ITHACA, N.Y. — While the Cornell men's hockey team's regular season doesn't officially begin until next week, the Big Red will take a turn at a pair of dress rehearsals this weekend with exhibition games against UOIT at 7 p.m. Friday and Brock at 7 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be streamed on the subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network. Jason Weinstein will handle play-by-play, and his call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870 AM, 95.9 FM).
 
EXHIBITION #1: UOIT at (RV) CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATES: Friday, Oct. 21, 2016
PLACE: Lynah Rink   ·  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey  ·  UOIT 5-0, 5-0 Ontario University Athletics
WEBCAST: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
EXHIBITION #2: BROCK at (RV) CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATES: Saturday, Oct. 22, 2016
PLACE: Lynah Rink   ·  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS*: Cornell 0-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey  ·  Brock 1-3, 1-3 Ontario University Athletics
WEBCAST: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
* — does not include Brock's game Thursday at Waterloo

Cornell game notes (PDF)
 
About the Big Red:
Cornell is coming off a 16-11-7 season in which it fell on the wrong side of the bubble for the NCAA tournament after an ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series loss to eventual league champion and national runner-up Quinnipiac. The Big Red got off to a hot start and was 9-1-2 after defeating previously undefeated national No. 1 Providence, but Cornell later won just once in an 11-game stretch and eventually fell to eighth place in the league standings. The Big Red returns its top five scorers, eight of its nine defensemen and all three of its goaltenders.

2015-16 Highlights:
 

On Offense:
Senior Jeff Kubiak returns after erupting for 27 points last season, which more than doubled his output from his first two years on East Hill. Sophomores Anthony Angello and Mitch Vanderlaan look to build on wildly successful debuts playing on the wings of Kubiak's line. ... Senior Matt Buckles' 11 career power-play goals starts the year 2nd-most among ECAC Hockey players. ... Junior Dwyer Tschantz and sophomore Beau Starrett are NHL draft picks looking to regain their form after injury-hindered 2015-16 seasons.
 
On Defense:
Senior Patrick McCarron helps lead a group of defensemen that helped Cornell rank in the top 20 nationally in team defense for a third straight season. ... Sophomore Alec McCrea ranked 2nd in ECAC Hockey scoring among newcomers on the blue line last year. ... Yanni Kaldis, the lone freshman defenseman, gives the Big Red a strong puck-mover that posted big numbers while earning first-team postseason honors in the BCHL last year. ... Juniors Ryan Bliss and Dan Wedman have experience playing top-four minutes.
 
In Goal:
Senior Mitch Gillam returns after posting seven shutouts last season, which was tied for the third most in the nation. He spent much of last season among the country's leaders in goals against average and save percentage after making all 34 starts for the Big Red. Gillam was also an All-Ivy League second team selection after the 2014-15 season. ... Junior Hayden Stewart and senior Ryan Coon will continue to push Gillam for playing time.

2016-17 Preaseon Media Day:
 

Exhibitions In Name Only:
Cornell is 22-1-3 in exhibitions since 2000, including victories against Ryerson (5-2) and Laurentian (6-1) last season. This is the eighth time in the last nine years the Big Red has started the season with two exhibitions. The one loss since 2000 came against the U.S. Under-18s, when future Cornellian Andy Iles '14 made 39 saves to backstop the visitors to a 3-2 victory on Oct. 24, 2009. The average margin of victory for Cornell's 22 wins is 4.4 goals.
 
About UOIT:
The Oshawa-based University of Ontario Institute of Technology was founded in 2002 and has an enrollment of approximately 10,000 students. The Ridgebacks compete in Ontario University Athletics, where they are off to a 5-0 start to the regular season after a 5-1 victory over Royal Military College on Wednesday night. .... Cameron Yuill (4-3–7) leads the team in scoring and is tied for second in goals with Connor Jarvis (4-2–6), one strike behind Danny Elser (5-0–5). ... Brendan O'Neill (3-0, 1.62, .954) and Tyson Teichmann (2-0, 2.38, .923) are splitting time in goal so far.
 
About Brock:
Brock is based on the Niagara peninsula in St. Catherines, Ontario, with an enrollment of a little less than 18,000. The Badgers were 1-3 in Ontario University Athletics play entering a league game Thursday night at Waterloo. Brock has surrendered 22 goals over those four games, including an 8-6 loss to Ryerson and 7-2 to Guelph in their last two games. ... Sammy Banga (4-2–6) and Adam Lloyd (2-4–6) are tied for the early team lead in scoring. Chris Maniccia (2-3–5) led the team in scoring last season by averaging a little better than a point per game. Former Lake Superior State forward Mitch Nardi led the team with 11 goals last year, but he has yet to appear this year. ... Clint Windsor (1-0, 3.75, .915) was the team's primary starter last year, but the Badgers have rotated three goalies so far this year.
 
Never Too Close For Comfort:
The Big Red had four 1-0 victories last season for the first time in program history. Cornell also set a team record by going to overtime in 14 of its 34 games last year. The previous record was 12, set in 1985-86, then matched in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Cornell went to overtime in seven of its final 15 games, with a 4-3-7 record in those games. The last time the Big Red went to overtime in an exhibition game was actually against Brock in a game that ended in a 2-2 deadlock on Oct. 20, 2012.

Helping Out:
Members and friends of the Cornell men's hockey program embarked on another mission trip to the Dominican Republic through the Portal de Belén Foundation over the summer. It was the fourth time the program has participated, following trips in 2009, 2012 and 2014. Current members of the team Ryan Bliss, Alec McCrea, Anthony Angello, Dan Wedman, Alex Rauter, Hayden Stewart, Trent Shore, Jared Fiegl and Dwyer Tschantz were on this year's trip, as well as Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey.
 

Freshman Force:
The jump to college hockey can be a big one for newcomers, but forward Anthony Angello — a 2014 draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins — clearly felt right at home as a freshman last season. Angello was the Big Red's first player to have points in his first four collegiate games since Ryan Moynihan from Nov. 8-16, 1996 — which was Mike Schafer's second season as head coach of his alma mater. Angello then scored the overtime winner Nov. 14 at Colgate and was been named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week twice (Jan. 12 and March 1) on his way to posting a team-high 11 goals.
 
Feel The Draft?:
Cornell has five players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including four from 2014. Sophomore forward Beau Starrett (Chicago Blackhawks) was selected earliest in the group, having been taken in the third round with the 88th overall pick. Classmate Anthony Angello, also a forward, was selected in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Junior forwards Jared Fiegl (Arizona Coyotes) and Dwyer Tschantz (St. Louis Blues) were then picked in the seventh round. Senior forward Matt Buckles was taken by the Florida Panthers in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.
 
The 35th to 350:
Already the winningest coach in program history, Mike Schafer hit 350 victories for his career — all of which have come from behind the Big Red's bench — with a 4-2 win over Princeton on Nov. 1, 2013. He became the 35th coach all-time to rack up 350 victories across all NCAA divisions and he is now just nine wins away from 400. Schafer is also just the third coach to pass 350 victories with Ivy League tenure, joining Ned Harkness (Cornell, Union and Rensselaer) and Tim Taylor (Yale).
 
Gillam's Groove:
Senior goaltender Mitch Gillam posted the third-longest shutout streak in program history last season, spanning 213 minutes, 17 seconds over four games in November — including consecutive shutouts at Yale and Brown. That marked the Big Red's first back-to-back shutouts since Andy Iles did so Dec. 2-3, 2011 against St. Lawrence and Clarkson, and it was the Big Red's first consecutive road shutouts since Ben Scrivens blanked Princeton and Quinnipiac from Nov. 7-8, 2008. An odd twist on Gillam's eight career shutouts is that he's only won six of them — Dec. 28, 2014 against Lake Superior State and Nov. 20, 2015 against Yale were both scoreless ties.
 
Up Next:
For the first time in program history, Cornell will start its regular season with five consecutive road games. After a non-league tune-up on Friday, Oct. 28 at Merrimack, the Big Red will visit four Ivy League rivals — Dartmouth (Nov. 4), Harvard (Nov. 5), Brown (Nov. 11) and Yale (Nov. 12) — before its official home opener against Quinnipiac on Friday, Nov. 18.