CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In a matchup of the nation’s top goal-scorer and the nation’s top defensive team, the latter prevailed – specifically, Matthew Galajda, who continued to make history while backstopping the Cornell men’s hockey team to a 3-0 victory over rival Harvard on Friday night at sold-out Bright-Landry Hockey Center.
The goaltender was spectacular to become the Big Red’s first freshman to record three consecutive shutouts, and junior forward Anthony Angello notched his first collegiate hat trick to move into a tie for the team lead with 11 goals on the season.
Galajda made 35 saves to push his shutout streak to 220 minutes, 30 seconds – second-longest in program history behind the mark of 267:11 set by Ben Scrivens ’10 during March of his senior season. Galajda’s six shutouts are tied for the national lead and are tied for sixth-most in a single season in Big Red history. Eight of Galajda’s saves came against Harvard forward Ryan Donato, who leads the country with 20 goals.
With the victory, Cornell (17-2-1, 11-1-1 ECAC Hockey) pushed its unbeaten streak to a national-best nine games (8-0-1), while also putting itself in a distant lead in the Ivy League standings. Now 6-0-1 against Ancient Eight opponents, Cornell can win the Ivy League title outright with a victory Saturday at Dartmouth, or at least a split with a tie. The Big Red has won 21 Ivy League titles in program history.
Angello pushed his goal-scoring tear to nine in his last nine games, giving the Big Red a first-period lead on the rush. Galajda was then called upon several times to keep the visitors ahead. Five of Harvard’s seven shots on goal in the first period came in the final five minutes, including a stop of Jack Badini’s open shot from the slot with 5.8 seconds to play.
Not often during the Cornell’s hot streak has Galajda been called upon to stave off the opposition as often as he was in the second period, but he stopped all 13 turned his way – including a highlight-reel glove save on Michael Floodstrand’s redirection labeled for the top corner with 3:56 before the intermission. The Big Red penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3 – all in the game’s first 31 minutes – to push its streak of successful kills to 15.
Angello scored again 6:33 into the third period to not only give the Big Red a two-goal cushion, but also seemingly deflate a Harvard (9-7-4, 8-4-3 ECAC Hockey) squad that entered the game unbeaten in eight straight. Junior forward Mitch Vanderlaan had an assist on the play, pushing his points streak to a team-best five games. Angello then capped the scoring with a last-second empty-netter, just Cornell’s second of the season.
