ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell men's hockey freshman goaltender Alexis Cournoyer and freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux have both been unanimously named to ECAC Hockey's All-Rookie Team, the conference office announced Monday afternoon.

Cournoyer and Veilleux are the fifth pair of Big Red teammates to be named to the conference's All-Rookie Team, joining four previous Cornell tandems — most recently Jonathan Castagna and Ben Robertson (2024) — as well as Ryan Hughes and Kent Manderville (1990), Mark and Matt McRae (2000) and Mike Devin and Riley Nash (2008).

Having a stellar first season with the Big Red, Cournoyer concluded the regular season with a 16-7-0 record with a 2.01 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. His save percentage ranks second in ECAC Hockey, trailing Quinnipiac's Dylan Silverstein (.919), who played in nine fewer games. In ECAC Hockey games, Cournoyer had a 13-6-0 record with a 2.01 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. His .919 save percentage was three points better than Silverstein's, while his 2.01 goals-against average trailed Silverstein's by six points.

The Trois-Rivières, Québec, native is a semifinalist for this year's Mike Richter Award, presented annually since 2014 to the top goaltender in men's Division I hockey. Cournoyer is one of eight Big Red netminders to have amassed at least 16 victories in his first 23 appearances, joining Ken Dryden '69 (22), Brian Cropper '71 (20), Dave LeNeveu (19), Brian Hayward '82 and Matthew Galajda (17 each) and Dave Elenbaas '73 and Corrie D'Alessio '91 (both also having 16).

Entering postseason play with 24 points, Veilleux (6-18—24) owns the second-most points by a first-year defenseman in Division I hockey, trailing Penn State's Jackson Smith (11-14—25). He is one of five freshmen rearguards with at least 20 points, also joined by Union's Étienne Lessard (4-19—23), Wisconsin's Luke Osburn (5-15—20) and North Dakota's Keaton Verhoeff (6-14—20). In ECAC Hockey contests, Veilleux (3-15—18) finished tied with freshman forward Caton Ryan (9-9—18) and junior forward Ryan Walsh (5-13—18) for the second-most points in conference play among Big Red players, while having the most points of any ECAC Hockey defenseman in conference play — two more than Quinnipiac's William Gilson (3-13—16) and Braden Blace (3-13—16) and Colgate's Isaiah Norlin (6-10—16).

The native of Ancienne-Lorette, Québec, has a team-leading five power-play goals on the season, tied with Norlin, Long Island's Nick Bernado, Denver's Eric Pohlkamp and Clarkson's Tate Taylor for the second-most goals by a defenseman while on the man advantage this season.

Cornell's freshman duo will return to the ice this weekend after having an opening-round bye when it hosts bitter rival Harvard in a best-of-three quarterfinal series of the 2026 ECAC Men's Hockey Championship. Puck drop for Friday and Saturday will be at 7 p.m., and if necessary, Sunday's contest would be a 4 p.m. start. All games will be streamed live on ESPN+.

2026 ECAC HOCKEY ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Goaltender: Alexis Cournoyer, Cornell (unanimous)
Defenseman: Thomas Klassek, RPI
Defenseman: Xavier Veilleux, Cornell (unanimous)
Forward: Ethan Wyttenbach, Quinnipiac (unanimous)
Forward: Antonin Verreault, Quinnipiac
Forward: Rasmus Svartström, St. Lawrence