Team Notes: Senior Weekend Arrives at Lynah
ITHACA, N.Y. -- As the final home weekend of the regular season approaches, the Cornell men's hockey team finds itself in the thick of the chase for one of the four coveted first-round byes in the upcoming ECAC Hockey playoffs. The weekend's matchups are also of critical importance, with the Big Red set to square off on Friday night against its long-time rival, Harvard, before battling Dartmouth on Saturday, with the Big Green entering the weekend just two points ahead of Cornell in the league standings. 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 video of both contests is also available through the Cornell Redcast subscription service.
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell picked up a split of its two games last weekend to
leapfrog Rensselaer in the league standings and grab sole
possession of fourth place, two points back of Dartmouth and one
point ahead of the Engineers. The Big Red dropped a 4-0 drubbing at
the hands of Union on Friday night, a game that Cornell was held to
just nine shots on goal, but responded the following afternoon with
a 3-2 overtime victory over Rensselaer in a game televised
nationally on the NHL Network. Joe
Devin picked up the overtime game-winner on Saturday
against Rensselaer, tipping home a shot from his brother, Mike,
with 1:28 to play in the extra session. Andy
Iles picked up 30 saves for his second straight overtime
win, while Mike Garman made 32 saves on Friday in the loss to the
Dutchmen. For the season, Greg
Miller leads the Big Red offensively with 22 points in
25 games, collecting three goals and a team-best 19 assists. Joe
Devin is a close second in scoring, recording 12 goals
to lead the squad and adding nine assists for 21 points. Iles and
Garman have split the netminding duties on the season, and both
goaltenders have put up outstanding numbers this season. Iles has a
.917 save percentage and a 2.32 goals-against average with a 7-4-2
overall record, while Garman has a .919 save percentage and a 2.33
goals-against average with a 5-6-1 mark. Cornell's special teams
have progressively improved as the season has gone along, with the
power-play units now converting on 18-of-103 chances (17.5 percent,
30th nationally) and the penalty-killing squad successfully ending
100-of-116 opponents' chances (86.2 percent, seventh in the
nation).
ABOUT HARVARD
Harvard enters the week with a 4-18-1 record, playing in the
Beanpot consolation game on Monday afternoon before making the trip
to Central New York for the weekend. The Crimson stand in 11th
place in the ECAC Hockey standings, one point ahead of Colgate but
with one additional game in hand. Harvard has not won since
defeating the Raiders on Jan. 28 in Cambridge, Mass., but did pick
up a 4-4 tie last Friday against Princeton. Since the calendar has
turned to 2011, the Crimson are just 2-10-1 including a 4-2 victory
over Army on New Year's Day. Harvard's offense is led by Alex
Killorn, who has eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points, leading
four players in double figures on thes eason. The Crimson are last
in the nation in scoring offense, averaging just 1.87 goals per
contest. In goal, the tandem of Kyle Richter and Ryan Carroll have
split time throughout conference play, with Richter recording
slightly better numbers for the season. Richter has a .908 save
percentage and a 2.77 goals-against average with a 3-9-1 record,
while Carroll has the same save percentage but a 3.37 goals-against
average and a 1-8 mark. Harvard has struggled on special teams,
with the power-play units converting on just 13-of-90 chances (14.4
percent, 49th nationally) while killing penalties at an 82.4
percent rate (75-of-91, 29th nationally).
THE SERIES WITH HARVARD
Cornell leads the all-time series against its most intense rival,
70-58-7, including five straight meetings and six of the last
seven. The Big Red claimed the first matchup of the season, 2-1, on
Jan. 29, after taking all four games between the two programs last
season. Friday's game will mark the 135th all-time meeting between
the two programs over the last 100 years. Since taking over as head
coach of the Big Red in 1995, Mike
Schafer holds a 30-12-2 mark against the Crimson.
Cornell and Harvard have met 60 times at Lynah Rink, with the Big
Red leading, 35-20-5, in games played at the historic
venue.
ABOUT DARTMOUTH
The Big Green have put together a solid season, entering the
weekend with a 15-7-3 overall record and an 11-5-2 mark in league
play. Dartmouth garnered a sweep last weekend of Quinnipiac and
Princeton at home, and has gone 8-3-1 since the beginning of the
new year, though Dartmouth has played just four true road games
over that span, going 2-2 in those contests. Dartmouth's offense is
led by Scott Fleming's 24 points, with Fleming leading the way with
11 goals. Doug Jones and Matt Reber share the team assist lead with
14 apiece, while a total of nine players are in double figures
offensively for the season. In goal, James Mello has been
outstanding, posting a .936 save percentage and a 2.00
goals-against average to go along with a 13-4-3 record. The
Dartmouth power play is converting on 20.4 percent of its chances
(19-of-93, 14th nationally), while the Big Green have killed off
83-of-98 opponents' power play chances (84.7 percent, 15th in the
nation).
THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH
The two teams tied, 2-2, when they squared off on Jan. 28 in
Hanover, N.H., to bring the all-time series record to 72-43-3 in
favor of the Big Red. The series, which dates back to 1909, has
seen the Big Red claim victory in six of the last 10 meetings. The
two teams have met 55 times at Lynah Rink, with Cornell holding a
41-12-2 lead in those games. Under current Cornell head coach Mike
Schafer, the Big Red holds a 16-16-2 mark against
Dartmouth.
A FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC
Cornell senior Joe
Devin has a team-best four game-winning goals this
season, and two of those have been overtime game-winners for the
Big Red. Devin potted his first on Jan. 8 at Quinnipiac before
tallying the game-winner on Feb. 12 at Rensselaer. For his career,
Devin has three overtime game-winning goals including one scored on
Oct. 30, 2009, against Niagara at Lynah Rink.
WORKING OVERTIME
The Big Red is approaching its single-season mark for overtime
games, having played nine contests so far this season that have
gone beyond regulation. The school mark is 12, set during the
1985-86 season, with Cornell going 21-7-4 that year. The Big Red
ended the regular season that year with nine games that went into
overtime, then added another three in the ECAC Hockey playoffs,
including a two-overtime win over Yale in the semifinals and an
overtime victory against Clarkson in the championship
game.
LEADING THE WAY
With Cornell's 48 goals in league play 20 goals behind Yale's
league-leading total and ranking sixth overall, it's a bit
surprising to see Joe
Devin leading the league with 12 goals in league play.
Devin's tally is one more than Rensselaer's Chase Polacek, a Hobey
Baker Award finalist last season.
I'VE GOT THE POWER
When scoring at least one power play goal, the Big Red holds a
solid 9-4-1 record. A closer look at those numbers, however,
details an even more telling statistic; since the beginning of
January, the Big Red is a perfect 7-0-0 when scoring with the man
advantage. By contrast, the Big Red is just 1-2-2 since the first
of January when it does not score a power-play goal.
CONNECT FOUR
After going four straight games without allowing a power-play goal
from Jan. 21 through Jan. 29, the Big Red has now allowed at least
one power-play tally in each of its last four games.
IN THE RANKINGS
Cornell has a 2-5-1 record this season when playing an opponent
ranked either in the USA Today/USA Hockey poll or in the USCHO.com
poll. Both of Cornell's wins over ranked foes have come against
Rensselaer, which was ranked in the top 10 of both polls at the
time of facing the Big Red. Cornell gets another crack at a ranked
foe this weekend, as Dartmouth heads into Lynah Rink ranked 16th in
the USCHO.com poll and is the highest team receiving votes in the
USA Today/USA Hockey poll to not be ranked.
IN THE SIN BIN
Over the course of the last six seasons, Cornell has seen its
total penalty minutes decrease, froma high of 681 minutes in
2005-06 to a low of 405 last season. That trend will likely end
this season, as the Big Red currently has been whistled for 377
minutes worth of penalties through the first 25 games of the year.
At Cornell's current rate of 18 minutes in the box per contest,
Cornell is on pace to finish with 485 minutes' worth of penalties,
assuming the Big Red plays the minimum number of games the
remainder of the way. That number would be the highest total since
2007-08, when Cornell had 536 minutes in penalties, but still just
the 11th-most in the 16-year tenure of head coach Mike
Schafer. The most penalty minutes served by a Mike
Schafer-led team was his first club at Cornell, serving
786 minutes in 1995-96.
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 just two home
games and two road games remaining in the regular season, Cornell
has a far better road record than at home this season. The Big Red
is just 6-6-1 when playing at Lynah Rink, compared to a 5-2-2 mark
away from home.A MILESTONE NEARS The Big Red's 3-2 win against
Rensselaer on Feb. 12 marked the 998th 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 four 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.
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.
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 12 wins shows
that Cornell has been out-shot in five of those contests, while the
Big Red has gotten the victory six 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 five times this season, and
has a 0-3-2 mark when taking less than 20 attempts at the
goal.
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.
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
8-2-2 so far in 2011, raising the records to 12-10-3 overall and
10-6-2 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. Classmate Vince
Mihalek joined him in collecting his first career goal
when he scored the game's first tally on Feb. 12 at Rensselaer in
Cornell's 3-2 victory against the Engineers. Mihalek has a pair of
points this season on a goal and an assist.
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 .940 save
percentage and a 1.71 goals-against average in games against ECAC
Hockey foes. Garman ranks sixth in the league in all games in save
percentage and eighth in goals-against average, but those rankings
jump to second behind Dartmouth's James Mello in both
categories.
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 (463) and Rand Pecknold
of Quinnipiac (313), with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet (295) and
Colgate's Don Vaughan (289) both closing in on 300 victories
themselves.
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.
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
Cornell closes out the regular season with a trip to Brown and
Yale, looking to sew up a bye for the first round of the ECAC
Hockey playoffs. The Big Red faces the Bears on Friday, Feb. 25, in
Providence, R.I., before taking on Yale the following night in New
Haven, Conn.
