ITHACA, N.Y. — ECAC Hockey announced Monday that Cornell forward Cam Donaldson has been named the men’s Player of the Week. The sophomore led ECAC Hockey in goals and points over that span, spearheading the Big Red’s two-game sweep of nationally-ranked Arizona State over the weekend at Lynah Rink.
Donaldson’s statistics were impressive enough on face value — but the way in which he accumulated them made the numbers more impactful. All of his points came in the first periods, helping the Big Red build 2-0 leads over the Sun Devils after 20 minutes of both games. He was the only player in the country with three goals and four points in the first period alone last week.
On Friday, Donaldson made the final connection in an impressive sequence of passes leading up to classmate Brenden Locke’s goal. He then turned on the jets to scoop up a loose puck and flip a backhand over the glove of Arizona State goaltender Joey Daccord – who leads the nation in victories (16) and shutouts (six) – to double the lead heading into the intermission in what ultimately ended up being a 6-1 rout.
In the rematch on Saturday, Donaldson scored just 61 seconds in on a turnaround shot from the slot. He then capped a two-on-one rush with linemate Morgan Barron with a shot from the right circle that went bar down later in the frame.
This marks the second straight week that Cornell has claimed an ECAC Hockey accolade, with classmate Austin McGrath tabbed the circuit’s goaltender of the week on Jan. 7. It’s Donaldson’s first career ECAC Hockey weekly honor, and the Big Red’s first league player of the week since Anthony Angello on Jan. 31, 2018.
Now 9-5-1 overall with ECAC Hockey’s second-best winning percentage, Cornell has climbed to 14th in the Pairwise rankings – which are used at season’s end to determine the at-large berths to the NCAA tournament.
The Big Red return to ECAC Hockey play for the remainder of the regular season, starting with home games against Ivy League rivals Harvard at 7 p.m. Friday and Dartmouth at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday through the Cornell Athletic Ticketing Office in Bartels Hall.
