Game 7 • Cornell at North Dakota
Faceoff: Friday, Nov. 28, at 8:30 p.m. EDT
Site: Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,406) • Grand Forks, N.D.
2008-09 Records: Cornell (4-0-2, 4-0-2 ECAC Hockey); North Dakota (4-7-1, 4-5-1 WCHA)
Series Record: North Dakota leads, 3-1-0
Last Meeting: North Dakota won, 5-1, on Dec. 27, 1997, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (Pepsi Tournament)
Television: Fighting Sioux Sports Network, NHL Network • Pat Sweeney (play-by-play), Jim Scanlan (color)
Radio: WHCU 870 AM • Jason Weinstein (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.fightingsioux.com
Live Video: www.fightingsioux.com (subscription)
Tickets: Available through www.ticketmaster.com

Game 8 • Cornell at North Dakota
Faceoff: Saturday, Nov. 29, at 8:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Ralph Engelstad Arena (11,406) • Grand Forks, N.D.
2008-09 Records: Cornell (4-0-2, 4-0-2 ECAC Hockey); North Dakota (4-7-1, 4-5-1 WCHA)
Series Record: North Dakota leads, 3-1-0
Last Meeting: teams meet Friday
Television: Fighting Sioux Sports Network • Pat Sweeney (play-by-play), Jim Scanlan (color)
Radio: WHCU 870 AM • Jason Weinstein (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.fightingsioux.com
Live Video: www.fightingsioux.com (subscription)
Tickets: Available through www.ticketmaster.com

Game Notes in PDF format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- For the first time since the 1995-96 season, the Cornell men's hockey team will make a regular-season trip to the western part of the United States when it heads to Grand Forks, N.D., for a two-game set against North Dakota. The Big Red and Fighting Sioux will open the series on Friday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time (7:30 p.m. Central) in a game that can be seen throughout the United States on the NHL Network. The two-game set concludes on Saturday with an 8 p.m. Eastern time game (7 p.m. Central). Both games can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU 870 AM and worldwide through the Cornell RedCast subscription service, as Jason Weinstein provides the play-by-play.

Cornell is coming off a pair of wins last weekend against ECAC Hockey and Ivy League foes Harvard and Dartmouth to remain unbeaten on the season at 4-0-2 overall and in league play. The Big Red downed Harvard, 2-1, behind a pair of goals from Riley Nash, then got a pair of two-point efforts from Joe Scali and Tyler Roeszler in scoring a 3-1 victory over Dartmouth. Goaltender Ben Scrivens got the win in both contests, stopping 14 shots for the win against the Crimson, then picking up another 27 saves in the victory over the Big Green - with 17 of those coming in the third period alone. The home weekend sweep is the first league home sweep since Feb. 16-17, 2007, when Cornell picked up wins over Quinnipiac (2-0) and Princeton (8-4).

Scrivens continues to lead the nation in both goals-against average (0.81) and save percentage (97.1 percent), while the Big Red penalty killing unit is also the top squad in the nation, successfully killing off 96.7 percent of opponents' power plays (29-of-30). Cornell's power play unit has converted five of 39 chances for a 12.8 percent conversion rate.

Cornell is led by head coach Mike Schafer, who has compiled a 258-139-47 record and is in his 14th season. Schafer has guided the Big Red to four ECAC Hockey championships and six NCAA tournament berths during his tenure. Additionally, he led the Big Red to its last NCAA Frozen Four appearance in Buffalo in 2003. Schafer is assisted by associate head coach Casey Jones, assistant coach Scott Garrow and volunteer goaltender coach Ian Burt.

ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA
One of the perennial powerhouse programs, the Fighting Sioux have gotten off to a slow start this season at 4-7-1 on the year and 4-5-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. North Dakota is coming off a tie and a loss at Minnesota-Duluth last weekend, earning a 2-2 tie on Friday in Duluth before falling by a 3-1 margin on Saturday night. Senior Ryan Duncan, the 2006-07 Hobey Baker Award winner, leads the Fighting Sioux offense with 10 points on four goals and six assists. Duncan's four goals are tied with freshmen Brett Hextall and Jason Gregoire for the team lead, while defenseman Chay Genoway has a team-best eight assists. In goal, North Dakota has had a difficult time finding a replacement for graduated senior Jean-Philippe Lamoureaux. Freshman Brad Eidsness appears to have captured the starting job, however, posting a 90.1 save percentage and a 2.85 goals-against average in 10 games. North Dakota has converted on 13-of-94 power play chances (13.8 percent) while struggling on the penalty kill, successfully ending 58-of-72 opponents' power plays (80.6 percent).

THE SERIES WITH NORTH DAKOTA
Cornell and North Dakota will be meeting for the first time since the 1997-98 season in which the Fighting Sioux claimed a 5-1 victory at the Pepsi Invitational in Grand Rapids, Mich. North Dakota holds a 3-1 lead in the all-time series, with Cornell's lone win coming in the first meeting, in the national semifinals in 1967. That season, Cornell took a 1-0 victory in Syracuse, N.Y., on its way to the program's first NCAA championship. The two schools met again in the NCAA semifinals the following season, with North Dakota claiming a 3-1 victory in Duluth, Min. Each of the first four meetings of the series against North Dakota have come at neutral sites, with the last two coming in Grand Rapids, Mich. Additionally, each of the first three meetings have come in the NCAA tournament.

CORNELL AGAINST THE WCHA
With Cornell limited to seven non-conference games per year, games against Western Collegiate Hockey Association members have been few and far between. Cornell has only played a total of 30 games against WCHA members, posting a 14-15-1 mark against those 10 schools. Cornell holds a winning record against Alaska-Fairbanks (1-0), Colorado College (3-1), Minnesota-Duluth (1-0-1), and Minnesota State (1-0), while posting a sub-.500 mark against Minnesota (0-2), North Dakota (1-3) and Wisconsin (2-4). Cornell has never faced St. Cloud State in men's hockey, though the two teams are scheduled to meet in the opening round of the 2008 Florida College Classic next month in Estero, Fla.

INDIVIDUALLY AGAINST THE WCHA
While no player on the 2008-09 Cornell roster has ever played North Dakota, a handful of players have played games against WCHA teams. In 2005-06, Cornell played a regular-season game against Minnesota-Duluth at the Florida College Classic, then took on both Colorado College and Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament. Current seniors Evan Barlow, Michael Kennedy, Tyler Mugford and Jared Seminoff played in all three of those games, while Taylor Davenport played only against Minnesota-Duluth. Additionally, Derek Punches has played five games against WCHA teams while a member of the Wayne State program over the last three seasons. Among those 18 games played, those six players have accounted for one goal and one assist, with the goal belonging to Punches and the assist to Seminoff.

GO WEST, YOUNG MAN
This weekend's series will be the first regular-season trip west for the Big Red since playing Wisconsin in the Badger Showdown in 1998 in Milwaukee. Each of Cornell's nine games against WCHA foes during the tenure of head coach Mike Schafer has come in either an in-season tournament or in the NCAA tournament.

LOCKDOWN DEFENSE
In each of the first six games of the season, the Big Red has held its opposition to two goals or fewer, with Colgate being the only team to put more than one puck in the goal in a 2-2 tie on Nov. 15 at Lynah Rink. Cornell last put together such a streak to open the year in the 2004-05 season, going 10 straight games of allowing two goals or fewer, surrendering just 13 total goals over that span with a pair of shutouts.

LET'S GO TO THE VIDEOTAPE
After reviewing Saturday's game against Dartmouth, sophomore Tyler Roeszler has been the beneficiary of a scoring change. Roeszler picked up the second assist on Michael Kennedy's power-play goal in the first period. The assist gives Roeszler his first multi-point game of his career and were the first two points of the season for the Chatham, Ontario, native.

WE'RE GETTING TIRED OF SEEING YOU...
With Saturday's game against Dartmouth at Lynah Rink, the Big Red has played five of its last eight home games against the Big Green. Cornell closed out the 2007-08 season with Dartmouth and Harvard, then played three games against the Hanover, N.H., school in the first round of the ECAC Hockey tournament. Cornell then opened this season with a game against Colgate before taking on Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend.

BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
Cornell's sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend marked the first time that the Big Red took a pair of victories in the same weekend against its colorful Ivy brethren since Dartmouth and Harvard were matched up as travel partners prior to the 2005-06 season. Previously, Cornell had endured five splits and one weekend sweep at the hands of the the Crimson and Big Green.

HEY, YOU'RE NOT ST. LAWRENCE!
Sophomore Riley Nash posted a pair of goals in the Big Red's 2-1 win over Harvard on Nov. 21, the first time in his young career that he has had a two-goal game against a team not named St. Lawrence. In two career games against the Saints, Nash has struck for four goals. While Nash had 10 multi-point games last season to lead the Big Red, he only had the two two-goal contests among those.

TO THE VICTORS GO THE SPOILS
For the second time in three weeks, Ben Scrivens has been named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week after backstopping the Big Red to a pair of wins over Harvard and Dartmouth. The national leader in goals-against average and save percentage, Scrivens allowed just one goal in both games, stopping 14 shots against Harvard and 27 against the Big Green. Scrivens has twice previously won the award, earning top honors on Nov. 10, 2008, and on Dec. 3, 2007.

LATE STARTS
Cornell's Nov. 15 home opener marked the latest home opener in program history since the 1996-97 season, when Cornell also played its first home game on the midpoint of the 11th month. That season, Cornell defeated Vermont, 6-4, on its way to a 21-9-5 record and a berth in the NCAA tournament. The last time Cornell had a home opener later than Nov. 15 was in 1993-94 when the Big Red opened its home slate on Nov. 19 against Harvard.

LATE STARTS, PART TWO
Not only was Cornell's season opener on Nov. 7 the latest for the Big Red since head coach Mike Schafer's second year in 1996-97, when Cornell opened on Nov. 8, it also made the Big Red the last team in Division I college hockey to play its first regular-season game. The late start parallels that of the Cornell football team, which was scheduled to be the last team in Division I to begin play this season with its game at Bucknell on Sept. 20.

PENALTY SHOT BONANZA
It's just four games into the 2008-09 season, but the Big Red has already seen a pair of penalty shots this year – one for and one against the Big Red. Cornell's Evan Barlow was awarded a penalty shot on Nov. 8 at Quinnipiac, which was saved by the Bobcats' Nick Pisellini, while Colgate's Brian Day was awarded a penalty shot against the Big Red on Nov. 15, which he slid between the legs of Cornell goaltender Ben Scrivens. Since 2000, there have been 10 penalty shots called in games involving Cornell, with seven of those coming since the start of the 2006-07 season.

SCRIVENS AND THE SHOT
Cornell goaltender Ben Scrivens keeps finding ways to put himself into the record books. On Nov. 15 against Colgate, he became the first Cornell goaltender in program history to have faced three penalty shots. Scrivens stopped the first one he faced in his collegiate debut against Wayne State's Tylor Michel on Nov. 25, 2006, then allowed a goal to Quinnipiac's Mike Atkinson on Nov. 3, 2007 before allowing a goal to Colgate's Brian Day on Nov. 15, 2008. Interestingly enough, all three penalty shots faced by Scrivens occurred during the month of November, and all three have come at Lynah Rink.

THE CURSE OF JOE NIEUWENDYK
When Joe Nieuwendyk scored on a penalty shot against Rensselaer's Steve Duncan in the third period of a 6-1 Cornell victory on Feb. 27, 1987, little did he know that nearly 22 years later, he still had scored the most recent penalty shot in Cornell history. Since then, eight players have attempted a shot, with each one being turned away. The newest addition to the penalty shot parade was Evan Barlow, who was stopped in the second period on Nov. 8 by Quinnipiac goaltender Nick Pisellini. Since the start of 2006-07 season, Cornell has had four penalty shot attempts, with Mitch Carefoot, Tony Romano, Blake Gallagher and Barlow each coming up short. A total of 677 games have passed since Nieuwendyk converted his penalty shot.

ON THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM
Evan Barlow's penalty shot carried with it extra irony, given that in last year's second league game against Quinnipiac at Lynah Rink, it was Barlow who tripped up the Bobcats' Mike Atkinson, giving Atkinson a penalty shot in the second period. The Bobcats converted on their attempt against Ben Scrivens to tie the score at three, but Cornell would respond with a pair of third-period goals to take a 5-3 victory.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW
Freshman Locke Jillson became the first of the newcomers this season to etch his name into the scoring column when he picked up an assist on Tyler Mugford's goal on Nov. 13 at Colgate. Jillson then added an assist on Riley Nash's first goal against Harvard for his second point of the year. Six games into the season, Jillson remains the only Cornell freshman to have recorded a point.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Freshman Jordan Kary made his Cornell debut in the tie against Colgate on Nov. 15 after sitting out the first three regular season games and the two exhibition contests. Kary was not cleared to play until just before the Colgate series as the result of a paperwork mixup with the NCAA that has since been resolved. In his first contest since playing in junior hockey last season with the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, Kary had a clean scoreline with no points, shots or penalties.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING THROUGH THE QUAD!
Junior goaltender Ben Scrivens had his school-record shutout streak snapped on Nov. 13 at Colgate after tallying 206:44 straight without allowing a goal. Colgate's Brian Day stopped that streak with his goal just 59 seconds into the third period in the Big Red's 4-1 win at Starr Rink. Scrivens' streak is now the longest in Cornell history, surpassing the 189:48 set by Brian Cropper during the 1969-70 season, though he fell short of the ECAC Hockey shutout streak of 217:06, held by Colgate netminder Mark Dekanich.

DOUBLE SQUADOOSH
For the second time in as many seasons, Cornell posted a scoreless tie in a regular season game. The amazing thing about that feat is that the only other scoreless tie in Cornell hockey history came nearly 85 years ago, as the Big Red battled to a 0-0 tie with Clarkson on Jan. 20, 1923.

THE CENTURY CLUB
With his appearance in the first two games this season, senior co-captain Michael Kennedy has now appeared in 100 games in a Cornell uniform. In his three-plus seasons, Kennedy has scored 20 goals and tallied 22 assists for 42 points. He joins Derek Punches, who played in 104 games at Wayne State before making his Cornell debut on Nov. 8 at Quinnipiac, and Jared Seminoff, who reached the 100-game mark on Nov. 22 against Dartmouth, as the only players on the roster to have appeared in at least 100 college hockey games. Tyler Mugford is currently at stuck at 99 games played after missing the last three games due to injury, while Evan Barlow needs just three games to reach his 100th career contest in a Cornell uniform.

ONE GOAL + TWO GAMES = THREE POINTS
The rarest of statistical oddities occurred for the Big Red on its season-opening weekend as it picked up a win over Princeton and a tie at Quinnipiac. Despite scoring just one goal, the Big Red miraculously came away with three valuable points in the league standings. The last time the Big Red went on the road and scored just one goal in two games was at Michigan State on Nov. 12-14, 2004, tying the Spartans, 1-1, on Nov. 12, and falling, 2-0, two days later. The last one-goal road performance for the Big Red in league play came at Princeton and Yale on Feb. 9-10, 2001, as Cornell fell, 4-1, at Princeton and 1-0 at Yale the following night.

ALL YOU NEED IS ONE
Cornell's 1-0 victory at Princeton on Nov. 7 not only was the Big Red's first win of the season, it also marked the first time since the 2004-05 season that Cornell went on the road and came away with a 1-0 victory. That year, the Big Red downed Colgate, 1-0, on Feb. 4, 2005, at Starr Rink, behind a goal by Mike Iggulden at the 18:27 mark of the third period.

NO SOUP FOR YOU!
When Ben Scrivens turned away all 43 shots he faced on Nov. 7 at Princeton, it marked the first time since the 1990-91 season that the Big Red opened the season with a shutout. On Nov. 9, 1990, goaltender Jim Crozier turned away 20 shots on his way to a 5-0 shutout victory. In all, Cornell has only posted seven season-opening shutouts in the modern era (1957-present), with four of those coming prior to 1970.

PITCHING SHUTOUTS
Even more impressive than Ben Scrivens posting a shutout in the season opener was the fact that never before in Cornell history had a Big Red goaltender posted back-to-back shutouts to open the season. In the six previous times the Big Red opened the year with a shutout, Cornell went 4-2 in the next contest, twice allowing one goal, twice allowing three goals and allowing four and eight goals once each.

YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE
The ECAC Hockey office took notice of Ben Scrivens' play on the weekend of Nov. 7-8, as the junior from Spruce Grove, Alberta, was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week on Nov. 10. Scrivens earned the honor for the second time in his career, with the first coming after his 45-save shutout tie against Massachusetts on Nov. 30, 2007.

THE NATION'S BEST
Not only did Ben Scrivens earn ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors, but he was also named the Inside College Hockey National Player of the Week on Nov. 11 after shutting out Princeton and Quinnipiac. He becomes just the second Cornell player to ever earn the honor, joining Michael Kennedy, who was named to the list on Jan. 8, 2008, after scoring six points in a weekend sweep over Niagara at Lynah Rink.

PUT ME IN, COACH - I'M READY TO PLAY
Of the seven new faces on the Cornell roster this season, two – Mike Garman and Sean Whitney – have yet to see game action. Garman has dressed for all six but has watched junior Ben Scrivens post exceptional numbers, while Whitney has been a scratch for all four games. Fellow freshmen Locke Jillson and Keir Ross have appeared in all four games, while Sean Collins has played in three contests. Freshman Jordan Kary and senior Derek Punches have appeared in two games apiece.

ROAD WORK
Cornell's three-game road trip to open the season is such a rare occurrence, not even Cornell head coach Mike Schafer was alive the last time the Big Red opened the year with three games away from Lynah Rink. The 1959-60 team that finished 2-19 under head coach Paul Patten opened its season with four straight road games, followed by a pair of neutral site games and another three road contests before finally playing its first game at home on Jan. 16 against Yale. All of this occurred nearly three years before the 46-year-old Schafer was born.

ECAC HOCKEY AND SEASON OPENERS
The Nov. 7 contest against Princeton was not only the season opener, but also the first league game of the season. The last time the Big Red jumped directly into league play without any nonconference contests came in 1999-2000, when the Big Red opened with a 5-4 overtime loss at Rensselaer. Under the direction of Mike Schafer, Cornell has opened its season with a conference game just twice, with the first time coming in his second season behind the bench, a 5-4 victory at Brown.

MORE ON THE SEASON OPENER
While Cornell opening its year against a league foe is an uncommon occurence under Mike Schafer, the Big Red has had success in its first games of the year under the 14th-year mentor. In the 14 seasons under Schafer's direction, the Big Red is 9-4-1 in season openers.

...AND OPENING ON THE ROAD
The Big Red opened the 2008-09 season on the road for the second straight season and fifth time under the direction of head coach Mike Schafer. Last season, Cornell opened at Rochester Institute of Technology at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester and fell by a 4-1 margin. The last time Cornell opened back-to-back seasons on the road came in Schafer's first two years, opening at Michigan State in 1995-96 and at Brown in 1996-97.

STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
With Cornell's win at Princeton on Nov. 7, the Big Red avoided starting the season with a loss for the second year in a row, another uncommon occurrence for the Big Red under Mike Schafer. In the modern era of Cornell hockey, from the opening of Lynah Rink in 1957 to the present day, the Big Red has only once dropped back-to-back season openers, that coming in the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons, falling to Rensselaer by a 5-4 score on Nov. 5, 1999, and dropping a 5-3 contest to Sacred Heart on Nov. 4, 2000.

EXHIBIT A
Riley Nash, Tyler Roeszler and Tyler Mugford each scored a goal as Cornell opened the 2008-09 season with a 3-3 exhibition tie against the U.S. Under-18 National Team on Oct. 18 at Lynah Rink. Playing with just one day of practice under their belts, the Big Red showed off their power play and penalty killing abilities, as Cornell scored one goal with the man advantage and one short-handed, in addition to Roeszler's strike at even strength. Ben Scrivens worked the first half of the game, picking up 10 saves on 11 shots, while Mike Garman worked the second half of the contest, stopping three of the five shots he faced over that span.

NORTH OF THE BORDER
The Big Red also faced off against Western Ontario in an exhibition contest on Oct. 24, downing the Mustangs, 4-3, on a last-second goal by Brendon Nash. The penalty-filled contest saw a combined 63 minutes worth of penalties, with the two teams each receiving plenty of power play opportunities. Nash and Michael Kennedy both scored a pair of goals in the game, with Nash's second goal coming with 6.3 seconds remaining in regulation after the Mustangs had tied the score with just under 30 seconds remaining. Ben Scrivens worked the entire contest, making 17 saves for the exhibition victory.

THOSE MASKED MEN
Cornell has the benefit of having four capable collegiate goaltenders on the roster in 2008-09, two of whom have been the team's top goaltender at one point or another. Senior Troy Davenport was the starter in 2006-07, appearing in 24 games and posting a 2.41 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage. Last season, current junior Ben Scrivens grabbed the top job, appearing in 35 contests and posting a 2.02 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. Joining the two are senior Dan DiLeo, who saw his first collegiate action in the ECAC Hockey consolation game win over Colgate last season, and freshman Mike Garman, who backstopped the Nanaimo Clippers to the British Columbia Hockey League regular season title last year.

TRANSFER TICKET
For the fourth straight season, the Cornell men's hockey roster includes a player who began his career at another school, as Derek Punches joins the Big Red after playing his first three seasons at Wayne State. Punches served as an assistant captain last year for the Warriors and finished second on the team with 10 goals and was fifth overall with 19 points. Punches was a two-time College Hockey America All-Academic Team selection while at Wayne State. For the past three seasons, the transfer role was filled by Chris Fontas, who sat out one year and played in 2006-07 and 2007-08 after tranferring from Massachusetts-Lowell.

FOR AND AGAINST
Derek Punches holds the distinction of being the most recent player to have played both for and against the Big Red. Punches played two games at Cornell as a sophomore at Wayne State, helping the Warriors to a split at Lynah Rink on Nov. 25-26, 2006. In the two games against the Big Red, Punches recorded a pair of shots and had an even plus-minus rating. The last time Cornell had players who played for the Big Red after playing against them came in 1978-79 when Doug Berk, Geoff Roeszler, Steve Shandley, Tim Strawman and Tom Whitehead each transfered to Cornell after beginning their careers at Penn. Much like Punches' situation with Wayne State, Penn dropped its program following the 1977-78 season.

I FEEL A DRAFT
For the second straight season, Cornell has four players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft. Juniors Colin Greening and Justin Krueger, sophomore Riley Nash and freshman Sean Collins have each been selected by NHL clubs.

CUSHING CONNECTION
While the New England prep schools typically send their top prospects on to collegiate careers at Boston area schools, freshman Sean Whitney has become the fourth product of Cushing Academy to play for the Big Red. He joins Chris Fontas, who played for Cornell from 2006-07 through 2007-08, and Ryan Moynihan, who played on East Hill from 1996-2000, as Cushing alumni to suit up in the Red and White. That trio all follow after Anthony Steere, who played for Cornell in 1962-63.

WHAT'S IN A NUMBER?
Freshman Sean Whitney will be wearing jersey number 19 this season, a number that has several interesting connections for the Scituate, Mass., native. His older brother, Ryan, plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League, and he sports the same number 19 on his uniform. Additionally, the last Cushing Academy alumnus to play hockey at Cornell, Chris Fontas, closed out his career by wearing number 19. Like Fontas, Whitney is an alumnus of Cushing Academy.

WICKED SMART KIDS
Eight players from last season's team were named to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic team for their achievements in the classroom last year. Five of those players return this season, as seniors Troy Davenport and Dan DiLeo, juniors Colin Greening and Justin Krueger and sophomore Patrick Kennedy each were named to the team. Additionally, graduated seniors Chris Fontas, Doug Krantz and Topher Scott were also selected as All-Academic Team members.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is quickly moving up the ranks of the coaching fraternity with his win totals. In his 14th season, Schafer has 258 career victories, ranking him fifth in ECAC Hockey, but with the shortest tenure of the four ahead of him in the rankings. Schafer could potentially move into second among ECAC Hockey peers, as he trails Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet and Colgate's Don Vaughan by just three and Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by just 11. St. Lawrence's Joe Marsh, the dean of coaches in ECAC Hockey, has 419 career wins to his credit in his 24th season.

REMEMBERING NED HARKNESS
Legendary coach Ned Harkness, who guided the Big Red to its two national championships in 1967 and 1970, passed away on Sept. 19, his 89th birthday. Harkness led Cornell to the only undefeated, untied NCAA championship season in 1970, going 29-0-0. His legendary career also included stops at Rensselaer, where he guided the Engineers to the 1954 NCAA championship, and Union, along with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League. Harkness also coached the Big Red lacrosse team for three seasons, guiding that squad to a 35-1 mark during his tenure. This season, the Cornell men's hockey and men's lacrosse teams will both be wearing a sticker bearing the initials “NH” on their helmets in memory of Ned Harkness.

ONE LONG SEASON
The 2007-08 season for the Big Red has found its own space in the record books, as the 19-14-3 campaign tied the 2002-03 season for the most games in a single season with 36. That season marked the last time that the Big Red advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four, where it fell to New Hampshire in the national semifinals.

HATS OFF
Colin Greening recorded the Big Red's first hat trick in 101 games when he tallied three goals on Feb. 29, 2008, against Dartmouth. The junior co-captain became the first player since Matt Moulson recorded the feat against Union on Feb. 19, 2005.

THE BACKUP OF THE BACKUP'S BACKUP
For the first time under head coach Mike Schafer, and the first time since the 1990-91 season, four netminders will be battling for time in between the pipes for the Big Red. Seniors Troy Davenport and Dan DiLeo, junior Ben Scrivens and freshman Mike Garman make the first quartet of goaltenders for Cornell since the foursome of Parris Duffus, Corrie D'Alessio, Jim Crozier and Steve Coultes graced the roster in Brian McCutcheon's fourth season behind the bench. That season, D'Alessio and Crozier were both seniors, with Coultes a sophomore and Duffus a freshman. Cornell has also had four goaltenders on the roster in 1986-87, 1983-84, 1982-83, 1976-77 and 1958-59.

BACK BEHIND THE BENCH
Casey Jones returns to his alma mater as an associate head coach for 2008-09 after spending the last 13 years in the same role with Ohio State. Jones, a Big Red captain 1989-90 under head coach Brian McCutcheon, fills the spot on the coaching staff that was created when assistant coach Brent Brekke departed for Miami (Ohio).

BROTHERLY LOVE
The 2008-09 edition of the Big Red continues a theme started a year ago, as the three sets of brothers on the Cornell roster all return intact for a second season. Michael and Patrick Kennedy, Brendon and Riley Nash, and twins Joe and Mike Devin will again make life difficult on visiting radio and TV announcers.

IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR
One might think that Chuck and Donna Devin, parents of sophomores Mike and Joe Devin, would have life easy, given that the brothers are attending the same school, making it easy to follow their season. That's not the case, though, as the brothers' younger sister, Molly Kate, is a freshman on the Union College women's hockey team. The Devin hockey family follows a year after Cornell had a pair of sisters - Rebecca and Sarah Johnston - with their brother, Jacob, on the men's team.

CLIPPER SHIP
Cornell typically has had success recruiting players from the British Columbia Hockey League in general and from the Nanaimo Clippers in particular, and the 2008-09 season is no exception. Six members of this year's team played their junior hockey for the BCHL powerhouse club, with incoming freshman goaltender Mike Garman adding to the long line of Nanaimo alumni who have gone on to play for the Big Red. Of those six players, three - Colin Greening, Tyler Mugford and Jared Seminoff - will serve as either a co-captain or an alternate captain this season for the Big Red.

250 AND COUNTING
Cornell coach Mike Schafer picked up his 250th career coaching victory with the Big Red's 3-2 win in game one of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series against Dartmouth. Schafer's .631 winning percentage is also good for eighth among active Division I head coaches.

IN THE AIR TONIGHT
All of Cornell's games this season can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU 870 AM. Jason Weinstein returns for his fifth season of calling Big Red hockey action.

ON THE TUBE
Seven of Cornell's regular season games are scheduled to be on television this season, beginning with the Nov. 7 season opener at Princeton. Even better for Big Red fans, seven of those contests will be road games, making it easier to track the team while it's away from Lynah Rink. Two of those games - the Nov. 27 game at North Dakota and the Jan. 16 game at Union - will also be simulcast across the U.S. on the NHL Network, with another two available on national TV, including the Nov. 7 game at Princeton, to be shown on ESPNU, and the Feb. 14 game at Harvard, seen on CBS College Sports. Last season, Cornell had eight games total on television, and the Big Red went 4-4 in those contests.

REDCAST
Live streaming video of most of Cornell's home hockey games is available through Cornell REDCast. In addition to streaming video of home games, fans can also get live audio of all of Cornell's road games. REDCast is a subscription-based joint venture of Cornell athletics and Internet Consulting Services (ICS). Numerous subscription options, including yearly, monthly, sport-by-sport and pay-per-view passes, provide viewing and listening flexibility without the worry of automatic renewal. REDCasts are available on all computer operating systems.

UP NEXT
Cornell returns home for the final two games of the fall semester, playing host to North Country rivals Clarkson and St. Lawrence at Lynah Rink. The Big Red and Golden Knights will open the weekend with a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, while Saturday night features the Big Red taking on the Saints in a 7 p.m. start.