CORNELL 4, @Yale 0 | CORNELL 3, @Brown 0

Four-point weekends are always nice and last weekend we shutout two teams on the road. Our road record this year is 10-2-1. We had a good win on Friday night at Yale and it was nice to earn the Ivy League championship on the first night.

Once again, we started out fast at Yale, taking a 3-0 lead within the first 14 minutes of the game. Our guys played really well and I thought we did a good job defensively by not giving them a whole lot. Our first goal came at 3:43 into the game. Sophomore forward Max Andreev sent a pass to junior forward Morgan Barron on the half wall. Morgan looked toward the middle and sent a perfect pass through a seam to junior forward Cam Donaldson in the left circle. Cam’s one-timer flew pass the goaltender’s blocker. About two minutes later, junior forward Tristan Mullin, found classmate Kyle Betts at the right hash mark for another one-timer past the goalie’s glove.

After a flurry of penalties on both sides, Yale came out with a power-play opportunity. The Bulldogs put a puck in the net but after review the officials ruled that Yale was offsides 20 seconds prior, nullifying the goal, and protecting the shutout bid. Senior forward Noah Bauld was the first to say Yale was offsides. We checked with the guys upstairs and Yale was clearly offsides. It was a good call and a turning point; we came right back and scored at 13:11 making it 3-0 in the first period. Freshman forward Matt Stienburg passed the puck to sophomore defenseman Joe Leahy coming down the middle. Joe changed directions and fired a shot from the left circle that went past the goaltender’s blocker. Joe has played with a lot of poise, keeps his head up and makes plays. It was a solid job by Joe. The third goal was our 17th in the first period of our six February games; more than double any other team in the country.

Our final goal vs. Yale came at 9:18 of the third period. After a power play had ended, senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis sent the puck up ice to senior forward Jeff Malott at the Yale blue line. Jeff forced his way past a defender to set up a 2-on-1. It looked like Malott was going to shoot but instead he passed the puck to freshman forward Matt Stienburg crashing the net for an easy goal past the helpless goaltender.

Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda made 17 saves, while the Yale netminder stopped 19 shots. We were 0-for-5 on the power play and Yale was 0-for-3. Getting a 3-0 lead means you don’t have to press as hard but we still created scoring chances and didn’t give up much. I was happy with the discipline.

We traveled to Providence to play Brown, a team that has really come on late this season. Unlike many of our previous games, we had a tough time getting on the scoreboard early. We hit two posts and a crossbar. It was just one of those nights when we were fortunate to get things to drop for us first. We had two power-play opportunities but no goal. Finally, at 10:23 in the first period, we scored when Malott’s rush from inside the defensive zone deep into Brown territory set up Stienburg for his fourth goal of the season. I thought Matt, freshman forward Jack Malone and Malott were one of our best lines this weekend and it gives them confidence going into the playoffs.

For the next 40 minutes, the teams battled but the score remained unchanged. Matty made a couple of outstanding saves that preserved our 1-0 lead going into the third period. With 7:21 remaining in the third period, freshman defenseman Sam Malinski’s attempted pass caromed off the skate of a Brown defenseman and into the net to make it 2-0. We hard a hard time getting that second goal! Barron put the final touches on the victory with an empty-net goal at 17:27, his 14th score of the season. I thought we had to work hard in the third period and we did a good job.

Galajda stopped 19 shots and the Brown goaltender made 21 saves. I thought Matty was more zeroed in and focused and the team did a good job around him. Back-to-back shutouts don’t happen very often. These shutouts were his fourth of the season and 18th in his career, which ties him for second place with David McKee (2003-05). Ben Scrivens ’10 hold the current record with 19 shutouts.

We return home for our final two regular-season games. St. Lawrence, with former assistant coach Brent Brekke now the head coach of the Saints, will be at Lynah on Friday night. Former Big Red player and coach Casey Jones brings Clarkson into Lynah on Saturday evening. We’re asking everyone attending the game to wear Red to show support for the Big Red!

Entering the last ECAC regular season weekend, we hold first place with 34 points (16-2-2) ahead of Clarkson (16-4) in second place with 32 points. This promises to be an exciting weekend at Lynah Rink, including Senior Night celebrations on Saturday evening after the game.

Mike Schafer

If you haven’t had a chance to see a hockey game at Colgate in Hamilton at their new Class of ’65 Arena, now’s your chance in 2023. Even if you have seen the rink, come join the Cornell Hockey Association members on a 55-seat, Swarthout Coach charter to cheer on the Big Red Men’s Hockey Team. We will depart Ithaca mid-afternoon (2:45 pm) so we have time to eat dinner prior to the game. We will have only one pick-up location, which will be in the C Lot behind Schoellkopf (“Kite-Hill”) near the Fischell Band Center (no Cornell parking restrictions for the weekend). Members of the Cornell Pep Band may also be catching a ride with the CHA.

Dining at Colgate’s Frank Dining Hall, which is located on campus, has been very convenient and offered choices for everyone. The Frank Dining Hall is the main dining venue on campus and offers vegan and vegetarian fare, multiple entrees, fresh salads, soups, pasta and wood-fired pizza. We have reserved space for the all-you-can-eat buffet. Trip cost for CHA members will be $40 and non-member cost will be $50. This includes transportation, meal ticket, and game ticket.

Interested in riding the bus to Colgate on February 11th? Contact Sue Detzer or Blair Bacher by Wednesday, February 1st to sign up. Please provide a phone contact number. Hope you can attend to cheer on the Big Red at Colgate!

#2 CORNELL 3, @Rensselaer 0 | #2 CORNELL 3, @Union 3 (OT)

Home-Sweet Home! It will be nice to be back home playing before the Lynah Faithful. Starting the season with 11 of 15 games on the road has been a challenge! But, if you told me at the start of the year we would be 12-1-2 at this juncture, I’d say I’ll take it.

On Friday night at RPI, we started well, played the first period with pace and I thought our guys did a good job going after it on the road. We scored on the power play at 16:45 of the opening period. Early in the extra-man situation, we had several good chances and junior forward Tristan Mullin scored his team-leading third power-play goal this season. His goal was set up by some good passing between sophomore forward Michael Regush and junior forward Brenden Locke. The PP goal gave us a 28.3% conversion rate to rank No. 4 in the country. We went into the locker room leading 1-0.

RPI came out for the second period with the clear motive to force more pucks on net quickly. Junior goaltender Matty Galajda did an outstanding job of fighting through traffic to see the puck and excelled at limiting rebounds. Our guys were up to the task and really ramped it up in the second period. We killed off their only power play of the night and quickly scored at 7:10 on Brenden Locke’s sixth goal of the season. This came with some nifty puck handling by junior forward Cam Donaldson who drew the attention of the RPI goalie before feeding Locke for an open-net goal.

At 9:29 of the second period, we made it 3-0 on senior forward Jeff Malott’s fourth goal of the season after some strong offensive zone play by freshman forward Matt Stienburg. The puck banked off an RPI player defending Stienburg at the near post and right to Malott crashing down the middle for the score.

I think we moved pucks a little quicker and played with our heads up without getting predetermined on what we wanted to attack off of. We made some pretty good touch plays down by the net that resulted in goals. After Malott’s goal, we got a little bit loose, weren’t as tight defensively and slowed down.

The third period was scoreless though Matty was tested, as RPI seemed to get a second wind. Galajda made 25 saves, including 14 in the second period, while the RPI goaltender stopped 26 shots. Matty made some big saves to secure the shutout. We were 1-for-2 on the power play and the Engineers were 0-for-2. Overall, it was a really good road win for us.

The next evening at Union was a different story. Our guys fought back for the tie after going down twice but overall, we made some technical mistakes we have to correct. That will be the goal in this week’s practice.

We came out strong in the first period, dominating though the first 10 minutes. Mullin got his second goal in as many nights at 3:19 of the first period. Union answered at 14:45. Galajda made a big save on Union’s first shot, but the rebound was sent back on net and past Matty’s blocker. It was 1-1 after 20 minutes of play with us leading shots on goal, 13-7.

In second period, Union found a scoring lane on the power play and deflected a shot past a helpless Galajda. We went into the third period, trailing, 2-1.

We came out for the third period with vengeance and Regush tallied his sixth goal of the season assisted by Mullin to tie at 2-all. Union went on the power play again and bombarded us with shot after shot. Four consecutive shots went on goal before the fifth ended in the back of the net at 9:09. Thirty-eight seconds later, Locke scored the tying and final goal of the night. Give Union credit, as they capitalized on their power plays and we didn’t do a very good job defending. They also did an excellent job when a man down.

Both teams had opportunities to score in the overtime but we finished with a tie rather than a four-point weekend. Galajda made a total of 19 saves, while the Union goalie stopped 31 shots. We were 0-for-2 on the power play and Union was 2-for-3. This is an area we need to address: killing penalties!

Obviously, analyzing is just a game-by-game process. We did some things on Saturday at Union that we didn’t do Friday at Rensselaer. Now we have two weekends at home to get back to where we need to be.

This weekend on Friday and Saturday night at Lynah Rink we host Northern Michigan for our final non-league contests of the regular season. Many students are still on holiday break so it’s a great time for locals to come and see the talent that will be on the ice. Lynah Rink has always been a tough place for the opposition and this weekend will be no different.

Mike Schafer

CORNELL 3, @Harvard 1 | @Dartmouth 2, CORNELL 1

The winning streak is over. Now it’s back to playing Big Red hockey and starting another streak. Our play in the two games this weekend was quite different. Early in the season our power play was No. 1 in the country, but now we haven’t had an extra-man goal in five games (0-19). We’ve always been great killing penalties but we need to improve that too.

At Harvard, we played the No.1 scoring team in the nation and held them to one goal. This season we typically have a slow first period but we flipped the switch in this one. Shots on goal in the first period were 17-4 in our favor and the score was 2-0 after 20 minutes of play. This was the ninth time this season we scored the first goal of the game.

At the 5:28 mark, senior forward Jeff Malott scored his third goal of the season. Malott fired a shot on goal and the rebound came out. Jeff whirled around to blindly throw a backhand shot under the Harvard goalie to put us up 1-0. With 54 seconds to go in the period, junior forward Brenden Locke tallied his fifth goal this year. Some hard work around the net by junior Tristan Mullin led to the puck bouncing to the top of the crease where Locke slammed it past the goaltender.

Freshman defenseman Travis Mitchell scored his second collegiate goal at 5:07 into the second period to make it 3-0. Travis had a great night vs. Harvard. At this point, we had a 22-4 lead in shots on goal. Harvard took a timeout after Mitchell’s goal to regroup and it seemed to work. The Crimson scored their only goal two minutes later on a power play. After their timeout, they started doing things differently and it took a while for us to adjust. I think we wanted a fourth goal rather than pay attention to their changes. I thought we got going again in the third and started to control some things. We had some long shifts in our own zone but I thought we kept them on the perimeter and back on the blue line.

Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda had his usual strong game stopping 23 shots, including 15 in the third period. The Harvard goalie made 29 saves. We were 0-for 4 on the power play and they were 1-for-2.

The 10th straight win was the first time since the great national championship team went all the way with 29 straight. I believe our success can be attributed to our depth in practice. We’ve got guys chomping at the bit to get into the game lineup. At the same time, they are great kids. There’s no moping by anyone. They know we are off to a great start and they continue to try to improve, which in turn, makes us more consistent and our team better.

All that changed the next night at Dartmouth in our last game of the fall semester. We were held scoreless in the second period for the first time this season. We entered the third period trailing for the first time this year and we had 40 shot on goal for the first time. We also had five more power plays than an opponent for the first time this season. This added up to our first loss of the season!

I just don’t think we were as sharp as we’ve been as a group. Even though we had a lot of scoring chances during the game, Dartmouth did the job on special teams to beat us. From in net to our blue line, to our forwards, we didn’t have the edge to overcome a night where we couldn’t capitalize on our chances.

We had an excellent opportunity to take a lead inside the first minute on a shorthanded breakaway by Malott, but the goalie made the save. Ninety seconds later, Dartmouth took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal. We answered when junior forward Morgan Barron scored his team-leading seventh goal with 23 second remaining in the period. Mitchell carried the puck to the middle before taking a shot that hit traffic in the slot. The puck bounced into the right circle where Barron pounced on it and buried a shot under the crossbar.

The Big Green came out flying for the second period and scored just 45 seconds into playing time. No more goals were scored during the rest of the game. It was the first time we have been out-scored in the middle period this season.

In the third period, we out shot Dartmouth, 21-5 but couldn’t put the puck in the net. We hit a lot of goal posts, missed a breakaway, and had a 3-on-1 where we didn’t even take a shot. That’s just a symptom of not being fully prepared and was a big mistake on our part at Dartmouth. We had five of the game’s six power plays and got off 10 shots on target over those stretches but came up empty each time.

Galajda had an easy night with 15 saves with just two in the first period. Their goalie stopped 39 shots! We were 0-for-5 on the power play and Dartmouth was 1-for-1.

I’m really disappointed we finished the first semester with a loss but just the same, I am very proud of our players. But we’ll park it, get to work and try to do some of the things necessary to get better as a hockey team.

We remain in sole possession of first place in ECAC Hockey, as Colgate beat Harvard on Saturday evening. The Ivy League has a three-way tie between Cornell, Dartmouth and Harvard, all with 4-1 records.

We’re off for four weeks for final exams and a holiday break. Late in December, we will get together to prepare for the Fortress Invitational in Las Vegas. The tournament starts Friday afternoon, January 3rd with Providence against Army West Point. We play the second game at 8 p.m. (Pacific Time) against an excellent team from Ohio State and either Providence or Army West Point the following day.

This is an excellent opportunity for our West Coast alumni/fans to see our hockey team. I know there are Alumni gatherings being planned. Hope to see a large Big Red contingent in Las Vegas.

To all, we wish you Happy Holidays, and may 2020 be filled with joy and happiness for all.

Mike Schafer

CORNELL 4, @Clarkson 2 | CORNELL 6, @St Lawrence 1

What a great weekend! When they told me this was our first North Country sweep since 2005, I couldn’t believe it, but I have always known that this is an extremely tough road trip. You can’t let your guard down either night.

We have tremendous team depth right now. Three different players scored their first goals of the season on Friday night at Clarkson. Junior goaltender Matthew Galajda was rock-solid. When we needed him, he made some big saves on partial breakaways when we turned pucks over.

There was no scoring in the first period even though Clarkson out-shot us by 15-8. Both teams had some great chances and both goalies were up to the task. Late in the second period, in a span of 7 minutes each team scored two goals. Freshman defenseman Travis Mitchell opened the scoring with his first collegiate goal at 11:25. Less than 3 minutes later, senior forward Jeff Malott snapped a close-in shot past the goaltender’s glove to make it 2-0. Two minutes later, Clarkson recorded a power-play goal and tied the score at 18:05. So, once again we went into the locker room tied. The penalty kill isn’t to our standard right now but at the same time you have to tip your hat to a great play made by Clarkson to generate their goal.

Talking about playing our game was the theme of the night and we came out for the third period calm and played with much more poise. The winning goal came on our first power play at 10:26 of the third period. Junior defenseman Alex Green fired a one-timer that was blocked by a defender, but Green was able to regain possession and bumped the puck to junior forward Cam Donaldson in the slot. His long backhand pass to the right circle set up a one-timer from freshman forward Ben Berard. The shot was saved but it left Donaldson alone on the back post to flip the rebound into the wide side of the vacated net. Sophomore forward Michael Regush made it 4-2 with an empty-net goal with 1:27 remaining in the game.

Galajda was a stalwart with 29 saves and our guys played well in front of him. The Clarkson goalie stopped 27 shots. We were 1-for-1 on the power play, and Clarkson was 1-for-2. This was a hard-fought game and I thought our guys responded every step of the way. I like the balance on our team right now because guys can step up and are successful.

It’s just a short bus-ride for our next opponent in the North Country. You hardly have time to catch your breath. We played St. Lawrence in the SUNY Canton Ice Arena because the Saints are renovating their building. Playing back-to-back games against these two teams on their home ice is not just another day at the office. You need to be ready to skate and stay in the moment. We did that in the second and third periods, but not the first. That was a good lesson for us.

Our first goal came just 3:36 into the first period. Freshman defenseman Sam Malinski angled a pass off the right boards to Donaldson. On a 2-on-1 break, Donaldson skated into the circle before dishing it off to junior forward Morgan Barron coming down the slot. Barron’s shot went into the wide side of the net for his sixth goal of the season. St. Lawrence tallied a power-play goal at 14:03 of the first period to tie the score and we went into the first intermission 1-1.

We didn’t even talk about adjustments between the first and second periods. We needed to get to work and play with some pace and get back that intensity that we had the previous night at Clarkson. We came out fast to start the second period, recorded the first 14 shots on goal and won 18 of 25 faceoffs. We were the aggressor and applied tremendous pressure on the home team. At 13:00 of the second period, junior defenseman Alex Green scored on the power play converting a shot from the slot over the goaltender’s glove. That was a big goal by Alex on the power play. It just got us going, and was good to see.

We didn’t have consistency line to line but we got it going with four lines rolling in the second period. I was happy to see our guys put the pedal to the metal. Two more goals were scored with senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis getting the first one at 14:56 and sophomore forward Liam Motley on a break-away at 16:01. We went into the locker room leading 4-1 at the second intermission.

It didn’t take long to make it 6-1. Senior forward Kyle Betts tacked on a power-play goal at 56 seconds of the third period. Junior forward Brenden Locke made it 6-1, 27 seconds later. Locke’s goal gave us 10 different goal-scorers for our 10 goals on the weekend! Galajda needed to make only 15 saves, while the St. Lawrence goaltender stopped 29 shots. We were 2-for-5 on the power play and they were 1-for-2. Going into the weekend, we led the nation with a 42.3% success rate on the power play and we now have scored a least one extra-man tally in each of our six games for the first time since 2009-10.

We have moved up to No. 2 in the USCHO poll. Saturday night’s game was a good lesson for us because every opponent is gong to be a tough game. At St. Lawrence, it was tough getting started, but once we realized how we need to play every night, the ball got rolling. We’re back home this coming weekend. Quinnipiac comes to Lynah Rink on Friday night and Princeton on Saturday evening.
Hope to see you at these two home games.