LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Just before the start of the ECAC Hockey Championship semifinals, Cornell captain and senior forward Jake Weidner was named the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward Award and freshman defenseman Yanni Kaldis was placed on the league’s All-Rookie Team.
For the entire second half of the season, Weidner has been by a wide margin the national leader in blocked shots per game for forwards. That average sat at 2.12 blocks per game heading into Friday’s contest at historic 1980 Rink – Herb Brooks Arena. The next closest forward on that list is Western Michigan’s Sheldon Dries (1.83), and then there’s another sizable gap to reach third on the list with Mercyhurst’s Jack Riley (1.41).
Weidner is also the Big Red’s faceoff ace, where he leads the team with a 57.7 winning percentage. He enters this weekend fourth in the nation in average faceoffs per game (25.2), as he can be found taking most defensive-zone draws. He also ranked 11th in ECAC Hockey games with a plus-10 rating, which is particularly impressive considering he centers a line that is typically matched up against the opposition’s most potent lines.
Cornell has a strong history with the award, with 22-year head coach Mike Schafer having now guided six players to win the award seven times over the last 17 years — Doug Steinstra (2000), Stephen Bâby (2002, 2003), Tyler Mugford (2009), Greg Miller (2013), Cole Bardreau (2015) and Weidner (2017). The only other team with more than two over that stretch is St. Lawrence. Other finalists for the award were Clarkson’s Troy Josephs and Union’s Mike Vecchione.
Kaldis was immediately installed as a top-four fixture on the blue line, where he has been paired with senior Patrick McCarron for the majority of the season. His lone goal of the season came in dramatic fashion, coming on a power play with 24.6 seconds remaining to propel the Big Red to a 4-3 road victory on Feb. 4 at Rensselaer. He also had 13 assists this season for a total of 14 points, all coming in league play — the most for a Cornell freshman defenseman in ECAC Hockey play since Bruce Frauley in the 1987-88 season. Kaldis was also a two-time ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week.
