ITHACA, N.Y. — Four members of the Cornell men's hockey team have been named finalists for major ECAC Hockey awards, the conference office announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Junior goaltender Ian Shane has been named a finalist for the Ken Dryden Goaltender of the Year, presented by MAC Goaltending, and ECAC Hockey's Player of the Year awards. Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey, is a finalist for the Tim Taylor Coach of the Year award, while junior forward Kyle Penney and junior defenseman Hank Kempf are respectively up for the Gladiator Defensive Forward and Howie's Defensive Defenseman of the Year awards.

All of the award winners will be throughout the day on Thursday.

One of four unanimous First Team All-ECAC Hockey selections last Thursday, Shane became the first Cornell goaltender to earn First Team All-ECAC Hockey honors since Matthew Galajda as a freshman in 2018. Shane concluded the regular season with an ECAC Hockey-leading 1.81 goals-against average in conference games, two points better than Quinnipiac's Vinny Duplessis (1.83), and posted the fifth-best save percentage, boasting a .914 clip, while recording a pair of shutouts over Harvard (Jan. 26) and Brown (Feb. 16).

Throughout the season, Shane garnered numerous weekly and monthly awards from ECAC Hockey, totaling four MAC Goaltender of the Month awards (October, November, January, February) and six MAC Goaltending Goaltender of the Week awards (Oct. 30, Nov. 6, Nov. 27, Jan. 2, Feb. 12, and Feb. 19).

Shane became the 10th Cornell goaltender to earn the distinction of being a First Team All-ECAC Hockey selection, joining the likes of Ken Dryden (1967-69), Brian Cropper (1970), Brian Hayward (1982), Darren Eliot (1983), Matt Underhill (2002), Dave LeNeveu (2003), David McKee (2005), Ben Scrivens (2010), and Galajda in 2018.
 
This season, Shane has compiled an overall record of 19-4-6 with a 1.68 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. Shane's goals-against average currently paces all Division I netminders by 24 points ahead of Wisconsin's Kyle McClellan (1.92), and his save percentage ranks 10th nationally, two points higher than Yale freshman netminder Jack Stark for the lead in ECAC Hockey (.919).

FINALISTS FOR KEN DRYDEN GOALTENDER OF THE YEAR AWARD, PRESENTED BY MAC GOALTENDING
• Cooper Black, Dartmouth
• Vinny Duplessis, Quinnipiac
• Ian Shane, Cornell

FINALISTS FOR ECAC HOCKEY PLAYER OF THE YEAR
• Collin Graf, Quinnipiac
• John Prokop, Union
• Ian Shane, Cornell

Schafer, who has guided Cornell to seven consecutive seasons with 10 or more conference wins, has been named a finalist for the Tim Taylor Coach of the Year Award.

The Big Red enters this weekend's slate of games with the top-scoring defense in the country (1.87), five points higher than second-place Quinnipiac (1.92). Cornell also ranked within the top 10 nationally in scoring margin (+1.42 — 6th), faceoff win percentage (.539 — 8th), and team win percentage (.710 — 8th).

FINALISTS FOR TIM TAYLOR COACH OF THE YEAR
• Reid Cashman, Dartmouth
• Rand Pecknold, Quinnipiac
• Mike Schafer, Cornell

Penney concluded the regular season with a plus-24 rating, which stood as the best rating by a player in program history (dating back to the 2006-07 season). In ECAC Hockey games, Penney had a plus-20 rating in conference games, ranking second nationally by a player in conference contests and was the highest total by a forward.

Offensively, Penney registered 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) while primarily serving as the left winger on the Big Red's top line all season.

FINALIST FOR GLADIATOR BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD
• Daniel Panetta, Colgate
• Kyle Penney, Cornell
• Jacob Quillan, Quinnipiac

Kempf led all Cornell players with 49 blocked shots in the regular season, nine more than the second-highest total. In ECAC Hockey contests, Kempf blocked 37 shots, the sixth-most by a player in the conference. His plus-12 rating was tied for the 10th-best by a defenseman in conference games and only registered eight penalty minutes.

FINALIST FOR HOWIE'S BEST DEFENSIVE DEFENSEMAN
• Hank Kempf, Cornell
• Jayden Lee, Quinnipiac
• Trey Taylor, Clarkson

No. 14-ranked Cornell (19-6-6) will face Dartmouth (13-9-9) in the second semifinal of the 2024 ECAC Hockey Championship on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. Game action will be broadcast on ESPN+ and over the airwaves on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM, whcuradio.com).