When Matthew Galajda wakes up every morning in his dorm room at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, he pinches himself.
He has to. The former Victoria Grizzlies goaltender is having a dream freshman season for the NCAA’s Big Red. Or the Big Red Machine, as Cornell’s men’s hockey team is quickly being labelled.
Cornell is the No. 3-ranked team in NCAA hockey right now, with a 12-1-1 record in the East Coast Athletic Conference, and 19-3-1 overall.
And a big reason why is the play of Galajda, who capped his two years with the Grizzlies by leading the team to the B.C. Hockey League’s final four last season and being named the Island Division MVP.
Thriving in NCAA hockey as a freshman is no easy task. But Galajda is making it look easy. The 6-foot-one, 187-pound native of Aurora, Ont., has a 15-2-1 record with six shutouts and a staggering 1.61 goals-against average. The six shutouts broke a school record for shutouts in a season by a freshman — and you’re talking about a school that produced Hall of Famer and six-time Stanley Cup champion Ken Dryden. In fact, last month Galajda rolled off a shutout streak of 227 minutes and 11 seconds. It made him an easy choice for NCAA rookie of the month award, for the entire nation.
“Ya, it has been a pretty unbelievable season so far,” Galajda said Wednesday over the phone from Cornell and in between his hospitality and business administration classes.
“But I’ve got a team in front of me that has been great from the start and have a mindset that this is going to be our year, and we expect to win every time we go out there.”
That team in front of him has plenty of BCHL connections as well. There are four former Powell River Kings on Cornell — Kyle Betts, Cam Donaldson, Tristan Mullin and Edmonton Oilers draft pick Matt Cairns — as well as former Nanaimo Clippers standout Yanni Kaldis. So does the lone Grizzlies star get the Island bragging rights in the Cornell locker-room?
“No, those Powell River guys are pretty tight-knit but Yanni and I get a few digs in every now and then,” laughed Galajda.
Galajda also runs into some former Victoria teammates during ECAC games, including the speedy Tyler Welsh at Yale.
“We played them back in November and they got a late goal to give us our only tie, so that stung a bit, but Tyler is doing well and that’s a pretty good team.”
And this weekend Galajda and the Big Red travel upstate to face Clarkson and then St. Lawrence, where another former Grizzlies standout from last season is having a solid freshman season.
“Yes, it’ll be fun facing Jake [Stevens] again,” added Galajda. “We played St. Lawrence early in the season and they were going through a lot of injuries but now Jake says they’re healthy and it looks like they’re playing a lot better now, so it should be a good test up there.”
And does Galajda keep in touch with his former team, which is having another strong season, leading the Island Division again?
“Ya, I talk to Berg [Carter Berger] and Nico [Somerville] and they say things are going pretty good now so that’s great to hear.
“And I know Alex [Newhook] quite well from working at St. Andrew’s College [prep school in Ontario] one summer when he was there. He’s a great guy and I’m happy he is doing really well, too.”
Galajda’s play at Cornell is starting to attract the attention of NHL scouts, but the 20-year-old insists he’s focused on the task at hand: getting the Big Red to the Frozen Four national championship tournament.
“I haven’t really thought about the pro stuff,” he said. “I’m staying focused on my schooling and like the rest of my teammates, I think we have the team that can win a national championship so I’m just trying to help them win games.”
Galajda didn’t start out as Cornell’s go-to guy this season. That job belonged to senior netminder Hayden Stewart. But Stewart went down early in the season with an injury, sending Galajda into the spotlight, and he hasn’t looked back since.
“I didn’t start the first two games but then Hayden got hurt and the team turned to me and I took it and ran,” he added.
He’s also not losing sight of life after hockey, hitting the books hard.
“I’m doing a lot of business and accounting stuff in addition to the learning about the hospitality industry because I would like one day to get into real estate development in that area, so school is going good right now.”
But the hockey is going a little better.
“We have six games left before the conference playoffs so if we can keep it up and go into playoffs on a roll, I think we can have a long run.”
That run might very well take Galajda and the Big Red to the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minnesota, in early April where an NCAA championship awaits.
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