ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell men’s ice hockey program has announced 10 additions to the program for the 2017-18 season. Mike Schafer, who returns for his 23nd season as the Jay R. Bloom ’77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey, announced the additions Wednesday as the team makes preparations to pursue its 13th ECAC Hockey championship and make a return appearance in the NCAA tournament after receiving an at-large bid last season.
“We’re very excited about the class that we’re bringing in for this season,” Schafer said. “We made a conscious decision a couple years ago to increase our team speed going forward, and this class demonstrates that commitment.”
There are five forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders among the newcomers. It’s the biggest incoming class for the program since the 2011-12 season, when Cornell also imported 10 to a team that went on to reach the finals of an NCAA regional. The Big Red’s roster is expected to be comprised of 16 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders — the same breakdown as last season.
“The forwards have a history of producing points at the junior level,” Schafer said. “On the blue line, all three freshmen have the ability to skate, and all of them ran power play units with their respective junior programs. And with goaltending, these two have the opportunity to challenge for playing time and continue the history of strong goaltending here at Cornell.”
Class of 2021 Player Biographies
Morgan Barron
Forward — 6-foot-3, 210 pounds — Halifax, Nova Scotia — St. Andrew’s College
Barron enters this weekend’s 2017 NHL Entry Draft ranked 98th among North American skaters by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. He helped lead St. Andrew’s to consecutive CISAA provincial championships in 2016 and 2017. Barron captained last year’s squad while posting 50 points on 28 goals and 22 assists in just 46 games. He then continued to average better than a point per game through CISAA postseason play. In the 2015-16 season, Barron led the team in goals (40) and overall scoring (72 points) and helped St. Andrew’s capture a national championship. He joined St. Andrew’s after two years at Newbridge Academy in his native Nova Scotia. Barron also played soccer at St. Andrew’s, where he was named the team’s most valuable player in 2016.
Kyle Betts
Forward — 6-foot-1, 180 pounds — Flesherton, Ontario — Powell River Kings (BCHL)
Betts spent the last two years in Powell River, where he amassed 89 points over 98 games in the regular season and another 18 points in 21 postseason contests. He also twice competed with Team Canada West in the World Junior A Challenge, winning a gold medal during the 2015-16 event. Betts came through the Grey-Bruce Highlanders midget teams before being drafted in 2014 OHL Priority Selection. He then spent the 2014-15 season with the Waterloo Siskins in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, where he was selected to play in the league’s top prospects game. He was also selected for the CJHL top prospects game in 2016 and was ranked 147th among North American skaters by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau for the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
Matt Cairns
Defenseman — 6-foot-3, 205 pounds — Mississauga, Ontario — Powell River Kings (BCHL)
Cairns was selected at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers with the 84th overall pick in the third round. He went on to start the 2016-17 season with the Fargo Force in the USHL before heading west to the Powell River Kings in the British Columbia Hockey League. Once there, he led the team’s blueliners in points per game with 16 points on two goals and 14 assists through 18 games to close out the regular season. While picked in the third round of the 2014 OHL Priority Selection, Cairns stayed on the college trajectory by playing the next two seasons in the OJHL. He won a league title with the Toronto Patriots at the end of the 2014-15 season, then broke out the following year with 33 points in 46 games with the Georgetown Raiders en route to being named the OJHL’s top prospect.
Cam Donaldson
Forward — 5-foot-8, 165 pounds — Pittsboro, N.C. — Powell River Kings (BCHL)
Donaldson was named the BCHL Rookie of the Year and a second-team all-star last year, ranking third on his team with 69 points on 32 goals and 37 assists through 54 games. He spent the previous two seasons at The Gunnery, where he helped the team to a NEPSAC title in 2016 while being named to the New England West all-star team and finishing as the runner-up for forward of the year. Donaldson competed in the USA Hockey Select 16 Player Development camp in 2015. He came up through the Dallas Stars Elite Hockey Club program and once called McKinney, Texas home — the same hometown as former Big Red captain Keir Ross ’12.
Matthew Galajda
Goaltender — 6-foot, 195 pounds — Aurora, Ontario — Victoria Grizzlies (BCHL)
Galajda joins the Big Red after two successful years as the primary goalie with the Grizzlies. He was named the team’s rookie of the year after the 2015-16 season, then the most valuable player of both the team and the BCHL Island Division after a 2016-17 season in which he posted a 2.33 goals against average and .926 save percentage through 40 regular-season games. He was named to the BCHL All-Star second team and also competed with Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge. Before his time in Victoria, Galajda attended St. Andrew’s College in Ontario. He was named the team’s most valuable player after a 2014-15 season that produced a provincial title (CISAA).
Alex Green
Defenseman — 6-foot-2, 184 pounds — Chicago, Ill. — Lincoln Stars (USHL)
Green has spent the last two years in the top-tier USHL, most recently posting 15 points on one goal and 14 assists in 43 games with the Lincoln Stars last year. He won a gold medal with the U.S. Select team at the 2016 World Junior A Challenge. Green was also selected to the CCM/USA Hockey All American Prospects Game in 2015 and was later named to the USHL All-Academic Team in 2016. He was drafted to the USHL after working his way through a couple different levels in the Chicago Mission club program.
Cody Haiskanen
Defenseman — 6-foot-4, 190 pounds — Fargo, N.D. — Fargo Force (USHL)
Haiskanen recorded 28 points on four goals and 24 assists last year in 60 games for his hometown Fargo Force of the USHL. He won the Manitoba Junior Hockey League championship in 2015-16 season, putting up similar numbers with the Portage Terriers. Prior to that, he was a rookie of the year and captain of the Ronald H. Davies High School team in Fargo.
Brenden Locke
Forward — 5-foot-10, 180 pounds — Iroquois Falls, Ontario — Cobourg Cougars (OJHL)
Locke joins the Big Red fresh off an RBC Cup championship in 2017, helping the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Cobourg Cougars to Canada’s Junior A national title. He had six assists in six games for the host team. He played two seasons with Cobourg, racking up 87 points on 35 goals and 52 assists over 88 games. A 2013 pick at the OHL Priority Selection, Locke instead played the next two seasons with Abitibi Eskimos in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. His 55 points during the 2013-14 season was the most in the league for a rookie, then his 81 points in 46 games the following year was good for fourth in the league.
Austin McGrath
Goaltender — 6-foot-1, 180 pounds — Lloydminster, Alberta — Lloydminster Bobcats (AJHL)
In his only full season in Junior A, McGrath was the primary goaltender for the Bobcats during the 2016-17 season. He was a finalist for the league’s Rookie of the Year honor with a 3.53 goals against average and .905 save percentage for a team that finished in last place in its division. McGrath was selected in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft, though he spent next three years on the Bobcats’ Midget AAA team. He broke through in the 2015-16 season and was named the league’s top goaltender, backstopping his team to a league and regional championship. His 0.44 GAA and .980 save percentage in the postseason earned him playoff MVP honors.
Tristan Mullin
Forward — 6-foot-2, 195 pounds — Cartwright, Manitoba — Powell River Kings (BCHL)
Mullin ranked seventh in British Columbia Hockey League scoring last season with 70 points on 36 goals and 34 assists through 57 games with the Powell River Kings, having also won the team’s plus-minus award. A two-time alternate captain with the squad, he was also the team’s leading scorer in his first season in Powell River, racking up 56 points in 57 games during the 2015-16 campaign. Mullin’s last season playing in his native Manitoba saw him collect 52 points in 58 games with the Swan Valley Stampeders during the 2014-15 season.
