ITHACA, N.Y. — No. 14/15 Men's Hockey will play its first home games in more than eight months this weekend, when it plays its first two of at least 13 home games in the 2013-14 season. Cornell kicks off the Ivy League season on Friday against Princeton, then plays host to national runnerup No. 7/9 Quinnipiac on Saturday. Faceoff for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m. The new Ivy League Digital Network subscription service will have a live stream of both games, as well as play-by-play from Jason Weinstein. His call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870).
 
PRINCETON at #14/15 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, November 1
PLACE: Lynah Rink · Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 2-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey · Princeton 1-1, 0-0 ECAC Hockey
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
AUDIO: Ivy League Digital Network
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey
 
#7/9 QUINNIPIAC at #14/15 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, November 2
PLACE: Lynah Rink · Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 2-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey · Quinnipiac 6-1, 0-0 ECAC Hockey
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
AUDIO: Ivy League Digital Network
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Princeton game notes (PDF)
Quinnipiac game notes (PDF)
 
WHAT'S ON TAP
ITHACA, N.Y. — No. 14/15 Men's Hockey will play its first home games in more than eight months this weekend, when it plays its first two of at least 13 home games in the 2013-14 season. Cornell kicks off the Ivy League season on Friday against Princeton, then plays host to national runnerup No. 7/9 Quinnipiac on Saturday. Faceoff for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m. The new Ivy League Digital Network subscription service will have a live stream of both games, as well as play-by-play from Jason Weinstein. His call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870).
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell went a whopping 7-for-15 on the power play last weekend, spearheading a two-game sweep of host Nebraska Omaha to open the Big Red's season. Junior forward Brian Ferlin had a goal and two assists in a 5-3 victory in the first game, then senior goaltender Andy Iles made 37 saves to backstop a 4-3 win on Saturday. ... Lowry (2 goals, 2 assists – 4 points), Ferlin (1-3–4) and junior forward John McCarron (0-4–4) are tied for the team's early scoring lead. Forward Jake Weidner (0-3–3) and defenseman Patrick McCarron (0-3–3) had very successful collegiate debuts. ... Head coach Mike Schafer is now one win away from the 350th in his career, which has spanned 19 years – all behind the Big Red bench. ... Iles played a huge role in Cornell's sweep of Nebraska Omaha, which is nothing new for the Big Red's mainstay in the crease. Making his 71st and 72nd consecutive starts, Iles made a total of 65 saves over the two games. Cornell was outshot in the series, 71-33. ... Seven players had multiple points for the Big Red last weekend.
 
ABOUT PRINCETON
The Tigers split a pair of 3-2 games last weekend in their season debut, defeating Dartmouth in overtime on Friday and falling to Yale on Saturday at the Liberty Invitational in Newark, N.J. Junior forward Tucker Brockett scored the winner in the first minute of overtime against the Big Green. ... Princeton was selected to finish 11th in ECAC Hockey by both the coaches and media in preseason polls. ... Senior forward Andrew Calof (1-0–1) is a first-team preseason all-league selection after leading the team with 38 points in 31 games last season. He has already eclipsed the 100-point plateau for his collegiate career. ... Senior Sean Bonar (1-1, 2.51 goals against average, .929 save percentage) has assumed the starting role. He made 38 saves in the win against Dartmouth.
 
ABOUT QUINNIPIAC
After finishing third in the ECAC Hockey Championship and second in the NCAA tournament last season, the Bobcats are off to a fast start this season despite losing 11 seniors to graduation following the 2012-13 campaign. After a season-opening 3-1 loss at Alaska-Anchorage, Quinnipiac has rattled off six consecutive victories – including a two-game home-and-home sweep of nationally ranked UMass-Lowell. More recently, the Bobcats defeated Bentley once and Holy Cross twice last week. ... Freshman forward Sam Anas (6-2–8) and senior forward Kellen Jones (2-6–8) share the team's scoring lead, followed closely by the other Jones twin, Connor (2-5–7).  Three of Anas' goals have come on the power play. ... Sophomore Michael Garteig (6-1, 1.72, .910) has emerged as the new starting goalie after backing up All-American Eric Hartzell last season.
 
THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
The Big Red holds a commanding 83-50-8 lead all-time, including a two-game sweep of the Tigers in an ECAC Hockey first-round series last season. Defenseman Joakim Ryan, a New Jersey native, had three points in the series. Princeton won both games of the regular-season series between the teams. The Tigers lost a two-goal lead heading into the third period on Nov. 9, 2012, but surged ahead with two late goals for a 5-3 win. Goalie Mike Condon, who has since graduated, then made 39 saves for a 1-0 shutout victory on Feb. 9, 2013 at Lynah Rink. Andrew Ammon scored the game's only goal.
 
THE SERIES WITH QUINNIPIAC
Cornell holds a 15-9-2 lead in the all-time series against the Bobcats, who joined the Division I ranks in 1998 with Rand Pecknold at the helm. Quinnipiac won four of five games against the Big Red last season en route to an appearance in the national championship game. The Bobcats won both regular-season meetings by identical 4-1 scores. The teams then met in an ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series in Hamden, Conn. with the upstart Big Red topping the nation's No. 1 team, 3-2, in the opening game. Quinnipiac won Game 2 to force a third and final game to the series, which was decided by a Kevin Bui double-overtime goal.
 
MILESTONE WATCH
Already the winningest coach in program history, Mike Schafer needs just one more victory to hit 350 for his career — all of which have come from behind the Big Red's bench. There are currently 34 coaches all-time that have racked up 350 victories across all NCAA divisions, with four of them passing the milestone last season (Ferris State's Bob Daniels, Connecticut's Bruce Marshall, Notre Dame's Jim Jackson and Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold). Schafer is bidding to become just the third coach to pass 350 victories with Ivy League tenure, joining Ned Harkness (Cornell, Union and Rensselaer) and Tim Taylor (Yale).
 
POWERFUL STUFF
Cornell scored seven power-play goals last weekend, including all four of its goals in Saturday's victory at Nebraska Omaha. It marked the first time the Big Red has scored four power-play goals in a game since Nov. 6, 2009 against Dartmouth (a 5-1 victory). The Big Red was also very successful on the man advantage in its opening two-game series last season, when all five of its goals came on the power play in a sweep of visiting Colorado College.
 
THE PUCK STOPS HERE
With 65 saves last weekend, senior goaltender Andy Iles is now third on the program's all-time list. Just two games into his final season on East Hill, Iles has accumulated 2,277 saves over his collegiate career. He trails only Ben Scrivens (2,873) and Jason Elliott (2,462) on the all-time list. He also ranks third in consecutive starts, consecutive appearances and ties (see chart downpage).
 
LET'S GET IT STARTED
Cornell has an all-time record of 57-34-6 in season openers, claim its third straight win in a season debut with a 5-3 victory Friday at Nebraska Omaha. Last season, Cornell secured a 2-0 victory against visiting Colorado College behind a 19-save shutout from Andy Iles. Both of the Big Red's goals were scored on the power play by John Esposito, who has since graduated and now plays professionally in Austria. Under current head coach Mike Schafer, the Big Red is 12-6-1 in season openers.
 
IRON MAN
Andy Iles has started 72 consecutive games in goal for the Big Red, spanning all of the last two seasons and the final game of his freshman campaign. His 72 consecutive starts rank eighth in NCAA Division I history, leaving him 32 games a familiar leader. Cornell's Ben Scrivens holds the current record of 104 consecutive starts from 2006-10. Iles was one of just two goalies to be used exclusively by his team in 2011-12, with Minnesota's Kent Patterson being the other. By starting and finishing all of the Big Red's games that season, Iles became the first goalie at Cornell to accomplish that feat since Darren Eliot in 1982-83, and the first Cornell sophomore to do so since Laing Kennedy in 1960-61 — when the season was just 19 games long.
 
FEEL THE DRAFT?
Cornell has seven players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including one pick from last June. Freshman forward Matt Buckles became the first Cornellian to be selected by the Florida Panthers, when the NHL's southern-most team nabbed the Toronto native in the fourth round with the 98th overall selection. Other NHL draft picks on the team include defensemen Reece Willcox (Philadelphia Flyers), Joakim Ryan (San Jose Sharks) and Kirill Gotovets (Tampa Bay Lightning; has since been traded to the Chicago Blackhawks) and forwards John McCarron (Edmonton Oilers), Brian Ferlin (Boston Bruins) and Joel Lowry (Los Angeles Kings).
 
POLLS PROSE
With the two-game sweep at Nebraska Omaha last weekend, the Big Red shot up five spots to 14th in the USCHO.com poll this week. Even though Cornell was out of both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls earlier this month, it still appeared in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll a league-high 14 weeks during the 2012-13 regular season. Cornell held an 8-8-1 mark in games against teams in the Top 20 at the time of the games.
 
NO FREEBIES
The Big Red went the entire 2012-13 season without surrendering a shorthanded goal, with the last shorty against coming Jan. 28, 2012 by Colgate's Austin Smith. The last time Cornell went an entire season without yielding a shorthanded goal was the 2001-02 campaign, when it advanced all the way to the Frozen Four.
 
FOR THE RECORD
With three consecutive shutouts in November 2011, Andy Iles recorded the second-longest shutout streak in program history, spanning 213 minutes, 35 seconds over a five-game span. The only Cornell shutout streak that went longer was posted by Los Angeles Kings goalie Ben Scrivens, who held the opposition scoreless for 267:11 during the 2010 playoffs. But Iles wasn't done there — he posted back-to-back shutouts against St. Lawrence and Clarkson on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3, respectively, spurring a other lengthy shutout streak of 152:36 that ranks ninth all-time in Big Red history. His success has stretched into the postseason, as evidenced by a career-high 46 saves in a March 9 double-overtime victory against Dartmouth. Iles was third in the nation with six shutouts and 10th in goal-against average (2.12). He also set a record for longest streak in ECAC Hockey play of 286:54 from November 2011 to January 2012.
 
BLANK YOU VERY MUCH
Cornell has recorded at least one shutout in each of the last 18 seasons. The last time the Big Red went a full schedule without posting a shutout came during the 1994-95 season under former coach Brian McCutcheon, as Cornell finished that year 11-15-4. The following year marked the first season for current head coach Mike Schafer, and his clubs have never gone a full year without recording a shutout.
 
FIVE-ON-THREE PROWESS
There are few situations in hockey more dire than when a team is facing a two-man disadvantage, but the Big Red has made a habit of rising to the occasion in those scenarios. Cornell is a perfect 9-for-9 killing off a two-man disadvantage over last season and the beginning of this season, spanning a total of 8 minutes, 26 seconds. The last time Cornell surrendered a five-on-three goal was against Yale on Feb. 11, 2012.
 
GOLDEN AGAIN
Junior forward Cole Bardreau won a gold medal while serving as an assistant captain for the United States at the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia. He then scored a goal and added an assist in his first game back with the Big Red last weekend against Union. It wasn't the first time Bardreau's earned gold with the U.S. either — he also wore an "A" while capturing gold at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship in April 2011. Sophomore defenseman Joakim Ryan was also among the 45 players who started in camp for the United States before the roster was trimmed in advance of the World Junior championships.
 
NOT JUST A DEFENSEMAN
Junior blueliner Joakim Ryan led the team with 20 assists last season and was tied for third in points with 23. He was also on the ice for 41 of the team's 83 goals, which ranked second on the team to only leading scorer Greg Miller (43). The production was nothing new to Ryan, who set a program record for goals by a freshman defenseman in 2011-12 with seven. He's started off this season with three points in his first two games, including a power-play goal in Friday's opener at Nebraska Omaha.
 
GLOBAL INFLUENCE
The Big Red has 13 players on the roster born in the United States. Cornell also now has players native to seven different countries on its squad. Aside from the bulk of its roster hailing from the United States and Canada, Cornell also has a player from Belarus (Kirill Gotovets), Denmark (Christian Hilbrich), Finland (Teemu Tiitinen), Singapore (Dustin Mowrey) and South Africa (Armand de Swardt).
 
CLOSER TO HOME
Hometown fans of the Big Red got a rare treat when goalie Andy Iles became the first Ithaca native to play for the team since Mike Tallman in 1988-89. Forward Kevin Cole then made his collegiate debut in 2011, marking the first time in at least 50 years — and perhaps the first time in program history — that two Ithaca natives have played for the Big Red in the same season. Yet another Ithaca area connection came on board last season when the Big Red added 6-foot-4 defenseman Craig Esposito, who is also from Lansing and also competes on Cornell's men's golf team.
 
COLLECTING HARDWARE
While forward Cole Bardreau became the first Cornell player to earn gold with the U.S. at the IIHF World Junior Championships, goalie Andy Iles was the first to earn a medal with Team USA. Iles claimed bronze at the 2011 tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., with the only player before him to compete with the United States being goaltender Jean-Marc Pelletier in 1998.
 
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE
Junior Kirill Gotovets got a taste of the big time 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) — playing against some of the best players the world has to offer. He played in three of Belarus' eight games at the World Championships.
 
UP NEXT
For the only time this season, the Big Red will be on the road for consecutive weeks. Cornell's next game will be Friday, Nov. 8 at preseason ECAC Hockey favorite Rensselaer, with a game the following night at two-time defending league champion Union. The following weekend will feature another intrastate trip, when the Big Red travels to Clarkson (Nov. 15) and St. Lawrence (Nov. 16).