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ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell men’s hockey freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux has been named a Second Team All-ECAC Hockey honoree, the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon (March 11).

Veilleux finished the regular season with 24 points (6-18—24), ranking fourth among all ECAC Hockey defensemen. He was especially dominant in conference play, posting 18 points (3-15—18) in league games to lead all ECAC blueliners. Nationally, his 18 conference points tied for ninth among all Division I defensemen.

Entering this weekend’s ECAC Hockey best-of-three-game quarterfinal series against Harvard, Veilleux owns the second-highest point total among freshman defensemen in all of Division I, trailing only Penn State’s Jackson Smith (11-14—25) by a single point. He is one of just five first-year blueliners nationally with at least 20 points this season.

Veilleux is just the third Cornell freshman to earn a spot on one of ECAC Hockey’s three main all-league teams, joining goaltender Matthew Galajda (First Team in 2018) and Robertson (Third Team in 2023).

With his second-period goal against St. Lawrence on Feb. 27, Veilleux broke his tie with Chris Norton ’88 (4-19—23 in 1984-85) and Ben Robertson (5-18—23 in 2023-24) for the most points by a freshman defenseman in Cornell program history. His six goals this season are the second-most ever by a Cornell freshman defenseman, trailing only Joakim Ryan ’15 (seven) in 2011-12.

Five of Veilleux’s six goals this season have come on the power play, pacing the Big Red and tying Long Island’s Nick Bernardo, Colgate’s Isaiah Norlin and Clarkson’s Tate Taylor for the second-most power-play goals by a defenseman in Division I this season. Only Smith (seven) has more.

Having already more than doubled the Cornell program record for power-play goals by a freshman defenseman, Veilleux is the 14th blueliner (19th instance) in program history to record at least five power-play goals in a season. One more would make him the first Cornell defenseman with six power-play goals in a season since Nick D’Agostino ’13 in 2011-12, and just the 10th freshman in program history to reach that mark — the first since Michael Regush (six) in 2018-19. The last Big Red player of any position to reach six power-play goals was Dalton Bancroft, who had seven in 2023-24.

Veilleux and the ninth-ranked Cornell’s men’s hockey team (20-8-1) return to the ice this weekend after having an opening-round bye when it hosts bitter rival Harvard in a best-of-three quarterfinal series of the 2026 ECAC Men’s Hockey Championship. Puck drop for Friday and Saturday will be at 7 p.m., and if necessary, Sunday’s contest would be a 4 p.m. start. All games will be streamed live on ESPN+.

2026 ECAC HOCKEY ALL-SECOND TEAM

Goaltender: Emmett Croteau, Dartmouth

Defenseman: Isaiah Norlin, Colgate

Defenseman: Xavier Veilleux, Cornell

Forward: Hank Cleaves, Dartmouth

Forward: Brandon Buhr, Union

Forward: Antonin Verreault, Quinnipiac