The Ivy League released their end of the season awards today and the Big Red were featured six times. Freshman goaltender Matthew Galajda was named Ivy League Player of the Year, Goaltender of the Year, and Rookie of the Year after an outstanding 2017-2018 campaign. Galajda was also a unanimous choice for All-Ivy League first team where he's joined by his teammate, sophomore Yanni Kaldis. Juniors Alec McCrea and Anthony Angello earned second team honors, and junior Mitch Vanderlaan was an honorable mention.
Head coach Mike Schafer, class of '86, was also honored by being named Ivy League Coach of the Year. The Ivy League added this award in 2015 and it's Schafer's first time receiving the honor.
The Ivy League awards are unique in the sense that only Ivy League games are considered in the selection process. Considering the Big Red captured the Ivy League title with 9-0-1 record in league play, it's no surprise that several were honored.
Galajda's Road to Glory
Sweeping the major Ivy League awards is icing on the cake to Galajda's amazing freshman campaign. Coming into the season, there were big skates to fill after the departure of Mitch Gillam last season. On top of that, Galajda wasn't even pegged to be the opening day starter. It wasn't until Hayden Stewart suffered an injury that Galajda saw the ice.
All he did was go 18-3-2 with a .941 save percentage, lead the nation in Goals against average and shutouts, and propel Cornell to No.2 in the nation (according to USCHO.com) in his first year for the Big Red. No big deal.
Galajda prepping to make a save
Two of his nation-leading eight shutouts came against Ivy League opponents, most notably at 35 save performance on the road against Harvard on January 26. Overall, Galajda was 7-0-1 in Ancient Eight play. His 1.49 GAA is almost half a goal better than Corbin Kaczperski of Yale who came in at no.2 with a 1.92.
A goalie is only as strong as the five guys in front of him however, and Galajda is no exception. Cornell allowed only 44 goals this season. That averages out to a stifling 1.52 goals per game allowed as a team. Galajda and the defense were pivotal in helping the Big Red capture its 22nd Ivy League title, and its first undefeated season in the Ivy League since the 1995-1996 season, Shafer's first year as head coach.
Galajda is the Big Red’s first Ivy League Player of the Year since Andy Iles ’14, and the first Rookie of the Year since Brian Ferlin in 2012.
Leaders of the Pack
Of the four players representing Cornell on either the first or second team, three of them led or tied for the league lead in a statistical category (see above for Galajda). In his junior year, Anthony Angello led the Ivy League with five game-winning in ten games and tied for the Ivy League lead in goals overall.
Angello splits the defense against Harvard. Photo courtesy: Harvard Athletics
Yanni Kaldis is on the first team for the second year in a row thanks to his share of the league lead in scoring among defensemen with eight points.
As for Alex McCrea, while he didn't lead the league in a statistic, he did do this. And that will go down in Cornell, and Ivy League history.