ITHACA, N.Y. – For the first time in nearly 15 years, the Cornell men’s hockey team ranks No. 1 in both the USCHO Division I Men’s Hockey Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll. Owners of the nation’s best winning percentage (.881) and currently riding the nation’s longest active unbeaten streak of 10 games (9-0-1), the Big Red ascended to the top spot in the both weekly polls released Monday afternoon.
Cornell (18-2-1, 12-1-1 ECAC Hockey) is coming off a pair of victories on the road last weekend at rivals Harvard and Dartmouth, clinching the program’s 22nd Ivy League title in the process. Junior forward Anthony Angello’s first collegiate hat trick provided all the offense in a 3-0 victory against the Crimson in front of a packed Bright-Landry Hockey Center in Cambridge, Mass.
Freshman goaltender Matthew Galajda tied a career-high with 35 saves for his third consecutive shutout in the game at Harvard. Though Dartmouth broke his lengthy shutout streak the following night, he still backstopped the Big Red to a 3-1 victory. Galajda’s shutout streak of 227 minutes, 11 seconds ranks second in program history and 13th all-time in NCAA Division I play.
Cornell’s ascension to No. 1 in the USCHO poll is a first for the program since March 28, 2003, just before the Big Red embarked on an NCAA tournament run that landed it in the national semifinals. Meanwhile, Cornell jumped all the way from fourth to first in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll – a first since Feb. 28, 2005. Pollsters bumped up the Big Red after previous No. 1 Notre Dame lost one of its two games last weekend against Minnesota.
With eight games remaining in the regular season, the Big Red returns to Lynah Rink this weekend for games against Union (7 p.m. Friday) and Rensselaer (7 p.m. Saturday).
