The penultimate home weekend of the regular season offers the Cornell men's hockey team an opportunity to lock up its first Ivy League title in seven years while moving up the ECAC Hockey standings and securing its position as one of the league's top four teams — an important distinction, considering the first-round bye such teams earn in the playoffs. With a victory over visiting Brown at 7 p.m. Friday, the Big Red will lock up at least a share of the Ivy League title. In that scenario, a tie at 7 p.m. Saturday against three-time defending champion Yale would secure the Ivy crown outright. A victory over the Bulldogs would also clinch the outright title, regardless of Friday's result. Cornell is coming off a pair of ties on the road at
Rensselaer and first-place Union — two hard-earned points that keep the Big Red in second place in the league standings with three weeks remaining in the regular season. Both of this weekend's games will broadcast by Jason Weinstein on WHCU 870 AM. Live streaming video is also available worldwide through the Cornell Redcast subscription service, which will also feature Weinstein's call.
 
GAME #24: BROWN at #13/13 CORNELL
DATE: Friday, Feb. 10, 2012
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
2011-12 RECORDS: Brown 8-12-3, 5-9-2 ECAC Hockey; Cornell 11-6-6, 8-3-5 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 68-42-5
LAST MEETING: Brown won, 5-4, on Nov. 5, 2011 in Providence, R.I.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
VIDEO: www.cornellbigred.com/showcase
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/mhockey
 
GAME #25: YALE at #13/13 CORNELL
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
2011-12 RECORDS: Yale 10-11-2, 7-8-1 ECAC Hockey; Cornell 11-6-6, 8-3-5 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 78-56-5
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 6-2, on Nov. 4, 2011 in New Haven, Conn.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
VIDEO: www.cornellbigred.com/showcase
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/mhockey

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Brown game notes (coming soon)
Yale game notes
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
The theme of the new year has been an inundation of ties. Cornell has gone 3-2-5 since the calendar turned to 2012, pushing its season total to six deadlocks. That ties a program record, set during the 2003-04 campaign when the team posted a 16-10-6 record. Both of last weekend's draws came in hostile environments on the road, where the Big Red will play just two of its final six regular-season games. Cornell had two-goal leads in both games with senior Sean Collins and junior Greg Miller netting goals in each contest. ... The Big Red has surrendered 53 goals, which is tied with Union for the lowest total in the nation. ... The team's leading scorer last season, junior forward Greg Miller (9-11—20) has taken the lead in this year's race with goals in each of his last three games. Miller has already blown away his goals total from his first two seasons combined on East Hill, when he scored six times. ... Freshman forward Brian Ferlin (8-11—19) and junior defenseman Nick D'Agostino (8-11—19) are just one point behind Miller in the scoring race, while senior forward Sean Collins (9-8—17) is tied with Miller for the team lead in goals. Collins has 12 points over his last 11 games to set a new career-high in scoring.
 
ABOUT BROWN
The Bears have been one of the league's more enigmatic teams, coupling a handful of impressive victories with losses against some of the weaker teams on their schedule. Relative to the Ratings Percentage Index, Brown has won its four toughest games this season by defeating Union twice, and Providence and Cornell once. On the other end of the spectrum, the Bears are 0-7-1 in their eight easiest games on the docket — including two losses to Rensselaer, a tie against Army and a loss at home to American International. ... Brown is currently on a season-worst four-game losing streak and is 2-6-2 in its last 10 games. Last weekend's home losses to Clarkson and St. Lawrence were markedly different. The Bears surrendered three goals in the first 25-plus minutes against the Golden Knights and never recovered in a 3-1 setback. But they came out blazing in the first period the following night and scored three power-play goals on the same five-minute power play against the Saints, only to see the visitors score five unanswered goals and skate away with a 5-3 victory. ... The Bears have been outscored in the third period this season, 22-14. Most of those woes have been recent — Brown opponents have a 7-0 advantage in third periods over the Bears' last four games. ... Senior center Jack Maclellan (13-10—23; 7 PPGs) has led the team in scoring in each of the last two seasons, and this year in no different. His 11 goals in league play ranks second behind runaway leader Austin Smith, of Colgate. Maclellan's seven power-play goals lead ECAC Hockey. ... Freshman Ryan Jacobson (9-8—17; 4 PPGs) and senior Bobby Farnham (6-11—17) are tied for second on the team in scoring and played on a line with Maclellan in the Bears' last game, though the teams forward combinations have varied greatly of late. ... Sophomore defenseman Dennis Robertson (1-9—10) is team's lone NHL draft pick, having been selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs. ... Senior Mike Clemente has posted a 7-10-1 record, 2.59 goals-against average and .908 save percentage in his fourth season as the team's primary starter. Clemente has independently consulted with Cornell volunteer assistant coach Kris Mayotte before Mayotte's move to East Hill. Sophomore Marco DeFilippo (1-2-2, 2.47, .930) has actually posted better numbers than Clemente in his five starts, but he was pulled in his last appearance — a 6-2 loss on Jan. 27 at Dartmouth.
 
THE SERIES WITH BROWN
The Bears have finished in the league's bottom third in each of the last six seasons and currently sits there again in 11th place entering this weekend — but Brown is the only team in the league that has beaten Cornell in each of the teams' last three meetings. The Bears walked away with a pair of 3-2 victories during the 2011-12 season, then shook off a third-period deficit to top the Big Red, 5-4, in the teams' first meeting this season on Nov. 5 at Meehan Auditorium. Cornell won the seven meetings prior and still holds a commanding lead in the all-time series, 68-42-5.
 
ABOUT YALE
The defending league champions were ranked as high at eighth in the USCHO.com poll in late November before a stark decline followed a disastrous 7-6 loss to lowly Sacred Heart — a team which is now 2-23-2 and is worst in the nation relative to the RPI. But there's one distinct feature about the Bulldogs' losses: All but one of them has been by one goal or a second goal scored in the final five minutes of the third period. Yale's lone convincing loss actually came to Cornell, a 6-2 affair on Nov. 4. ... The Bulldogs have split each of their last two weekends with Saturday wins against Dartmouth (Jan. 28) and Clarkson (Feb. 4). ... The Bulldogs brandish two returning All-ECAC Hockey first-team forwards in senior right winger Brian O'Neill (15 13—28; 9 PPGs) and junior center Andrew Miller (5- 21—26). The dangerous duo has spent a good portion of the season with sophomore Jesse Root (3-8—11) on the left wing, though junior Josh Balch (2-1—3) filled that spot in one of last weekend's games. ... Sophomore left wing Kenny Agostino (10-12—22) is second on the team in scoring. He played with Cornell's Brian Ferlin at the U.S. National Team's Junior Evaluation Camp from Aug. 6-13 in Lake Placid, N.Y., assisting on Ferlin's lone goal in the competition. ... Junior Jeff Malcolm is in his first season as the starting goalie, posting a 9-9-2 record, 2.59 goalsagainst average and .914 save percentage. He also has three shutouts on the year, which all came consecutively from Nov. 5-12 against Colgate, Rensselaer and Union. ... The Bulldogs' combined special teams are best in ECAC Hockey (53.3 percent).
 
THE SERIES WITH YALE
Saturday's game will be the 140th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and Big Red, with Cornell holding a 78-56-5 advantage since the teams first met during the 1902-03 season. The Big Red won the teams' first meeting this year, a Nov. 4 league-opening 6-2 win at Ingalls Rink when Yale was ranked ninth in the country. The Bulldogs won the eight matchups before that, including a 6-0 victory over the Big Red in last year's ECAC Hockey Championship final in Atlantic City, N.J.
 
CLASS-Y KEIR
Senior captain Keir Ross was named one of 10 national finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award on Feb. 1. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence — community, classroom, character and competition. Ross posted a plus-12 rating last season, good for second on the team, and was penalized the least of any defenseman despite frequently being matched up against some of the opposition's best forward combinations. Outside of the rink, Ross is a two-time selection to the ECAC Hockey Academic All-League team and was the Big Red's Hockey Scholar Athlete last season. He was also named to the College of Human Ecology Dean's List in 2010, carrying a 3.57 grade point average in Human Biology, Health and Society. He joins Brown's Jack Maclellan as the lone ECAC Hockey representatives among the finalists.
 
FAST STARTERS
The Big Red is 8-1-1 on Friday nights this season and 7-2-1 in games on the front end of back-to-backs. Cornell has scored the first goal in all but one game in both scenarios. Some of the team's biggest victories have come at the start of the weekend, including at then-No. 9 Yale on Nov. 4 and at then-No. 6 Colorado College on Jan. 6.
 
A.I. — THE NEW ANSWER
With three consecutive shutouts in November, sophomore goalie 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 Toronto Maple Leafs 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 another lengthy shutout streak of 152:36 that ranks ninth all-time in Big Red history. Iles is tied for second in the nation with five shutouts. His goals-against average of 2.11 is 11th in the NCAA. Iles also picked up his first collegiate point with an assist Dec. 30 against Clarkson, which was the Big Red's first goalie assist since Ben Scrivens garnered one March 9, 2008 — a span of 120 games.
 
DANGEROUS D'AGOSTINO
Junior defenseman Nick D'Agostino is one point behind classmate and former junior teammate Greg Miller for the team lead in scoring with eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points entering the weekend. His eight goals is tied for fourth in the nation for defensemen; his average of 0.83 points per game is 11th in the nation among blueliners; his five game-winning goals is tied for fourth in the NCAA; and his six power-play goals is tops nationally among true defensemen (Maine's Matt Mangene has seven power-play goals, but he also spends time at forward). If D'Agostino wins the team's scoring race this season, it would mark the first time a Big Red defensemen has done so since Dan Lodboa racked up 61 points as a senior during the program's monumental 1969-70 season in which it went 29-0 and won the NCAA championship.
 
NOW THAT'S DEFENSE
Junior defenseman Braden Birch, a Chicago Blackhawks draft pick, went two months without being on the ice for an even-strength goal against. The streak of 668 minutes, 49 seconds covered all 12 games in which Birch has appeared, ending with Clarkson's final goal Dec. 30 at the Florida College Hockey Classic. Not surprisingly, Birch leads the team's defensemen with a plus-11 rating. The pairing of Birch and senior Sean Whitney had not surrendered a five-on-five goal this season until Saturday, Jan. 28. But in the same game, Birch also scored his first goal of the season.
 
MORE FROM MOWREY
The Big Red's forward corps took a hit in a Jan. 13 game at Quinnipiac when junior forward John Esposito — who was playing on the team's most productive even-strength and power-play line with junior Greg Miller and freshman Brian Ferlin — suffered an injury. But sophomore forward Dustin Mowrey has stepped into Esposito's spot on the line and posted seven points in the last six games to push his total to nine points over the Big Red's last eight games.
 
RYAN OFF AND RUNNING
Joakim Ryan has already set a program record for goals in a season for freshman defensemen with six through 20 games. The record goes back to 1975-76, which was the first season in which freshmen were allowed to compete at the varsity level. Ryan got his season off to a flying start with two goals and an assist in the opening 5-4 loss to Mercyhurst on Oct. 29. For his efforts, Ryan was awarded as the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week. It was actually the second straight year that a freshman potted two goals in his debut for the Big Red — forward Dustin Mowrey did it on Oct. 29, 2010 against New Hampshire.
 
FEEL THE DRAFT?
Cornell has six players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including picks in the fourth and fifth rounds last June. Freshmen Brian Ferlin (Boston Bruins) and Joel Lowry (Los Angeles Kings) were selected in a span of 20 picks, giving the 2011-12 Big Red the program's highest number of draft picks on a single team since 2006-07. Other players whose NHL rights are already owned are senior Sean Collins (Columbus Blue Jackets), juniors Braden Birch (Chicago Blackhawks) and Nick D'Agostino (Pittsburgh Penguins) and sophomore Kirill Gotovets (Tampa Bay Lightning).
 
FERLIN'S FURIOUS START
Freshman forward Brian Ferlin, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., is 12th the nation in rookie points per game (0.83) and is tops in the ECAC Hockey rookie scoring race after posting 15 points in the Big Red's first 16 conference games. Teams around the league have taken notice, tabbing the Boston Bruins draft pick as the Rookie of the Week on consecutive weeks of Nov. 7 and Nov. 14. Teammate Joakim Ryan earned the honor on Oct. 31, meaning the Big Red had ECAC Hockey's top newcomer for the first three weeks of its season.
 
COLLECTING HARDWARE
Goalie 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 the 2011 tournament in Buffalo, N.Y. Iles is just the second Cornell player to be a member of the U.S. 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 tournament. Iles was been named the U.S. emergency goalie for this year's World Junior tournament, but was never summoned to join the team.
 
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE
Andy Iles isn't the only Cornell player to experience international competition recently. Freshmen forward Brian Ferlin and defenseman Joakim Ryan were also at the Junior Evaluation Camp from Aug. 6-13 in Lake Placid, N.Y. Ferlin had a goal and three assists in five games with the United States and Ryan trolled the blue line for Sweden. Ferlin was then invited to the U.S. World Junior Pre-Tournament Camp in mid-December, but did not make the final cut. Sophomore defenseman Kirill Gotovets played in three of Belarus' eight games at the 2010 IIHF World Championships, helping his nation to a 10th-place finish. Gotovets came to the United States two years before coming to Cornell, attending prestigious Shattuck-St. Mary's in Minnesota.
 
BLANK YOU VERY MUCH
Sophomore goalie Andy Iles made 15 saves for his first collegiate shutout on Nov. 18 in a 4-0 victory over Princeton. With that result, the Big Red extended its streak of seasons with at least one shutout to 17. The last time Cornell 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 head coach Mike Schafer, and his clubs have never gone a full year without recording a shutout.
 
CLOSER TO HOME
Hometown fans of the Big Red got a rare treat last season when goalie Andy Iles became the first Ithaca native to play for the team since Mark McCutcheon in 2006-07. But when freshman Kevin Cole made his collegiate debut Dec. 30 against Clarkson, it became 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. Cole was born in Ithaca and raised in nearby Lansing before heading off to junior programs in Syracuse and Cornwall, Ontario. His father, Dave, lettered for the Big Red in the 1981-82 season, and his mother, Karen (Shull), also played for the Cornell women's hockey team. This is the ninth consecutive season that the son of a former Big Red player has also suited up for Cornell.
 
BIG STAGE PERFORMERS
Seniors Sean Whitney and Locke Jillson have shown a knack for producing in front of the biggest crowds they've seen in their college careers. Both scored goals against Boston in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,200 at Madison Square Garden in 2009, then the duo teamed up to score the Big Red's lone goal against BU on the same stage on Nov. 26. Whitney had the initial shot on Jillson's goal, which came on a sharp-angle shot off a rebound. Jillson then potted his second goal of the season to open the scoring in a 3-1 victory Jan. 6 at then-No. 6 Colorado College.
 
NEW SUPPORT STAFF
Mike Schafer returns for his 17th season as the Cornell head coach, but he has three new assistants this year. While the new assistant coaches will be new faces in their positions behind the bench, their faces will still be familiar. Ben Syer joins the Big Red after eight seasons as an assistant coach for ECAC Hockey opponent Quinnipiac, and Topher Scott returns to East Hill just 3½ years since he last competed for the Big Red as a senior co-captain who eclipsed 100 career points. Volunteer assistant coach Kris Mayotte is also familiar with ECAC Hockey, having tended goal for Union from 2002-06.
 
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 17th season, Schafer has 324 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 St. Lawrence's Joe Marsh (475) and is closing the gap on Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold (326). Schafer is tops among Ivy League coaches, with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet recently reaching his 309th career win.
 
SOUTHERN FLAIR
None of the other 57 schools in Division I men's hockey have as many players that call states bordering the Gulf of Mexico home as Cornell. The Big Red has four players that fit into that category — Florida native Brian Ferlin and the three Texans, Locke Jillson, Keir Ross and Armand de Swardt. Northern Michigan is the only other team in the country that has three players from Texas.
 
MILESTONE MANIA
The Big Red's 2-1 win over Quinnipiac in game one of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals last season marked the 1,000th victory all-time for the Cornell men's hockey program. Cornell became the 17th program to reach that milestone. The Big Red then surpassed another milestone this season by recording the 500th victory all-time at storied Lynah Rink with a 1-0 shutout of Niagara on Nov. 22.
 
THE OFFENSIVE DEFENSE
The Big Red has scored four shorthanded goals this season — which is tied for second in ECAC Hockey and matches last season's total after going without a goal on the penalty kill since Dec. 28, 2008. Senior forward Sean Collins has two of this season's shorthanded goals after potting two last season to become the first Cornell player with multiple shorties since both Cam Abbott and Mark McCutcheon had a pair of them in the 2005-06 season. Junior forward Vince Mihalek, freshman forward Joel Lowry and freshman defenseman Joakim Ryan have the Big Red's other shorthanded goals this season.
 
AMERICAN INFLUENCE
Seven of this season's nine freshmen were born in the United States, giving the Big Red a more American feel than it's seen in quite a while. Cornell has 12 players who were born in the United States, which is the most on a Mike Schafer-coached team at Cornell. The previous high was 10, which came in 1997-98.
 
PROSE ABOUT PROS
All seven players who graduated after playing with the Big Red last season have played professionally this season. The group includes forwards Joe Devin (AHL's San Antonio Rampage and ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones), Tyler Roeszler (Sweden's Vita Hästen), Patrick Kennedy (ECHL's Idaho Steelheads and Trenton Titans), Jordan Kary (CHL's Texas Brahmas), Dan Nicholls (CHL's Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees and Texas Brahmas, and SHL's Fayetteville FireAntz), defenseman Mike Devin (ECHL's Elmira Jackals) and goalie Mike Garman (ECHL's Colorado Eagles and CHL's Tulsa Oilers). Two players who left Cornell after the 2010 season have also made their NHL debuts this season — goalie Ben Scrivens with the Toronto Maple Leafs and forward Riley Nash with the Carolina Hurricanes.
 
A LITTLE HISTORY — CLOSING IN ON 800
If Cornell does not score on a penalty shot in either game this weekend, it will mark 800 games since the program has accomplished the feat. The last Big Red player to score on a penalty shot was Joe Nieuwendyk on Friday, Feb. 27, 1987 against Rensselaer. The goal actually capped off a hat trick for Nieuwendyk, who had scored just 55 seconds earlier in the third period. His first goal in the 6-1 victory was assisted by Casey Jones, who now serves as the head coach at Clarkson. There were a combined 22 power plays in the game. The following night against Vermont was also noteworthy, with Nieuwendyk notching another hat trick. The goals came in quick succession with 15 seconds remaining in the second period, six seconds into the third period and 2:46 into the third. It turned out to be his final college hockey game before he turned professional.
 
CLINCHABLE
The Big Red can clinch a home-ice series in the ECAC Hockey Championship playoffs with a pair of wins this weekend and anything less than two St. Lawrence victories against Quinnipiac and Princeton.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red hits the road for the last time in the regular season, heading to the North Country for games against Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The Friday, Feb. 17 game at Clarkson marks the third meeting between the teams this season — a 0-0 tie on Dec. 3 at Lynah Rink kicked off the season series, then Cornell held on for a 5-3 nonleague victory on Dec. 30 in the consolation game of the Florida College Hockey Classic in Estero, Fla. Cornell then faces St. Lawrence on Saturday, Feb. 18, with the Big Red eking out a 1-0 victory on Dec. 2 in the squads' first clash.