ITHACA, N.Y. — ECAC Hockey announced that Cornell men’s hockey freshman forward Ben Berard has been named the league Rookie of the Week.
Berard was tied for the league lead in scoring for the weekend with a goal and an assist. Additionally, both of his points came at even strength and he had a league-best plus-4 rating over the home sweep of Quinnipiac and Princeton. Berard also led all league newcomers in scoring last week with three assists.
Berard started the weekend by picking up the primary assist on junior forward Brenden Locke’s goal early in the second period of a 2-1 victory over Quinnipiac. He gained control of the puck below the goal line and stick-handled around a pair of defenders before dishing off a pass to Locke from the bottom of the circle. The next night, Berard scored his first collegiate goal on a one-timer from a similar spot, slamming in a feed from senior defenseman Yanni Kaldis to give Cornell a three-goal lead against the Tigers. The Big Red would go on to win, 5-1, to move to 8-0 for the first time since the 1971-72 season.
The Big Red now lays claim to the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week accolade for three of the four weeks since its season began, though this is Berard’s first honor. Freshman defenseman Sam Malinski garnered the award on both Nov. 4 and Nov. 11.
Cornell returns to action this weekend with its annual trip to Madison Square Garden in New York. The Big Red takes to the ice at The World’s Most Famous Arena at 8 p.m. Saturday, battling with Boston University at Red Hot Hockey. Information on how to buy tickets is available through the Cornell Athletic Ticketing Office.
