Game 9 • Clarkson at Cornell
Faceoff: Friday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink (4,267) • Ithaca, N.Y.
2008-09 Records: Cornell (5-1-2, 4-0-2 ECAC Hockey) • Clarkson (2-7-3, 1-5-0 ECAC Hockey)
Series Record: Cornell leads, 51-49-11
Last Meeting: Clarkson won, 4-1, on Feb. 8, 2008, in Potsdam, N.Y.
Television: none
Radio: WHCU 870 AM • Jason Weinstein (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: Cornell Redcast (www.CornellBigRed.com)
Tickets: Call 607-254-BEAR

Game 10 • St. Lawrence at Cornell
Faceoff: Saturday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink (4,267) • Ithaca, N.Y.
2008-09 Records: Cornell (5-1-2, 4-0-2 ECAC Hockey) • St. Lawrence (5-7-1, 1-4-1 ECAC Hockey)
Series Record: Cornell leads, 51-39-7
Last Meeting: St. Lawrence won, 4-2, on Feb. 9, 2008, in Canton, N.Y.
Television: none
Radio: WHCU 870 AM • Jason Weinstein (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: Cornell Redcast (www.CornellBigRed.com)
Tickets: Call 607-254-BEAR

Complete Release in PDF Format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's hockey team wraps up play for the fall semester this weekend, taking on Clarkson and St. Lawrence in a pair of games at Lynah Rink. The Big Red and Golden Knights will begin the weekend with a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, while Saturday's semester finale will feature the Big Red taking on the Saints in a 7 p.m. start. Both games can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU 870 AM with live video available worldwide through the Cornell RedCast subscription service, as Jason Weinstein provides the play-by-play.

Cornell is coming off its first foray out of ECAC Hockey play this season, picking up a split of a pair of games at North Dakota last weekend in Grand Forks. The Big Red dropped the opener, 7-3, before turning things around on Saturday night for a 2-1 victory over the Fighting Sioux. Junior Colin Greening collected a pair of goals on the weekend, while another five players picked up two points in the two-game series with the Sioux.

Freshman Locke Jillson broke through with his first career goal on Friday night against North Dakota, opening the scoring just under three minutes into the contest. Michael Kennedy and Riley Nash also added goals for Cornell on the weekend, while Evan Barlow, Brendon Nash and Jared Seminoff both had a pair of assists. Junior goaltender Ben Scrivens went 1-1 in goal, allowing five goals on 26 shots on Friday night before stopping 22-of-23 shots on Saturday for the victory. Freshman goaltender Mike Garman made his collegiate debut in the third period on Friday night, allowing two goals on 10 shots.
Despite the rough weekend, Scrivens continues to lead the nation in save percentage (.950) and is fourth in goals-against average (1.39), while Cornell as a team is third in scoring defense. Cornell's power play ranks 39th, converting on 6-of-47  chances (12.8 percent), while the penalty kill has killed off 40-of-45 shorthanded chances (88.9 percent).

Cornell is led by head coach Mike Schafer, who has compiled a 259-140-47 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 CLARKSON
A preseason top-20 selection and fourth in both the preseason media and coaches polls, Clarkson has gotten off to a rough start through its first 12 games. The Golden Knights, after starting out the year 2-1-2 and with a pair of ties against Colorado College, have gone 0-6-1 in their last seven games. Last weekend, Clarkson dropped an overtime contest to Canisius on Friday, 4-3, before tying the Griffins on Saturday, 2-2, at Cheel Arena. Clarkson has struggled to a 1-5 mark in ECAC Hockey play with its lone victory coming at home against Brown on Nov. 7. Scott Freeman leads the Clarkson offense with 13 points on two goals and 11 assists, while Lauri Tuohimaa has a team-best seven goals on the season. Freshman Paul Karpowich has claimed the top goaltender job after the graduation of David Leggio and has posted a 2.96 goals-against average and a 90.5 save percentage. Clarkson's power play unit, once a strength, has struggled this season to the tune of 11.8 percent efficiency (8-of-68), while the Golden Knight penalty killers have ended 67-of-77 penalties against (87.0 percent).

THE SERIES WITH CLARKSON
Friday night's game will be the 112th meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1922-23. Cornell holds a slim 51-49-11 lead in the all-time series, though Clarkson took a pair of victories in the three meetings between the two programs last season. Cornell and Clarkson skated to a 3-3 tie in the consolation game of the Florida College Classic on Dec. 29, 2007, with the Knights taking a 4-2 win at Lynah Rink on Jan. 20 and a 4-1 win at Cheel Arena in Potsdam on Feb. 8. Since Mike Schafer became Cornell's head coach, the Big Red holds a 23-12-3 record against Clarkson.

ABOUT ST. LAWRENCE
Like their North Country neighbors, the Saints have found things a bit more difficult over the past month of the season, going 1-5 over the last three weekends. St. Lawrence opened the year in impressive fashion, rattling off four straight wins following a season-opening sweep at Michigan, and defeated then-No. 4 New Hampshire, but have struggled offensively since. Mike McKenzie and Brock McBride lead the Saint offense with 11 points apiece, while Alex Petizian has again established himself as the top goaltender, posting a 2.28 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. St. Lawrence is converting power plays at a 14.5 percent rate (10-of-69) and has killed off 89.7 percent of the penalties against (78-of-87).

THE SERIES WITH ST. LAWRENCE
The two teams split last season's two meetings, with the home team claiming victory in both games, as Cornell holds a 51-39-7 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to 1926-27. Cornell took a 3-1 win at Lynah Rink on Jan. 18, 2008, while the Saints claimed a 4-2 win at Appleton Arena on Feb. 7. Under Mike Schafer, the Big Red holds a slim 12-11-4 lead in the series against St. Lawrence.

FROM THE DEPTHS
All 23 players who made the trip to North Dakota saw playing time, including the final two members of the freshman class to appear in a regular-season game for the Big Red. Mike Garman came on in relief of Ben Scrivens in the third period of Friday night's 7-3 loss, while Sean Whitney made his collegiate debut in place of Jordan Berk in Saturday night's 2-1 victory.

SCORING THE SHORTIES
Michael Kennedy scored a short-handed goal in the 2-1 win against North Dakota on Nov. 29, the first such goal for the Big Red in 49 games. The last player to score a short-handed goal was Mark McCutcheon, who tallied one on Feb. 10, 2007, at Rensselaer. McCutcheon's came one game after Mitch Carefoot scored one at Union, marking the last time a short-handed goal was scored in back-to-back games.

ON THE REBOUND
Back-to-back losses have been hard to find for the Big Red lately, as in each of Cornell's last six defeats, the Big Red has come back to win the following night. Dating back to last season's 3-2 loss to Union on Feb. 15, Cornell has followed up each of the last six defeats with a victory, including the Nov. 29 win over North Dakota. Cornell has not suffered back-to-back defeats since dropping three straight games from Feb. 8-15 against Clarkson, St. Lawrence and Union.

TEAM CANADA
Sophomore Riley Nash was selected to the selection camp for Hockey Canada to represent his country at the World Junior Championships, which begin on Dec. 26 in Ottawa, Ontario. Nash was among 38 players selected to the camp, from which the 20 players who will represent Canada will be chosen. Nash will be seeking to become just the ninth Cornell player to play in the World Junior Championships and the first since Sasha Pokulok did so at the 2006 World Junior Championships during the 2005-06 season.
A GATHERIING OF WARRIORS
Saturday night's game between Cornell and St. Lawrence will feature a reunion of sorts between a pair of former Wayne State teammates will face off against each other for the first time. Cornell senior Derek Punches will meet up against junior defenseman Jeff Caister, who transferred to St. Lawrence following the disbanding of the Wayne State program.

CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS ONE
Sophomore Riley Nash is probably the most excited player to see St. Lawrence come to town. Nash has scored a pair of goals in both of his first two games against the Saints, tallying two in a 3-1 win on Jan. 18 and the only two Cornell goals in a 4-2 loss in Potsdam on Feb. 9. Nash has three two-goal games in his career, with the third coming earlier this season against Harvard. Nash's four points against the Saints are the most of any player on the Cornell roster, despite only having played St. Lawrence twice.

...AND GREENING LOVES CLARKSON
While Riley Nash appears to enjoy facing St. Lawrence, junior Colin Greening has had success against Clarkson over his first two seasons. Greening leads all Cornell players with six points against the Golden Knights in just five games, recording three goals and three assists.

RARE OCCURRENCES
The seven goals allowed by the Big Red on Friday night were the most surrendered by the Cornell defense since allowing a seven-spot at Rensselaer on Feb. 26, 1999, in a 7-5 loss to the Engineers. Cornell's last time allowing six goals or more came during Thanksgiving weekend last season, when Cornell allowed six goals to Boston University in a 6-3 defeat at Madison Square Garden.

HATS OFF TO YOU
Matt Frattin's hat trick against Cornell on Friday night also was a rare occurrence, as the last time an opposing player scored three goals against the Big Red came 328 games ago when Ohio State's Hugo Boisvert tallied three goals on Jan. 15, 1999.

COLLECT THAT PUCK
Freshman Locke Jillson scored his first career goal on a first-period backhand shot in the loss on Nov. 28, prompting team co-captain Michael Kennedy to collect that puck from the back of the net for the freshman from Dallas, Texas. Jillson is the only member of the freshman class to have scored a goal or a point this season.

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, but Cornell will add a full 10 percent onto its all-time total against that league this season. Entering the year, Cornell had only played a total of 30 games against WCHA members, posting a 14-15-1 mark against those 10 schools. The Big Red split its two game series with North Dakota on Nov. 28-29, with the Sioux taking the first game, 7-3, before Cornell rallied for the game two win, 2-1. 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 (2-4) 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.

GO WEST, YOUNG MAN
The Nov. 28-29 series at North Dakota was the first regular-season trip west for the Big Red since playing Wisconsin in the Badger Showdown in 1998 in Milwaukee. Prior to the series in Grand Forks, each of Cornell's first nine games against WCHA foes during the tenure of head coach Mike Schafer had 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 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. That streak was snapped in game seven when North Dakota scored seven against the Big Red. 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 the Nov. 22 game against Dartmouth, sophomore Tyler Roeszler was 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 the first two points of the season for the Chatham, Ontario, native.

WE'RE GETTING TIRED OF SEEING YOU...
With the Nov. 22 game against Dartmouth at Lynah Rink, the Big Red had played five of its eight previous 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 on Nov. 21-22 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 was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week on Nov. 24 after backstopping the Big Red to a pair of wins over Harvard and Dartmouth. 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
Just four games into the 2008-09 season, the Big Red had 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 679 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. Eight games into the season, Jillson is still 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 each of the first eight games this season, senior co-captain Michael Kennedy has now appeared in 106 games in a Cornell uniform. In his three-plus seasons, Kennedy has scored 21 goals and tallied 23 assists for 44 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 five games due to injury, while Evan Barlow will also cross the 100-game mark in his next contest.

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.

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 in his win totals. In his 14th season, Schafer has 259 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 this season, as he trails Colgate's Don Vaughan by just two, Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet by just three and Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by just 10. St. Lawrence's Joe Marsh, the dean of coaches in ECAC Hockey, has 420 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 will head south between Christmas and New Year's for the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla. The Big Red will take on St. Cloud State of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for the first time in program history in the first round on Dec. 27, while Maine will battle Colgate in the other first round matchup.