Cornell men’s hockey junior forward Jonathan Castagna was named one of three finalists for the 2026 ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward award, according to a March 17 announcement.
The recognition highlights Castagna’s strong performance throughout the season, both defensively and offensively. He is joined as a finalist by Cam MacDonald from Dartmouth and David Jacobs from Princeton.
Castagna, who earned First Team All-ECAC Hockey honors, has been noted for his elite faceoff skills, heavy defensive responsibilities, and offensive contributions. He led the nation in faceoff win percentage among players with at least 100 wins at 64.7 percent entering postseason play. This figure surpassed all other ECAC Hockey skaters and was nearly four percentage points higher than Notre Dame’s Panayioti Fimis. His total of 368 faceoff wins ranked first among ECAC centers and tenth nationally.
His faceoff dominance marks the highest win percentage by a Cornell player in regular-season play with at least 100 wins since the 2012-13 season. Additionally, his blocked shots—32 during the regular season—were third-most among ECAC forwards. Castagna also scored three short-handed goals, tying him for second-most in Division I hockey this year and marking the most by a Cornell player since Mike Iggulden in 2004-05.
Defensively, Castagna helped anchor what is currently the nation’s top-scoring defense with an average of just 1.91 goals allowed per game. Offensively, he led Cornell with 32 points over the regular season.
The winner of the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward award will be announced Thursday evening in Lake Placid ahead of the semifinal round of the championship tournament. Cornell, ranked eighth nationally and seeded third in the conference tournament with a record of 22-9-1, will play fourth-seeded Princeton on Friday at Herb Brooks Arena.
