ITHACA, N.Y. — ECAC Hockey announced Tuesday that Cornell freshman defenseman Alec McCrea has been named the league’s Rookie of the Week after he helped the Big Red to a weekend sweep of nationally-ranked St. Lawrence and Clarkson at Lynah Rink.
McCrea became the first member of the Big Red to post three points in a game since January, scoring his first collegiate goal and adding two assists in the team’s 5-2 victory over Clarkson on Saturday. Both of McCrea’s helpers were primary assists, with the first coming on a feed from behind the net to Christian Hilbrich for a conversion of the go-ahead goal late in the first period. McCrea then scored early in the third period to essentially ice the game by giving the Big Red a 4-1 lead on a shot from the right point which sailed through traffic and the legs of Golden Knight’s goaltender Greg Lewis. He uncorked a similar shot later in the frame, which classmate Mitch Vanderlaan redirected past Lewis.
The program’s first California native, McCrea was also a plus-2 in Friday’s 2-1 victory over the Saints. He is now tied for second in defenseman scoring in ECAC Hockey with six points through eight league games, and he is tied for the freshman defenseman lead with Brown’s Max Gottlieb.
This is the Big Red’s third ECAC Hockey weekly award of the season, with junior Mitch Gillam having taken Goaltender of the Week honors on Nov. 17 and Player of the Week honors on Nov. 24. McCrea becomes Cornell’s first Rookie of the Week since goaltender Hayden Stewart earned those accolades twice last season after each of his shutouts.
Cornell, which made a significant jump to 10th in both major national polls this week, is idle for the next three weeks before reconvening in the Sunshine State for the Florida College Hockey Classic. The Big Red opens the tournament at 4:05 p.m. Monday, Dec. 28 against defending national champion and top-ranked Providence, then it will take on either #3/3 Boston College or Ohio State the following day.
