ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team closes out a three-game home stand with a chance to extend its winning streak to five games when it hosts Rensselaer at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink. Featuring the call of Grady Whittenburg and color commentary from former assistant coach and captain Topher Scott '08, the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the U.S. (with an option for international viewers also available through Stretch Internet). The game can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) with Jason Weinstein back for his 16th season on play-by-play and Tim Vanini '91 on color commentary.

Game Information:

Rensselaer at #2 Cornell
7 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 18-2-4, 13-2-2 ECAC Hockey;
                    Rensselaer 13-14-2, 9-7-1 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 Saturday Supplement | Cornell Mid-Week Notes | Rensselaer

Friday Night Redux:

•  The Big Red escaped with a 5-2 victory in its last time out on Friday night against visiting Union. The victory kept Cornell even with Clarkson atop the ECAC Hockey standings at 28 points with five games to play in the regular season.
•  Yanni Kaldis and Morgan Barron each had two goals and one assist, with Barron and Jack Malone scoring empty-net goals five seconds apart to tie a program record for fastest consecutive goals.
•  Cornell trounced Union in the first period, firing off 13 of the frame's 14 shots on goal while building a 2-0 lead. Kaldis scored inside three minutes, then teed up Barron for a one-timed blast on the power play. The duo switched roles on a power-play goal in the second period with Kaldis redirecting Barron's shot/pass into the net for a 3-0 lead.
•  The Dutchmen stormed back with a power-play goal from Gabriel Seger and a goal on the rush from Dylan Anhorn.
•  After not facing a two-man disadvantage in its first 23 games of the season, Cornell faced two on Friday. The second was for 1:24 early in the third period, which was killed off by a save from Matthew Galajda and a total of six shot blocks from Barron, Kaldis and Cody Haiskanen.
•  Union then appeared to tie the game with 6:13 to play when Anthony Rinaldi swept in a rebound from inside the crease, but officials ruled the play warranted video review. The goal was then waved off after Rinaldi was deemed to have interfere with Galajda before the original shot that caused the rebound.
•  By going 2-for-3 on the man advantage, the Big Red moved up to fourth in the nation with a 26.8% success rate. Cornell has scored eight power-play goals in just its last four games.

Highlights From Friday's Game vs. Union:

Ivy League Update:

•  Even though it doesn't take on an Ivy League team, Cornell could lock up its third straight and 20th overall Ivy League title tonight. If Harvard loses to visiting Brown and Dartmouth either ties or loses to visiting Yale, that would be enough for the Big Red to clinch at a share of the Ancient Eight 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.

Bye Hunting:

•  Cornell can clinch a top-four finish in the ECAC Hockey regular-season standings with a tie or a victory tonight against Rensselaer. With a guaranteed finish in the top four, the Big Red would earn a bye through the first round of the playoffs and host a best-of-three quarterfinal series against an opponent to be determined March 13-15 at Lynah Rink.

Rensselaer Update:

•  The Engineers moved into solo possession of fifth place in the ECAC Hockey standings with a 4-1 victory on Friday at Colgate. Ture Linden had three assists, helping RPI improve to 8-5-1 in its last 14 games.
•  Sophomore Owen Savory (9-8-2, 2.34, .921, 3 SO) made 28 saves to earn the win last night. He 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 third in team scoring, but first in power-play goals (3), rating (plus-11) and shots on goal (79).
•  Senior forward Chase Zieky (7-12–19) leads the team in scoring. He often plays on the opposite line as senior Patrick Polino (9-6–15), who leads the team in goals – but they didn't play on the same line last night.
•  The Engineers' power play is clicking at just 7.3% in league games.
•  RPI has not lost when leading after two periods (11-0-1).
•  Dave Smith is in his third season as the head coach after serving in the same position for 12 years at Canisius.

Full Saturday Notes Supplement:

•  The Saturday Supplement PDF notes package is available here..

Full Mid-Week Game Notes:

•  The full Cornell mid-week PDF notes package is available here.