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#18 Men's Hockey Opens League Slate At Home vs. Yale, Brown
ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team' returns to Lynah Rink for the simultaneous start of its ECAC Hockey and Ivy League seasons, when it hosts Yale on Friday night and Brown on Saturday night. The games will be streamed on ESPN+ in the U.S. The same production can be viewed by international viewers through a different platform via Stretch Internet. The broadcasts will feature play-by-play from Grady Whittenburg and color commentary by former Cornell captain and assistant coach Topher Scott '08. The games can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) with Jason Weinstein and Tony Eisenhut '88 on the call. Tickets are available at CornellBigRedTickets.com.
GAME INFORMATION
Yale at #18 Cornell TIME: 7 p.m. DATE: Friday, Nov. 2, 2018 PLACE: Lynah Rink • Ithaca, N.Y. RECORDS: Yale 1-0, 1-0 ECAC Hockey, 1-0 Ivy League; Cornell 0-2, 0-0 ECAC Hockey, 0-0 Ivy League VIDEO: ESPN+ — United States | International RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com TICKETS: CornellBigRedTickets.com GAME NOTES: Cornell | Yale | Brown | ECAC Hockey
The Big Red Rewind:
• Cornell started its regular season last weekend with a pair of non-league losses to Michigan State, marking the program's first 0-2 start since 2010-11 (which ended with an ECAC Hockey championship game berth). • Max Andreev's goal tied Friday's opener at 1 heading into the third period before the Spartans rattled off four straight goals in the final frame to secure a 5-2 victory. Matt Cairns capped the scoring with his first goal on Lynah ice. • Michigan State then scored four straight again in the rematch, then held off a frenetic Cornell rally for a 4-3 victory. Yanni Kaldis scored twice on the power play, the second of which followed Cam Donaldson's unassisted goal to cut Cornell's three-goal deficit to one with five minutes to play. • It was the first time Cornell surrendered nine goals in a two-game weekend since Jan. 22-23, 2016, when it dropped games to Harvard and Dartmouth.
The Offensive Defense:
• Cornell was 2-for-13 on the power play in the two games against Michigan State, with both strikes coming from defenseman Yanni Kaldis. Perhaps it should come as no surprise the Big Red's first two goals on the man advantage have come from the blue line, because of the 11 power-play goals last year scored by players returning to the team this year, eight were scored by defensemen (Alec McCrea 5; Kaldis 3). • One of the keys to Cornell's success last season was an increase in offensive production from its defensemen. After receiving 13 goals from blueliners in each of the previous two seasons, the Big Red had 21 goals from defensemen last year.
Wasting No Time:
• Max Andreev scored the Big Red's first goal last Friday, making the program's first native of Russia also the first freshman to score the team's first goal of a season since Joe Devin '11 did so against RIT on Oct. 27, 2007.
About The Big Red:
• After turning in the program's first 25-win season in 13 years, Cornell enters this season as the media and coaches favorite in ECAC Hockey and ranked eighth in the nation in both national preseason polls. • The Big Red earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for a second straight year and the 21st time in program history. Cornell also won the Cleary Cup (ECAC Hockey regular season championship) for the ninth time. • Cornell led the nation in winning percentage (.788) and team defense (1.58) during the 2017-18 season.
Another Crown Down:
• Cornell won its 22nd Ivy League championship in program history last year, clinching on Jan. 27 with a 3-1 win at Dartmouth. It's the 18th outright title for the Big Red, and the third its won in the last eight years. • A Feb. 16-17 home sweep of Brown and Yale gave the Big Red a 9-0-1 record in Ivy League play, marking the first time Cornell went undefeated through the Ancient Eight since 1995-96 — Mike Schafer's first season as head coach.
Awards Season:
• Matthew Galajda became the first freshman goaltender to ever be selected as a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, and he was also one of five finalists for the 2018 Mike Richter Award. It's the latest in a long line of postseason accolades — he was Ivy League Player of the Year and the Rookie of the Year while also being unanimously selected as the lone goalie on the All-Ivy League first team. Galajda was also the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year and Goaltender of the Year, as well as the first freshman All-ECAC Hockey first-team goalie since 1991-92 (Christian Soucy, Vermont). • Mike Schafer was named the ECAC Hockey Tim Taylor Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career. He was also named the Ivy League Coach of the Year for the first time since the circuit added the honor in 2015. • Yanni Kaldis earned a spot on the All-Ivy first team for a second straight year, and is also an All-ECAC Hockey third-teamer ... Alec McCrea was on the All-Ivy League second team and was named the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Defenseman ... Mitch Vanderlaan received All-Ivy honorable mention.
The First Ivy League Coach to 400:
• Already the winningest coach in program history and in Ivy League history, Mike Schaferranks sixth among active coaches with 437 victories at the Division I level. He ranks second among current coaches at Cornell, behind just Dave Eldredge (men's and women's polo).
Feel The Draft?:
• Cornell has five players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft — one in each of the last five drafts. Sophomore defenseman Matt Cairns (Edmonton Oilers) was selected earliest in that group, having been taken in the third round with the 84th overall pick in 2016. • Junior forward Beau Starrett (Chicago Blackhawks) was also taken in the third round during the 2014 draft. One other forward is a draft pick in Morgan Barron, who was snagged in the sixth round by the N.Y. Rangers in 2017. He then became the first freshman in program history to have at least one point in each of his first seven games. • Three underclassmen represent the Big Red's three NHL Draft picks along the blue line. Alex Green leads that group after his outstanding collegiate debut led to a fourth-round selection by the Tampa Bay Lightning last summer. • Defenseman Misha Song (N.Y. Islanders in 2015) is the only newcomer to have his NHL rights already owned.
About Yale:
• The Bulldogs never trailed in a season-opening 3-2 victory Friday at Brown. Luke Stevens scored the winner late in the second period. • Joe Snively, a senior forward who has already eclipsed 100 points for his career and was a Preseason All-ECAC Hockey pick, scored twice in the first. He was joined with a pair of underclassmen on his line in freshman center Curtis Hall and sophomore winger Kevin O'Neil. • Yale's power play clicked to just a 10.3 percent success rate last year, and it was 0-for-5 on Friday at Brown. • The Bulldogs bring back most of their team from last season after losing just one forward and one defenseman to graduation. • Goaltenders Sam Tucker and Corbin Kaczperski (1-0, 2.00, .909) platooned down the stretch last year, with the latter posting better numbers and earning the first start this year. • The Bulldogs were picked sixth in the preseason coaches poll and seventh in the media association poll.
