ITHACA, N.Y. — ECAC Hockey announced Tuesday that Cornell freshman defenseman Yanni Kaldis has been named the league’s Rookie of the Week after his pivotal role in the Big Red’s road sweep of ECAC Hockey leader Union and Rensselaer last weekend.
Kaldis led all ECAC Hockey freshmen with three points last week, scoring his first collegiate goal in dramatic fashion on Saturday night. His goal on the power play came with 24.6 seconds left in the third period, leading Cornell to a 4-3 victory at RPI and capping the Big Red’s first sweep of the annual Capital District trip since Jan. 16-17, 2009.
A regular top-four contributor on the blue line all season, Kaldis also assisted on Matt Buckles’ tying goal against the Engineers earlier in the third period, and his stretch pass sprung Alex Rauter for a breakaway goal to kick off the scoring in Friday’s win over #4/5 Union.
This marks Kaldis’ second career ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honor, as he also garnered the accolade early in the season when he had three power-play assists in a Nov. 5 game at Harvard. It’s the fourth ECAC Hockey weekly award bestowed on the Big Red this season, with sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan named Player of the Week on Nov. 15 and freshman forward Jeff Malott tabbed as Rookie of the Week on Jan. 16.
