Team Notes: Cornell Homestand Continues with Yale, Brown
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men’s hockey team continues
its four-game homestand this weekend with a pair of ECAC Hockey
contests against Yale and Brown. The Big Red will try to get to the
.500 mark for the first time this season with a pair of wins
against the Bulldogs and the Bears, while the next victory this
season for the Big Red will be the 300th career win in the history
of Cornell head coach Mike Schafer. Friday night’s game will
be televised live on CBS College Sports with Eric Frede and Dave
Starman calling the action, while both games can be heard locally
on WHCU 870 AM with Jason Weinstein on the call.
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell split its two games last weekend, scoring a 4-1 victory
against Quinnipiac on Friday night before dropping a heartbreaking
2-1 overtime decision to Princeton on Saturday. Cornell moved to
2-2 in ECAC Hockey play with the second straight weekend split. On
Friday night against the Bobcats, four different players scored a
goal and 11 skaters got in the act with one point apiece.
Cornell’s defensive corps led the way, scoring three goals
and adding a pair of assists on the night, with Nick
D’Agostino, Braden Birch and Sean Whitney each scoring a
goal. Locke Jillson had the lone goal among the forwards. Mike
Garman picked up his first career victory with the win over the
Bobcats. On Saturday, Mike Devin scored with 8.2 seconds left in
regulation to send the game to overtime, but Princeton collected
the game-winner 2:35 into the extra session as Andy Iles took the
loss in goal. For the season, freshman Dustin Mowrey leads the Big
Red offense with five points on three goals and two assists, with
another five players right behind with four points apiece. Andy
Iles and Mike Garman have split time in goal, with both goaltenders
posting a 1-2 record. Iles has a 2.15 goals-against average and a
.932 save percentage, while Garman has a .886 save percentage and a
3.28 goals-against average. Cornell’s special teams have
taken a while to get on track, converting just 3-of-28 power play
chances (10.7 percent, 50th in the nation) while killing off
29-of-34 opponents’ power plays (85.3 percent, 18th
nationally).
ABOUT YALE
Yale enters the weekend ranked fifth nationally in the USA
Today/USA Hockey poll, slipping one spot after splitting a pair of
games in Colorado last weekend. The Bulldogs, taking a weekend off
from ECAC Hockey action, defeated Colorado College, 5-1, on
Saturday, before dropping a 4-3 contest at Air Force on Sunday
night, a game that Yale led, 3-0, early in the third period. The
Bulldogs feature a high-flying offense, scoring 32 goals in the
first six games, to lead the nation in scoring offense. Much like
last season, however, the Bulldogs have struggled to find
consistency with their goaltending corps, allowing 2.67 goals per
game. Offensively, the three-headed attack of Denny Kearney, Broc
Little and Brian O’Neill leads the team in scoring, with
Kearney and Little tied for the team lead with 12 points each and
O’Neill right behind with 11 points. Yale has gotten most of
its offensive production from its forwards, with Mike Matczak
leading the defensemen with four points but ranking eighth on the
team in scoring. Yale has converted 21.9 percent of its power-play
chances (7-of-32, third nationally) while ranking 45th in the
country in penalty-killing percentage, successfully ending 32-of-41
opponents’ power plays (78.0 percent).
THE SERIES WITH YALE
Cornell and Yale have met 136 times in men’s hockey, with
Friday’s 137th meeting moving the Cornell-Yale series into a
tie with the Cornell-Colgate series for the most games against a
single opponent. The Big Red leads the series with the Bulldogs, a
series that dates back to the 1902-03 season, with a 77-54-5 mark
in the series. Last season, the Bulldogs took both meetings,
scoring a 4-2 win on Nov. 13, 2009, in New Haven, Conn., before
claiming a 2-1 overtime victory against the Big Red on Feb. 13,
2010, at Lynah Rink. Yale has won each of the last five contests
against the Big Red, though Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is
17-12-4 against the Bulldogs.
ABOUT BROWN
The Bears are one of the nation’s most improved teams from
this point last season, advancing to the semifinals of the ECAC
Hockey tournament last year as a testament to how far Brown has
progressed under second-year head coach Brendan Whittet. The Bears,
who were off last weekend, enter this weekend’s trip to
Colgate and Cornell with a 1-2-1 overall and league record. Jack
Maclellan leads the team in scoring with six points on two goals
and four assists, while freshman Dennis Robertson leads the team
with three goals. In goal, Mike Clemente and Marco DeFilippo have
split time through the first four games, with Clemente posting a
4.80 goals-against average and a .861 save percentage. DeFilippo,
meanwhile, has a 2.52 goals-against average and a .921 save
percentage. The Bears rank second in the nation in power-play
percentage, having scored on 7-of-21 extra-man opportunities (33.3
percent), though Brown has struggled with killing off penalties,
ranking 50th in the country (16-of-21, 76.2 percent).
THE SERIES WITH BROWN
Cornell and Brown have met 112 times since the first-ever matchup
in 1958-59, with Cornell holding a 67-39-5 lead in the all-time
series. Last season, Cornell swept the season series, scoring a 6-0
win on Nov. 14, 2009, in Providence, R.I., before claiming a 5-3
win on Feb. 12, 2010, at Lynah Rink. The Big Red then capped the
season trifecta with a 3-0 win over the Bears in the ECAC Hockey
semifinals on March 18, 2010, at Lynah Rink. Cornell has won five
straight matchups against Brown, and Cornell head coach Mike
Schafer carries a 26-3-3 record against Brown during his coaching
tenure.
ONE MORE TO THE MILESTONE
Cornell head coach Mike Schafer needs one more victory to reach
the 300 mark for his career, a milestone that only 45 other coaches
in Division I have ever reached. Schafer ranks third in ECAC Hockey
in coaching victories among current bench bosses, trailing
Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold by just four wins.
ANOTHER MILESTONE NEARS
The Big Red’s 4-1 win against Quinnipiac last Friday marked
the 988th all-time victory in the history of the Cornell program.
Cornell ranks 17th all-time in wins by current NCAA Division I
programs, trailing Dartmouth by 15. Cornell needs 12 more wins to
become the 17th program to record 1000 all-time victories. The Big
Red also ranks fifth in ECAC Hockey in victories, trailing Clarkson
(1,306), Harvard (1,293), Yale (1,121) and Dartmouth (1,003).
YET ANOTHER MILESTONE
Cornell needs another 11 victories at Lynah Rink to post the 500th
win at the storied venue. If Cornell wins every home game the rest
of the year, it would win its 500th victory in the regular-season
home finale on Feb. 19 against Dartmouth.
RISK/REWARD
Cornell has had some success playing with the extra attacker this
season when trailing late in games. While the Big Red has allowed
three empty-net goals – one in each of the first three games
of the year – Cornell has also scored twice with the extra
attacker.
ANOTHER LONG AWAITED DEBUT
A pair of sophomores this season have made their collegiate debuts
after being scratched for every game last season. Vince Mihalek
made his debut on Oct. 30 against RIT, collecting an assist in that
contest. Meanwhile, defenseman Jarred Seymour made his first career
appearance on Nov. 13 against Princeton after Nick D’Agostino
and Mathieu Brisson were sidelined. Every skater on the Cornell
roster has appeared in at least one game in his career.
INTO THE LEAD
Senior defenseman Mike Devin’s goal and two assists this
season have moved him into a tie with Michael Kennedy for the team
lead in career scoring. Devin has 10 goals and 31 assists in 104
games, while Kennedy has 15 goals and 26 assists in 101
contests.
OUT IN FRONT
Cornell is 2-0 this season when scoring the game’s first
goal, but has lost all four of the games that it has given up the
opening tally of the contest. Cornell has also won both games that
it has led after one period.
WORKED WELL LAST TIME
Cornell opened the 2010-11 season with three straight defeats,
something that hasn’t happened since the 1979-80 season.
While Cornell finished that season with a 16-15 record, the Big Red
peaked at the right time, winning the ECAC championship and
advancing to the Frozen Four for the first time since
1973.
BALANCED ATTACK
When Cornell got its first win of the season on Nov. 6 at
Clarkson, it came by way of a balanced offensive attack. A total of
13 different skaters collected at least one point on the night,
with four players – Jordan Kary, Kirill Gotovets, Locke
Jillson and Dan Nicholls – collecting a pair of points.
A CHANGE WILL DO YOU GOOD
Jordan Kary and Keir Ross benefitted from a pair of scoring
changes after the Clarkson game on Nov. 6. Kary was credited with
the game’s second goal, originally awarded to Braden Birch,
giving him the first two goals, including the game-winner. Ross,
meanwhile, was given the second assist on the Big Red’s sixth
goal, giving him his first point of the year.
THAT WAS QUICK
Jordan Kary has needed just four games this season to record a
career season high for points, with those two points even coming in
one game. Entering the season, Kary had just two career points,
collecting an assist as a freshman and a goal as a junior. He
equaled that output on Nov. 6 against Clarkson, scoring a pair of
goals against the Golden Knights.
SHORT-HANDED
John Esposito’s goal against New Hampshire marked the first
short-handed goal for a Cornell player in a span of 59 games since
Riley Nash scored short-handed against St. Cloud State on Dec. 27,
2008, in Estero, Fla.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Of the seven players to share the team lead in scoring entering
the weekend, six of those are underclassmen, with the seventh being
a player known more for his physical play than his offensive
prowess, senior Dan Nicholls. Of the other six players, three are
sophomores, two are juniors and one is a freshman.
THE FIRST ONE’S OUT OF THE WAY
Freshman Andy Iles picked up his first win of his career on Nov. 6
at Clarkson, picking up 35 saves in the victory. Iles is now 1-2 on
the year and has seen action in four of the Big Red’s six
games this season. Mike Garman, meanwhile, scored his first victory
of his career when he stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced on Nov.
12 against Quinnipiac at Lynah Rink.
NOT BLANKED OFTEN
Cornell’s shutout loss at St. Lawrence on Nov. 5 marked the
first time that the Big Red had been shut out since falling to Yale
in the 2009 ECAC Hockey championship game in Albany, N.Y., by a 5-0
margin. Cornell went both NCAA tournament games that season, all of
last season and the first two games of 2010-11 without being
blanked, a span of 38 games.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
All six members of the freshman class made their collegiate debut
during the season’s opening weekend on Oct. 29-30 against New
Hampshire and RIT. Dustin Mowrey, Rodger Craig, Kirill Gotovets and
Andy Iles saw time in both games, while Mathieu Brisson and Armand
de Swardt both played in one game apiece, with Brisson appearing in
the RIT game and de Swardt playing against New Hampshire.
THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN HERE
When New Hampshire scored seven times against the Big Red in the
season opener on Oct. 29, it marked the first time that an opponent
scored seven goals at Lynah Rink since Providence did so on Jan. 5,
1999, in a 7-3 Friar victory. It’s been even longer since
Cornell gave up seven in a season opener - in fact, it’s
never happened since Lynah Rink has been open. The last time the
Big Red gave up seven goals in a season opener came in the 1947-48
season when Cornell lost, 9-0, to Army.
ALLOWING A DOZEN
Traditionally one of the nation’s top defensive teams,
Cornell allowed 12 goals in the first weekend of the season on Oct.
29-30 against New Hampshire and RIT. The Big Red hadn’t given
up 12 goals in a weekend since Feb. 6-7, 1999, at Yale and
Princeton. That weekend, Cornell dropped the opener, 11-0, at
Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Conn., before rebounding the following
night with a 4-1 victory at Princeton. The last time Cornell gave
up at least 12 goals in back-to-back losses came in Brian
McCutcheon’s final games as head coach, losing at Clarkson on
March 6-7, 1995, by 6-2 and 7-2 scores.
0-2 OPENERS
The last time Cornell began a season 0-2 was the 2007-08 season,
when the Big Red dropped contests to RIT and Princeton to begin the
year. The Big Red rebounded in the third game to record a 5-3 win
against Quinnipiac to avoid going 0-3 to begin the season. Cornell
concluded that season with a 19-14-3 record and a third-place
finish in the ECAC Hockey tournament. The Big Red last began a
season 0-3 in 1979-80, falling twice to Notre Dame and at Brown
before picking up a victory in game number four at Yale. In spite
of the start, Cornell wound up winning the ECAC Hockey championship
that season and finished fourth at the NCAA tournament.
THE ELDER STATESMAN
Quick, what Cornell player has appeared in the most games over the
course of his career with the Big Red? If you guessed senior
defenseman Mike Devin, you guessed correctly. Devin appeared in his
100th career game on Oct. 30 against RIT leads the team with 104
games played. Patrick Kennedy has also hit triple digits in games
played, having appeared in 101 contests entering this weekend.
THREE RIVERS RECAP
Cornell answered a lot of questions about its offensive abilities
with a five-goal first period in its exhibiton opener against
Quebec at Trois-Rivieres on Oct. 21. Joe Devin and Tyler Roeszler
both had a pair of goals in the first period, with Roezler tallying
three points in all on the evening. Freshman Armand de Swardt had a
goal and an assist, while Braden Birch and Greg Miller both had a
pair of helpers. Mike Garman got the start in goal, posting 23
saves for the victory.
USA! USA! USA!
Cornell’s offensive outburst continued in the second
exhibition of the season, defeating the U.S. U18 National Team,
6-0, on Oct. 23. Joe Devin had a pair of goals and a pair of
assists for a four-point night to lead the way for the Big Red.
Junior Sean Collins had a goal and two assists, while John Esposito
and Keir Ross both had a pair of assists. Kirill Gotovets had a
goal and an assist, with Rodger Craig and Tyler Roeszler both
adding a goal. Andy Iles posted 30 saves in his unofficial Cornell
debut to record the shutout.
A SOUTHWEST FLAVOR
Cornell’s roster in 2010-11 features a trio of players from
the state of Texas, in juniors Locke Jillson and Keir Ross and
freshman Armand de Swardt, with all three calling the Dallas area
home. Cornell has now had four players from the Lone Star State, as
the trio joins David McKee in hailing from Texas.
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE
Freshman Kirill Gotovets got a taste of the big time in May when
he was selected to represent his native Belarus in the 2010 IIHF
World Championships – not an age group World Championships
(though he did play for Belarus at the U20 World Championship as
well) – but playing against some of the best players the
world has to offer. He played in three of Belarus’ eight
games at the World Championships, recording two shots and two
minutes in penalties, helping his nation to a 10th-place finish.
Gotovets has been in the United States for the last two years while
attending school at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota.
BROTHERLY LOVE
A pair of Cornell players have older brothers who are currently on
rosters of NHL clubs, with four players having older brothers
playing professional hockey at some level. Junior Sean
Whitney’s older brother, Ryan, plays for the Anaheim Ducks,
while sophomore Chris Moulson’s brother, Matt, plays with the
New York Islanders. Another player, sophomore John Esposito, has an
older brother, Angelo, who plays for the Chicago Wolves of the
American Hockey League (Atlanta affiliate), with senior Patrick
Kennedy’s older brother, Michael, playing in the ECHL for the
Florida Everblades.
IS THERE A DRAFT IN HERE?
Cornell has four players on the roster for 2010-11 who have been
selected by NHL clubs. Junior Sean Collins (Columbus), sophomores
Braden Birch (Chicago) and Nick D’Agostino (Pittsburgh) and
freshman Kirill Gotovets (Tampa Bay) are each the property of NHL
clubs after having been drafted prior to beginning their careers at
Cornell.
AMERICAN INFLUENCE
The Big Red roster in 2010-11 has nine players who call the United
States home, up from seven last season and tied for second-most on
a Mike Schafer-coached Big Red team. Cornell had 10 Americans on
the roster in 1997-98, Schafer’s third season, and had nine
in 1999-2000, 2006-07 and 2008-09.
HOMETOWN HERO
With programs in major cities like in Boston and Minneapolis,
it’s commonplace for a hometown player to suit up for the
local college team, but that’s not something as common in a
city like Ithaca. So when freshman goaltender Andy Iles made his
official collegiate debut on Oct. 29 against New Hampshire, he
became the first Ithaca native to play for Cornell since Mike
Tallman, who suited up for 37 games in three seasons from 1986-87
to 1988-89.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is quickly moving up the ranks of
the coaching fraternity in his win totals. Now in his 16th season,
Schafer has 299 career victories, ranking him third in ECAC Hockey,
but with the shortest tenure of the two ahead of him in the
rankings. Schafer trails only Quinnipiac’s Rand Pecknold by
four, with St. Lawrence’s Joe Marsh well ahead with 457
career wins.
UP NEXT
The Big Red will play a special non-conference contest against
Colgate at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., the home to the
New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League. The Big Red and
Raiders will meet on Sat., Nov. 27, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are
available now through the Cornell Athletic Ticket Office.
