the last two remaining teams in the nation to not have a short-handed goal for or against in a game yet this season. Oddly enough, the other – Rensselaer – will visit Lynah this weekend. The Big Red hasn't scored a non-empty-net short-handed goal since Nov. 4, 2016 (Mitch Vanderlaan '19 at Dartmouth).
•  The Big Red has yielded just three even-strength goals inside five minutes of any period this year – none of which have occurred in the first period.
•  In four-on-four play this season, Cornell has outscored its opposition, 2-0 (Tristan Mullin on Nov. 23 vs. Princeton; Michael Regush Jan. 17 vs. Northern Michigan), after holding a 6-1 advantage in those scenarios last season.

Up Next:

•  Cornell hits the road for the last time in the regular season, visiting Yale at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21 before heading a little further east for a match-up against Brown at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.