Box Score NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The Cornell men's hockey team clinched the outright Ivy League title on Friday with a 4-0 victory against Yale at Ingalls Rink. It's the Big Red's third consecutive title in the Ancient Eight and 20th in program history.
 
The Big Red's first-period proficiency was on display yet again, with three of Cornell's goals coming in the first 14 minutes of the game. But just as importantly, Cornell (20-2-4, 15-2-2 ECAC Hockey) put the clamps down defensively and suffocated Yale (11-13-2, 8-9-2) for just about the entire night.
 
"You don't have to press as hard, but we still created scoring chances and didn't give up much," said Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey at Cornell. "I was happy with our discipline. We didn't give them a chance to go on the power play (over the last 35 minute), and we still created offense. So it was a really good road win."
 
Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda made 17 saves for his third shutout of the season and the 17th of his collegiate career. That moves him to within two of Ben Scrivens' for the most clean sheets in program history.
 
Junior forward Cam Donaldson opened the scoring just 2:40 in, then junior forward Kyle Betts doubled the lead a little more than two minutes later.
 
A major turning point in the game came at the 11:31 of the first period when Yale had an apparent power-play goal by Jack St. Ivany overturned upon video review by the officials. Cornell, with the help of members of the coaching staff in the press box, successfully challenged that Yale's original entry into the offensive zone on the play was offsides.
 
Less than two minutes later, the Big Red turned an apparent skinny 2-1 lead with lots of hockey left into a dominating 3-0 advantage.
 
"When they froze the video, it was clearly offsides," Schafer said. "Good call by those guys. It was a good turning point, and then to come right back and score to make it 3-0 was huge."
 
That third goal was created by a dogged forecheck by freshman Matt Stienburg, leading to sophomore defenseman Joe Leahy's second goal of the year. With freshman defenseman Sam Malinski returning from a four-game absence, it was possible for Leahy to be the subsequent omission from the lineup. But Schafer opted to keep him in and reward recent strong play, dressing seven defensemen.
 
"With Sam coming back, he hasn't played a whole lot. Having seven defensemen on the road is always a good thing. And Joe's played with a lot of poise in the two games he was in (during Malinski's absence)," Schafer said. "He has his head up and makes plays, and did a solid job against tonight."
 
The goal was Cornell's 17th in the first period of its six February games to date – more than double any other team in the country. Stienburg tacked on a fourth goal midway through the third period off a beautiful set-up from senior forward Jeff Malott.
 
It all added up to a sixth straight victory for the Big Red, and – coupled with Harvard's 5-1 victory at Clarkson – pulled the team into solo possession of first place in ECAC Hockey with three games remaining in the regular season. The next for Cornell comes at 7 p.m. Saturday, when it takes on Brown in Providence, Rhode Island.
 
"All around, just a good win, and it's nice to get the Ivy League championship out of the way tonight so we can get on down to Brown and take care of things against a good team we've seen on video," Schafer said. "They've been playing well."

The Big Red's Lineup:

How The Goals Were Scored:

Cornell's 1st Goal
1st period, 3:43 (ea)  •  Donaldson 5 (Barron, Andreev)  •  Cornell 1, Yale 0
•  With a delayed penalty upcoming on the Bulldogs, the Big Red was able to get Galajda off the ice in favor of an extra attacker. As Cornell held possession on the right wing in the offensive zone, Andreev sent it back to Barron on the half wall. He looked toward the middle and threaded a perfect pass through a seam to Donaldson in the left circle, who one-timed a shot past Kaczperski's blocker.
 
Cornell's 2nd Goal
1st period, 5:55  •  Betts 3 (Mullin, Bauld)  •  Cornell 2, Yale 0
•  The Big Red gained the offensive zone on the right side, and Bauld's work along the wall advanced the puck into the corner. From behind the net, Mullin found Betts camped near the right hash mark for an open one-timer past Kaczperski's glove.
 
Cornell's 3rd Goal
1st period, 13:11  •  Leahy 2 (Stienburg)  •  Cornell 3, Yale 0
•  Malinski took a shot from the middle that was kicked by Kaczperski's right pad. As a Yale defenseman gathered, Stienburg closed the gap immediately on the forecheck and forced a puck battle behind the net. Under pressure from Donaldson, a Yale defender rimmed the puck up the wall, but Stienburg was first to it. He passed to Leahy coming toward the middle, and from inside the top of the left circle he snapped a shot past Kaczperski's blocker.
 
Cornell's 4th Goal
3rd period, 9:18  •  Stienburg 3 (Malott, Kaldis)  •  Cornell 4, Yale 0
•  Just after a power play ended, Kaldis sent the puck up ice to Malott at the Yale blue line. Malott pulled up to wait for reinforcements, but opted instead to bully his way past his defender on the backhand to set up a two-on-one. As he pulled back into a shooting position, Malott instead dished across to a crashing Stienburg for a slam dunk past a helpless Kaczperski.

Up Next:

•  Cornell wraps up the road portion of its regular season with a visit to Brown at 7 p.m. Saturday in Providence, Rhode Island.