ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team hits the road for the final time in the regular season looking and will look to clinch the Ivy League title with games at 7 p.m. Friday at Yale and 7 p.m. Saturday at Brown. Both games will be broadcast by the host schools on ESPN+ in the U.S. (with an option for international viewers also available through Stretch Internet). Featuring play-by-play from Jason Weinstein, the games can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) and worldwide through the station's website. 

Game Information:

#2 Cornell at Yale
7 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 21, 2020
PLACE: Ingalls Rink  •  New Haven, Conn.
RECORDS: Cornell 19-2-4, 14-2-2 ECAC Hockey, 6-1-1 Ivy League;
                    Yale 11-12-2, 8-8-2 ECAC Hockey, 3-4-1 Ivy League
BROADCAST (U.S.): ESPN+
BROADCAST (Int'l): Stretch Internet
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: YaleBulldogs.com
TICKETS: YaleBulldogs.com
GAME NOTES (coming soon): Cornell | Yale

#2 Cornell at Brown
7 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020
PLACE: Meehan Auditorium  •  Providence, R.I.
RECORDS: Cornell 19-2-4, 14-2-2 ECAC Hockey, 6-1-1 Ivy League;
                    Brown 6-17-2, 6-10-2 ECAC Hockey, 2-5-1 Ivy League
BROADCAST (U.S.): ESPN+
BROADCAST (Int'l): Stretch Internet
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: BrownBears.com
TICKETS: BrownBears.com
GAME NOTES (coming soon): Cornell | Brown

Ivy League Update:

•  Cornell can lock up its third straight and 20th overall Ivy League title either night this weekend, needing just one tie to share the crown or two ties and at least one win to take the top spot outright.
•  The Big Red is 22-3-4 in its last 28 Ivy League contests.

Bye The Way:

•  Cornell has already clinched a top-four finish in the ECAC Hockey regular-season standings, thanks to its victory over Rensselaer on Saturday. With a guaranteed finish in the top four, the Big Red has earned a bye through the first round of the playoffs and will host a best-of-three quarterfinal series against an opponent to be determined March 13-15 at Lynah Rink.

Big Red Rewind:

•  Cornell enters the weekend on a five-game winning streak, which is tied for the third-longest such active streak in the nation entering the weekend. Most recently, the Big Red completed a home sweep of Union, 5-2, and Rensselaer, 4-2, last weekend.
•  Yanni Kaldis was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week on Monday after scoring three goals and adding an assist in the games against the Capital District teams. He scored twice  against the Dutchmen, as did Morgan Barron.
•  Just as it had the night before, Cornell watched a three-goal lead be whittled down to one on Saturday against RPI. Brenden Locke helped set up goals by Alex Green and Kaldis, then sewed up the game with an empty-netter.
•  The Big Red has scored 14 of its 23 goals over its winning streak in first periods. That number doesn't only lead the nation for first-period goals in February, it doubles the totals shared by four second-ranked teams (seven).

Highlights From Friday's Win Over Union:

Highlights From Saturday's Game Win Over Rensselaer:

By The Numbers:

•  On the heels of spending three consecutive weeks at the top spot for the first time in program history, Cornell is now in its third straight week at #2 in both national polls this week. The Big Red sits third in the Pairwise Comparison Ratings.
•  With four games remaining in the regular season, Cornell is tied with Clarkson for first place in ECAC Hockey with 30 points. Third-place Quinnipiac starts this weekend six points back. Cornell and Clarkson meet in their regular-season finale on Feb. 29 at Lynah Rink.
•  The Big Red ranks third in the nation in team defense (1.76 goals against per game). Cornell also ranks seventh in offense (3.48 goals per game), which leads to the nation's third-largest scoring margin (+1.76).
•  Cornell's power play ranks fourth in the nation with a 27.0% success rate. The Big Red has scored nine goals on the man advantage in its five February games to date, which leads the country.
•  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.

Forward Thinking:

•  Junior forward Morgan Barron (#27, 13-17–30, 5 PPGs) continues to lead the team in scoring after tying for the league lead on five points last week. He now has nine points in just his last five games and now ranks 13th in the country with an average of 1.20 points per game.
•  The Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection has become the first Cornell men's hockey player with at least 30 points in his first three seasons on East Hill since Riley Nash (2007-10).
•  Barron typically plays on a line centered by junior Brenden Locke (#28, 8-16–24), who leads ECAC Hockey with a plus-19 rating. Classmate Cam Donaldson (#7, 4-12–16) has frequently joined them on the right wing, rejoining the lineup last weekend after missing the Colgate series.
•  Junior forward Tristan Mullin (#26, 8-10–18; 6 PPGs) leads the team in power-play goals. He has 12 points over the last 12 games. Linemate and classmate Kyle Betts (#11, 2-6–8) typically centers Mullin's line, with four of his eight points on the year coming in the last four games since returning from injury.
•  Sophomore forward Michael Regush (#19, 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, 5-17–22) continues to be tied for the team lead in assists and has the solo lead in power-play points (13). He has six points over the last four games.
•  Kaldis' 83 career points 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 enters the weekend tied for third in scoring from the blue line with an average of 0.83 points per ECAC Hockey league game.
•  Not only has Cornell surrendered just 24 even-strength goals this year (an average of 0.96 per game), it also ranks fourth in the nation with 2.84 points per game for defenseman.
•  Junior defenseman Alex Green (#6, 7-9–16, plus-18), 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 .175 goals per shot on frame is best in the nation among defensemen.
•  Travis Mitchell (#10, 2-9–11, plus-18) leads the nation's freshman defensemen in rating.
•  Sam Malinski (#24, 2-9–11, plus-17) ranks second among ECAC Hockey freshman defensemen scoring in league games.

Goaltending, Inc.:

•  Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda (#35, 19-2-4, 1.77, .923, 2 SO) has started every game to date. He ranks fourth in the nation in goals against average, having surrendered just 24 even-strength goals through 25 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.

Honor Roll:

•  Cornell has laid claim to seven 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 Yale:

•  The Bulldogs have moved into a tie for seventh place in the ECAC Hockey standings after a three-point road trip last weekend. Yale couldn't hold on to a three-goal lead at Harvard, but salvaged a 4-4 tie on Friday, then it got a pair of third-period goals in a 4-3 win the next night at Dartmouth.
•  There's a three-way tie for the team's scoring lead – and the trio often plays on the same line together with sophomore Curtis Hall (#20, 14-7–21) centering sophomore Justin Pearson (#18, 12-9–21, 7 PPGs) and junior Tyler Welsh (#21, 7-14–21).
•  Beyond the 21-point club's cumulative rating of plus-34, Yale's other forwards have a total rating of minus-76. Senior Luke Stevens (#27, 7-4–11) is the only one among that group with more than four goals.
•  Despite having big-shot threats in sophomore Jack St. Ivany (#2, 1-13–14) and junior Phil Kemp (#25, 1-5–6), Yale is tied for second to last in the nation with just four goals from defensemen.
•  Senior Corbin Kaczperski (#33, 10-10-2, 2.97, .900) has re-established his starting role in goal after junior Nicholas McNab (#29, 1-2, 3.65, .869) earned three starts during mid-season.
•  Keith Allain is in his 15th season as the head coach at Yale.

The Series Against Yale:

•  The Big Red has tangled with the Bulldogs 154 times since the series started in 1902, with the Cornell holding a 86-61-8 lead.
•  In the season's first meeting between the teams, Morgan Barron recorded a hat trick in the first 22:31 of a 6-2 Big Red rout of the Bulldogs on Nov. 9 at Lynah Rink. Zach Tupker scored his first collegiate goal in the third period for Cornell.
•  In its last visit to Ingalls Rink, Cornell was defeated, 5-2, on Feb. 16, 2019. Yale scored the first three goals before the Big Red pulled to within one on a power-play goal by Tristan Mullin.­­­

Scouting Brown:

•  The Bears won just three of their first 18 games, but are 3-2-2 in their last seven. That pulls Brown to 14 points in the ECAC Hockey, which is four points out of the last spot for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
•  Offense has been a struggle for Brown, which has just 30 even-strength goals in 25 games. Nationally, only Princeton has fewer (29).
•  Senior forward Brent Beaudoin (#13, 7-6–13) and senior defenseman Zach Giuttari (#8, 3-10–13) are tied for the team lead in scoring. Despite playing on the blue line, Giuttari leads the team in shots on goal (66).
•  Sophomore forward Justin Jallen (#7, 9-3–12, 3 PPGs) leads the team in goals, and freshman forward Bradley Cocca (#17, 5-4–9, 4 PPGs) leads the squad in power-play goals. Despite its five-on-five struggles, the Bears' power play ranks middle of the pack nationally.
•  Three of the Bears' six leading scorers are defensemen. In addition to Giuttari, that group includes junior Tony Stilwell (#6, 1-9–10) and freshman Luke Krys (#2, 3-5–8).
•  Senior Gavin Nieto (#1, 5-14-2, 2.66, .909, SO) has started all but four games in goal.
•  Brendan Whittet is in his 10th season as the head coach at his alma mater after previously serving as an assistant coach at Dartmouth.

The Series Against Brown:

•  Cornell has a commanding 81-43-8 lead in the all-time series with Brown, entering Saturday's game on a 15-game unbeaten streak (12-0-3).
•  In the first meeting between the teams this season, the Big Red earned a 4-1 victory while yielding just 14 shots on goal on Nov. 8. Morgan Barron, Brenden Locke and Sam Malinski each had a goal and an assist.
•  The Big Red's last visit to Meehan Auditorium resulted in a stunning 3-3 tie on Feb. 15, 2019. Cornell built a three-goal lead through two periods, only to watch it evaporate after Brown scored three third-period goals in a span of just 53 seconds.
•  Mike Schafer is a dominating 39-7-6 against the Bears during his 25-plus seasons as the Big Red's head coach.

Perfect Turns 50:

•  Last weekend marked 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. The Big Red wore special commemorative jerseys for Friday's 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 last Saturday's game against Harvard.

The League Within The League:

•  With last weekend's results, Cornell has pulled into solo possession of first place in the Ivy League standings. That means the Big Red can lock up its third straight and 20th overall Ivy League title if it wins each of its last three games against Ancient Eight foes. All of those games are on the road, starting Saturday at Princeton, then concluding with games Feb. 21 at Yale and Feb. 22 at Brown.
•  Cornell is 21-3-4 in its last 28 Ivy League contests.

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 four 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 tied for 13th in the nation with a 52.0% 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 213-224 (48.7%) on faceoffs over its last eight games.
Junior forward Brenden Locke (57.3%) leads the team on draw efficiency and with 344 faceoffs taken. Junior forward Morgan Barron ranks second (55.9%).

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 472 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 (Rensselaer is the other). 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 five 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 returns to the Empire State for a home-and-home series with Colgate next weekend. The teams first square off in the annual Courage Classic game at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7 in Ithaca before shifting over to Hamilton for a rematch at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8.