Team Notes: Cornell Travels to Capital District for Pair of Televised Games

ITHACA, N.Y. -- With just six games remaining in the ECAC Hockey regular season, the Cornell men's hockey team will have a chance to showcase itself when it plays a pair of televised contests in the Capital District. Cornell will face off against Union on Friday, a game televised live in Central New York and the Capital District on Time Warner Cable Sports, while Saturday features the Big Red taking on Rensselaer in a 3:30 p.m. matinee that will be seen nationwide on the NHL Network. Cornell currently trails both teams in the league standings, entering the weekend five points behind second-place Union and just one point back of third-place Rensselaer. Union and Rensselaer also offer two of the stingiest defenses in the country, ranking fourth and second in the nation, respectively, in scoring defense. Both of this weekend's games can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU 870 AM with Jason Weinstein providing the call of the action, while live streaming audio of both contests is also available through the Cornell Redcast subscription service.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell extended its winning streak to three games with a sweep over the North Country foes at Lynah Rink last weekend. The Big Red defeated Clarkson, 5-2, on Friday night, then needed a two-goal rally in the third period to force overtime, where Greg Miller scored the game-winner in a 4-3 win against St. Lawrence. The four-point weekend helped to lift the Big Red into a tie for fourth in the ECAC Hockey standings, just six points behind league-leading Yale. On the weekend, Joe Devin led the Big Red with three goals and two assists for five points, while Miller had a goal and three assists, including the Saturday game-winner. Mike Garman got the start on Friday and stopped 23-of-25 shots faced, while Andy Iles stopped 15 of the 18 shots he faced against the Saints on Saturday. For the year, Miller leads the team in scoring with 22 points on three goals and 19 assists, while Joe Devin is second with 20 points on 11 goals and nine assists. In all, seven different players have recorded double-digits in points this season, with another two players one point shy of that mark. In goal, the Big Red has used the tandem of Iles and Garman through most of the season, with both netminders posting nearly identical numbers. Iles has a .915 save percentage and a 2.36 goals-against average, while Garman has a .9191 save percentage to go along with a 2.27 goals-against average. For the season, the Big Red power play has converted on 17-of-92 chances (18.5 percent, 29th nationally) while killing off 91-of-105 opponents' power plays (88.5 percent, sixth nationally).

ABOUT UNION
The Dutchmen enter the weekend in second place in the ECAC Hockey standings, just one point behind league-leading Yale. The Dutchmen have been on fire recently, winning 10 of their last 12 contests since the mid-semester break. Over that span, Union has gone 9-1 in ECAC Hockey action, including a 5-1 victory over the Big Red on Jan. 15 at Lynah Rink. For the season, Jeremy Welsh leads the squad in scoring with 32 points on 14 goals and 18 assists in 30 games, while Daniel Carr and Kelly Zajac are also averaging at least a point per game this season, Carr leads the team with 16 goals, including a whopping 10 power-play tallies, while Zajac has a team-best 21 assists to go along with nine goals. In goal, Keith Kinkaid has seen the vast majority of time, posting a .920 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average. Union has converted on 40-of-131 power plays this season for a sizzling 30.5 percent conversion rate, the best in the nation. The Union penalty-killing unit, meanwhile, has killed off 100-of-120 opponents' chances for an 83.3 percent success rate, ranking tied for 22nd in the nation.

THE SERIES WITH UNION
Union wom the first matchup of the season between the two programs, scoring a 5-1 victory at Lynah Rink back on Jan. 15. The win snapped a seven-game winless streak for the Dutchmen dating back to a 3-2 win on Feb. 15, 2008, at Lynah Rink. All-time, the Big Red holds a 29-13-6 lead against the Dutchmen, while Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is 20-9-5 all-time against Union. The Big Red holds an 11-7-3 mark over the Dutchmen in games played at Messa Rink.

ABOUT RENSSELAER
The Engineers have also been hot as of late, going 7-2-1 since the turn of the calendar, with the two losses coming at home against Clarkson on Jan. 7 and at Cornell a week later. Rensselaer is 12-1 at home this season and stands just one point ahead of both Cornell and Dartmouth in the league standings. Rensselaer is led offensively by Chase Polacek's 42 points in 28 games on a team-best 17 goals and 25 assists. Tyler Helfrich and Nick Bailen both are averaging at least a point per game, with Helfrich tallying 30 points on 13 goals and 17 assists and Bailen scoring eight goals and 21 assists. In goal, Allen York has played most of the time, recording a 1.89 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. The Engineers have converted on 30-of-150 power-play chances (20.0 percent, tied for 16th in the nation), while the Rensselaer penalty-killing unit has successfully ended 130-of-153 opponents' power-play chances (85.0 percent, 12th nationally). 

THE SERIES WITH RENSSELAER
Cornell has had plenty of success against the Engineers lately, winning nine of the last 11 meetings and going 9-1-1 over that span. The Big Red claimed the first matchup of the year between the two sides with a 5-1 victory on Jan. 14 at Lynah Rink. All-time, Cornell holds a 58-31-6 lead in the series with Rensselaer, while head coach Mike Schafer holds a 26-10-4 lead in games played against Rensselaer. The Big Red also has a 23-17 mark against the Engineers in games played at the Houston Field House in Troy.
AN EYE ON THE POSTSEASON
With three weekends left in the regular season, only league-leading Yale has secured at least home ice for the first round of the playoffs, with all 11 other teams still with the potential – albeit slim in some cases – to finish among the bottom four and play the first round on the road. The race for the top four spots and the first-round bye is even tighter, as four teams are separated by four points for two spots. Cornell is among that group of four teams, standing tied with Dartmouth with 20 points, one back of third-place Rensselaer and one ahead of sixth-place Princeton.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...
Senior co-captain Joe Devin claimed the Big Red's first ECAC Hockey Player of the Week award of the season on Feb. 8 after leading the Big Red to a four-point weekend at home against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. On Feb. 4 against Clarkson, he had a goal and two assists, with his goal standing up as the game-winner, his third of the season. Then, the following night against the Saints, Devin tacked on two more goals, including the game-tying goal with 14.8 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime, where teammate Greg Miller scored the game-winner. Devin is the first player this season to garner one of the league's weekly awards.

CLICKING ON ALL CYLINDERS
The Big Red finally got its power-play unit on track on Feb. 4 and 5 against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, going 4-for-9 with the man advantage on the weekend. Cornell finished the contest against the Golden Knights with three goals in five power-play chances, the Big Red's first multiple power-play goal game since Oct. 29 against New Hampshire. Cornell then followed that up with a 1-for-4 showing on Saturday against St. Lawrence. For the season, Cornell has converted on 18.5 percent of its chances with the man advantage, ranking eighth in ECAC Hockey and 29th in the nation.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING!
Cornell enters this weekend's action with a three-game winning streak and a six-game unbeaten streak, having last lost on Jan. 15 against Union at Lynah Rink. Cornell is on its second three-game winning streak of the year after also posting a pair of three-game losing skids early in the season. The last time that the Big Red recorded two three-game winning streaks and two three-game losing streaks in the same season was 2006-07, when Cornell finished 14-13-4 overall. That season was a direct opposite of the current one, where Cornell started the year strong but dropped four straight contests to close out the year. This season, Cornell struggled early, but has gotten better as the season has progressed.

GETTING A CHANCE
With Mike Garman sidelined by the flu for the two games at Dartmouth and Harvard on Jan. 28-29, Andy Iles was called upon to make his first back-to-back weekend starts of the season, and the freshman from Ithaca responded with two of his strongest outings of the year. Iles stopped 31 of the 33 shots he saw at Dartmouth, then made 33 saves on 34 shots on Saturday against Harvard.

LESS IS MORE...
With Cornell two games over the .500 mark on the season, an examination of the shot totals from the Big Red's 11 wins shows that Cornell has been out-shot in five of those contests, while the Big Red has gotten the victory five times when it has taken fewer than 25 shots.

...BUT THERE'S A FINE LINE
While selective shooting appears to favor the Big Red this season, taking too few shots hasn't been good for the team's results. Cornell has been held under 20 shots four times this season, and has a 0-2-2 mark when taking less than 20 attempts at the goal. 

KILL RED KILL!
After going four straight games without allowing a power-play goal, the Big Red allowed three on Feb. 4-5 against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, giving up one to the Golden Knights on Friday before allowing a pair on Saturday to St. Lawrence. Cornell still managed to get the victory in both games, raising the team's mark to just 3-7-1 when allowing a power-play goal this season.

WALK THE LINE
With John Esposito sidelined due to injury for the six games from Jan. 7 through Jan. 22, head coach Mike Schafer combined the trio of Tyler Roeszler, Greg Miller and Joe Devin, and that line has immediately clicked for the Big Red. Over that six-game span, the trio combined for 21 points, nearly half of the 45 points scored by the Big Red as Cornell went 4-1-1 over that stretch. Joe Devin had four goals and two assists, Roeszler had five goals and four helpers and Miller had six assists since being put on the same offensive line, with the trio combining for seven multi-point games. The line remained intact when Esposito returned on Jan. 28 against Dartmouth, but the production continued as Devin and Roeszler combined for a goal and an assist against the Big Green, while the line combination added seven points against Clarkson on Feb. 4 and another five against St. Lawrence the following night.

HOME SWEET HOME?
One product of Cornell having a young team and having played so many home games while the squad was trying to find itself during the early portion of the season is the fact that with two home games and four road games remaining in league play, the Big Red has a better road record in league games than in home games. With nine home and road games in league play in the books, Cornell is 5-4 at home and 4-1-2 on the road. 

TURN THE PAGE
As the calendar has turned from 2010 to 2011, so too have the fortunes of the Big Red. After finishing the 2010 season with a 4-8-1 overall mark and a 2-4 league record, the Big Red has gone 7-1-2 so far in 2011, raising the records to 11-9-3 overall and 9-5-2 in league play.

HATS OFF
Tyler Roeszler scored a hat trick on Jan. 22 against Colgate, the first three-goal performance by a Big Red player since Colin Greening on Feb. 29, 2008, a span of 97 games. Roeszler also added an assist against the Raiders, giving him the first four-point night by a Cornell player since Blake Gallagher had a goal and three assists on Jan. 30, 2010, a span of 33 games.

FIRST ONE'S IN THE BAG
Erik Axell scored his first career goal on Jan. 22 against Colgate, poking home the rebound off a Tyler Roeszler shot, for his first career tally in 20 games for the sophomore from Toronto. Axell now has one goal and three assists in 21 career contests.

BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
The Big Red's sweep at Princeton and Quinnipiac on Jan. 7-8 marked the first weekend sweep for the Big Red since winning the ECAC Hockey tournament last march, claiming back-to-back 3-0 wins against Brown and Union at the Times Union Center in Albany. The last time the Big Red swept a weekend during the regular season came on Jan. 29-30, 2010, when the Big Red defeated St. Lawrence and Clarkson at Lynah Rink. Cornell's last road weekend sweep came nearly two years ago when the Big Red scored a 4-1 win at Union and a 3-0 victory at Rensselaer on Jan. 16-17, 2009. Cornell added another four-point weekend with a sweep over Clarkson and St. Lawrence at Lynah Rink on Feb. 4-5.

LIKING LEAGUE PLAY
Mike Garman has been strong in goal for the Big Red in the seven league games he has appeared in this season. Garman has a .948 save percentage and a 1.46 goals-against average in games against ECAC Hockey foes. Garman ranks eighth in the league in all games in save percentage and goals-against average, but those rankings jump to second in goals-against average behind Princeton's Sean Bonar  and third in save percentage behind Bonar and Dartmouth's James Mellow when only factoring in league games. Garman has allowed just nine goals in seven league appearances this season, allowing just one goal in each of his last three league starts.

WORKING OVERTIME
Cornell has played nine overtime games so far this season, including seven of the last 13. The nine overtime games are the most played by the Big Red since 2005-06 when Cornell also played nine overtime contests in advancing to the NCAA Regional Final. The record for most overtime games in a season is 12, set during the 1985-86 season.

SAVING THE DAY
Mike Garman stopped 39 of the 40 shots he faced on Jan. 7 at Princeton night in a 2-1 victory. The 39 saves are tied for the 12th-highest total in a single game by a Cornell goaltender, tied with the total set by David McKee at St. Lawrence on Feb. 11, 2006.

COLLECTING HARDWARE
Andy Iles became the first Cornell hockey player to earn a medal for the United States at the IIHF World Junior Championships when he was part of Team USA that claimed bronze at this year's tournament in Buffalo, N.Y. Iles is just the second Cornell player to be a member of the United States team, joining Jean-Marc Pelletier in 1998. The last Cornell player to earn a medal for any nation at the IIHF World Junior Championships was Sasha Pokulok, who claimed gold with Canada in 2006. The bronze medal won by Iles is the first bronze of the seven medals claimed by Cornellians at the world's most prestigious junior hockey tournament.

ELITE COMPANY
Cornell's victory over Colgate on Nov. 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., gave head coach Mike Schafer the 300th victory of his coaching career. Schafer became the 46th coach in NCAA Division I history with 300 career wins, and is just the 14th active coach to reach that mark. He ranks third in ECAC Hockey in career victories among active coaches, trailing Joe Marsh of St. Lawrence (462) and Rand Pecknold of Quinnipiac (313), with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet (293) and Colgate's Don Vaughan (288) both closing in on 300 victories themselves.

ANOTHER MILESTONE NEARS
The Big Red's 4-3 overtime win against St. Lawrence on Feb. 5 marked the 997th all-time victory in the history of the Cornell program.  Cornell ranks 17th all-time in wins by current NCAA Division I programs.

ANOTHER MILESTONE WILL HAVE TO WAIT
Cornell needs another six victories at Lynah Rink to post the 500th win at the storied venue, a feat that will have to wait until the 2011-12 season to be reached. Cornell has just two guaranteed home games the rest of the season, and even with hosting a playoff series, the Big Red could only reach 498 wins at Lynah Rink. The Big Red claimed win number 494 on Feb. 5 against Colgate, a 4-3 overtime victory. 

PUT IT IN NEUTRAL
When Cornell and Colgate met at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Nov. 27, it marked the 22nd time that the two programs have played at a neutral site among the 138 contests played between the two schools. In those 22 games, the two teams are split evenly, with Cornell holding a 10-10-2 record in those games. Prior to the game at the home of the New Jersey Devils in November, the last neutral site game between the two programs came on March 22, 2008, in the consolation game of the ECAC Hockey tournament, a game won by Cornell, 4-2. 

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 five empty-net goals – one in each of the first three games of the year, one against Yale on Nov. 19 and one against Union on Jan. 15 – Cornell has also scored four times with the extra attacker, most recently on Feb. 5 against St. Lawrence. The Big Red also scored a delayed penalty goal on Nov. 20 against Brown.

NOT THE RIGHT KIND OF STREAK
Cornell has posted a pair of three-game losing skids this season, something that hasn't happened since the 2006-07 season. That year, Cornell dropped three straight from Dec. 30 through Jan. 12, before closing out the season with four straight defeats. Cornell hasn't had three three-game losing streaks in the same season since 1986-87.

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 year 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.

SHORT-HANDED
John Esposito's goal against New Hampshire on Oct. 29 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. Cornell has three short-handed goals this season, with Sean Collins picking up a pair, most recently against Clarkson on Feb. 4.

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 2-3-1 on the year and has seen action in seven of the Big Red's 11 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 and has a 2-3 record this year.

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.

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.

UP NEXT
The Big Red returns to Lynah Rink for the final time in the regular season, taking on Harvard and Dartmouth. Cornell will battle Harvard on Friday, Feb. 18, a game that will feature the Big Red wearing throwback sweaters to the 1967 NCAA championship team with the nameplates from the fan favorite players on the backs. Saturday against Dartmouth will be Senior Night, with the members of the Class of 2011 honored on the ice following the contest.