ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell men's hockey freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer has been named the Ken Dryden Goaltender of the Year, presented by MAC Goaltending, in addition to earning First Team All-ECAC Hockey honors, the conference office announced Thursday afternoon (March 12).

Junior forward Jonathan Castagna also received First Team All-ECAC Hockey honors, marking the second time in three seasons that Cornell has had multiple players on the First Team.

Cournoyer posted a 16-7-0 overall record with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage during the regular season. In ECAC Hockey play, the freshman goaltender made 19 appearances, going 13-6-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average. His 13 wins and .919 save percentage topped all conference goaltenders in conference games.

The Ken Dryden Goaltender of the Award is the second for Cornell in three years, as Ian Shane '25 won the honor in 2024. Cournoyer is the seventh Big Red netminder to claim the award since it was first awarded in 1996, joining Matt Underhill (2002), David LeNeveu (2003), David McKee (2005), Ben Scrivens (2010), and Matthew Galajda (2018). Cournoyer and Galajda are the only Cornell goaltenders to win the award as freshmen.

Cournoyer also became just the fourth true-freshman goalie to earn First Team All-ECAC Hockey honors and the first since Galajda in 2018, with Clarkson's Don Sylvestri (1981) and Vermont's Christian Soucy (1992) being the only others to achieve the feat.

Castagna finished the regular season with 32 points (14-18—32), tying Princeton's Kai Daniells for the 10th-most points in ECAC Hockey. His 1.10 points-per-game average ranked fourth in the conference, behind the nation's scoring leader Ethan Wyttenbach (1.58) and Dartmouth's Hayden Stavroff (1.47) and Hank Cleaves (1.17). Castagna's three short-handed goals led all ECAC Hockey players.

In conference games, Castagna recorded 25 points (11-14—25), the fifth-most in ECAC Hockey. His 11 conference goals tied him with Union's Ben Muthersbaugh, Dartmouth's Hank Cleaves, Quinnipiac's Markus Vidicek and Princeton's Kai Daniells for fifth in conference play.

The dual First Team selections mark Cornell's second time in three seasons with multiple First Team honorees, joining Gabriel Seger and Shane in 2023-24, and only the third time in the last 20 seasons — also achieved in 2010 with Brendon Nash and Scrivens.

The ninth-ranked Big Red, which finished the regular season 20-8-1 overall and 15-6-1 in ECAC Hockey play, will start its pursuit of a third straight Whitelaw Cup this weekend by hosting rival Harvard in a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with Sunday's game, if needed, starting at 4 p.m. All games will be streamed live on ESPN+.
 
2026 ECAC HOCKEY ALL-FIRST TEAM
Goaltender: Alexis Cournoyer, Cornell
Defenseman: Tyler Dunbar, Union
Defenseman: Elliott Groenewold, Quinnipiac (unanimous)
Forward: Hayden Stavroff, Dartmouth
Forward: Ethan Wyttenbach, Quinnipiac (unanimous)
Forward: Jonathan Castagna, Cornell