With nine seniors departing at the end of last season, men’s hockey will welcome 10 rookies this season with the hopes of building off the success of the 2022-23 campaign. The Red finished last year with an Ivy League title and an NCAA Tournament berth, falling just one game shy of the Frozen Four.
With the team only carrying two seniors this season due to pandemic-altered eligibility rules, Cornell will turn to its underclassmen to fill in the gaps. Ten freshman, six sophomores, 10 juniors and two seniors comprise the 2023-24 Cornell roster.
Half of the incoming class are NHL Draft picks, with three of those picks coming in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and two from 2022. The three picks in this year’s draft mark the most Cornell selections since the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
Jonathan Castagna (Etobicoke, Ontario) – Forward
This past June, Castagna was selected in the third round, 70th overall, in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft by the Arizona Coyotes. This was the highest selection of an incoming Cornell player since Matt Steinberg ’23 was selected 63rd overall by the Colorado Avalanche. And just like Steinberg, star-goaltender Matthew Galajda ‘21 and former captain Morgan Barron ‘21, Castagna spent the past two seasons at St. Andrew’s College, registering 92 points in 85 career games.
Tyler Catalano (St. Louis, MO) – Forward
Catalano arrives on East Hill after helping lead the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL to the 2023 Clark Cup. In his three-year stint with the Phantoms, he recorded 24 points in 113 career games. In his final year with the Phantoms, he scored a career-high eight goals in the regular season and had two assists in the team’s run to the Clark Cup.
Luke Devlin (Toronto, Ontario) – Forward
Devlin was selected in the sixth round (182nd overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, making him the first Penguins’ draft pick since Anthony Angello (2014). Devlin spent 2022-23 with the BCHL’s West Kelowna, notching 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists) across 56 contests. He spent the year prior at St. Andrew’s College where his 47 points (19 goals, 28 assists) had him named Team MVP and Offensive Player of the Year. Devlin also split time between the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers and the US National Team Development Program.
Jacob Kraft (Churchville, NY) – Forward
Kraft, a Western New York native, is a center who spent the 2022-23 season in the USHL with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. Kraft logged 32 points (17 goals, 15 assists) across 56 contests. Prior to his time in Cedar Rapids, he served as an alternate captain at Kent School in Connecticut, notching 44 points (25 goals, 19 assists) in just 28 games in 2021-22.
Ryan Walsh (Rochester, NY) – Forward
Walsh was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the 2023 NHL Draft with the 188th overall pick. He spent the past year in the USHL with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders where he amassed 79 points (30 goals, 49 assists), breaking the franchise record for most points in a single season. After a record-shattering season, he was a USHL First-Team All Star selection.
George Fegaras (Richmond Hill, Ontario) – Defenseman
In the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Fegaras was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the third round, 83rd overall. Fegaras spent last season in the USHL with the Muskegon Lumberjacks, where he logged 27 points (four goals, 23 assists) in 61 games and served as an alternate captain. The defenseman spent the year prior with the OJHL’s North York Rangers, where his 48 points (13 goals, 35 assists) across 52 games earned him First Team All-Star honors, Rookie of the Year and the B.J. Monro Memorial Trophy as the top prospect in the OJHL.
Marián Moško (Visolaje, Slovakia) – Defenseman
Just the second Slovakian player at Cornell, Moško split his last season in the USHL between the Lincoln Stars and the Fargo Force, registering five points in 42 games. He represented Slovakia on the international stage on two occasions, earning a gold medal at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Under-18 Division I, Group A tournament and a silver medal at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Ben Robertson (Potomac Falls, VA) – Defenseman
Robertson comes to Cornell with two seasons in the USHL under his belt, most recently with the Waterloo Black Hawks. In his last season with the Black Hawks, he had 42 assists, which were the most by a defenseman in the USHL that season. He also played two games with the US National Team Development Program and the US National Under-17 Team.
Hoyt Stanley (West Vancouver, British Columbia) – Defenseman
Stanley was selected in the fourth round, 108th overall, by the Ottawa Senators in the 2023 Draft, making him the second Senators draft pick in Cornell hockey history. Stanley spent the last two years with the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL, where in 2022-23 he put up an impressive 38 points (four goals, 34 assists) in 53 games. The defenseman’s performance had him named to the BCHL All-Rookie team and earned him a spot in the BCHL Top Prospects Game.
Liam Steele (Cobham, England) – Defenseman
Steele, the first English player in Cornell hockey history, is a big-bodied defenseman who split time between two teams in the BCHL in 2022-23. Over 43 games, he registered 16 points (three goals, 13 assists). Prior to last season, Steele spent two years in the Canadian prep circuit as a captain at Stanstead College, where he logged 30 points in 30 games. Steele has represented Great Britain two consecutive years at the IIHF World Junior Championships, registering seven points in 10 total games.