Game 1 • Cornell vs. Niagara
Faceoff: Friday, October 30, 2009 at 7 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink (4,267) • Ithaca, N.Y.
2009-10 Records: Cornell (0-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey); Niagara (0-3-1, 0-0-0 College Hockey America)
Television: none
Radio: WHCU 870 AM • Jason Weinstein (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Audio: none
Tickets: Available by calling (607) 254-BEAR

Click here for Game Notes in PDF Format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The 2009-10 Cornell men's hockey season gets underway on Friday night as the Big Red takes on Niagara in a non-league game at Lynah Rink. The game can be heard on the radio on WHCU 870 AM in the Ithaca area with Jason Weinstein providing the call. Additionally, live video of the game will be available through the Cornell RedCast subscription service.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell enters the 2009-10 season as both a veteran club and one with plenty of talented newcomers, with all of the pieces seemingly in place for a run at the ECAC Hockey championship. Cornell returns 15 lettermen from last year's team that finished as the league runner-up and advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional Final. Added to that number are nine freshmen who will help to provide added depth at every position on the ice. Leading the way offensively is the Big Red's top three scorers from last year in Riley Nash, Colin Greening and Blake Gallagher. Nash finished the year with 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points a year ago, while Greening paced all players with 15 goals to go along with 16 assists for 31 points. Gallagher, meanwhile, tallied seven goals and 21 assists for 28 points. While the Big Red will rely on those three to repeat their offensive production, key to the season will be other players stepping up and contributing more offensively. In goal, Cornell returns one of the nation's best in senior Ben Scrivens. Scrivens finished last season with a .931 save percentage and a 1.81 goals-against average. Cornell converted on 15.3 percent of its power play chances (31-of-203) while killing off 87.0 percent of its opponents' power plays (161-of-185).

ABOUT NIAGARA
The Purple Eagles enter this weekend's action winless on the year, opening with a 0-3-1 mark on the early season. Niagara scored a tie against Colgate to open the season, but has since lost three straight to Clarkson, St. Lawrence and Michigan, though all three defeats were by one goal. Tyler Gotto leads the Niagara offense with five points on two goals and three assists, while three players have chipped in three points each. The goaltending tandem of Adam Avramenko and Chris Noonan have combined for a .884 save percentage and a 3.61 goals-against average. Niagara has struggled on the power play this year, going scoreless in 15 man-advantage opportunities, while the Purple Eagles have allowed four power play goals in 21 chances (81.0 percent).

THE SERIES WITH NIAGARA
Cornell leads the all-time series against the Purple Eagles, 9-2-0. The Big Red is 7-0 all-time against Niagara at Lynah Rink, with both of the Purple Eagles' victories coming as part of the Syracuse Invitation Tournament in 1999 and 2000. The series also includes neutral-site games at Buffalo in 1997, the first meeting between the two programs, and one in Rochester in 2005. Cornell won both of last year's meetings at Lynah Rink, winning by a 3-0 score in the series opener on Jan. 9 before taking a close 2-1 contest the following night.

START ME UP
Cornell has an all-time record of 54-32-6 in season openers and will look to win its second straight after scoring a 1-0 victory over Princeton to kick off the 2008-09 campaign. Under head coach Mike Schafer, the Big Red is 9-4-1 in season openers.

FOR STARTERS
Cornel and Niagara will be meeting for just the second time to open up a season. The first time came back in 1998-99, with the Big Red scoring a 3-2 victory on Nov. 6, 1998, in Ithaca.

OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
Cornell will be trying to avoid 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.

A MIGHTY WIND-SOR
Tyler Roeszler and Nick D'Agostino scored two goals each as Cornell opened the exhibition season with a 7-0 win over Windsor on Oct. 23. Patrick Kennedy, Blake Gallagher and Dan Nicholls also added goals Michael Garman got the start in goal for the Big Red, stopping all 20 shots he faced on the night.

EXHIBIT B
Sean Whitney and Riley Nash both scored  as the Cornell men's hockey team closed out the exhibition season with a 3-2 loss to the U.S. Under-18 National Team on Oct. 24 at Lynah Rink. Ithaca-native Andy Iles had 39 saves in the victory for Team USA, while Cornell's Ben Scrivens stopped 24 shots in the loss. Joe Devin, Greg Miller and Blake Gallagher each chipped in an assist. Cornell finished the game 0-for-5 on the power play, while Team USA was 1-for-5 with the man advantage.

QUIETLY MAKING NOISE
One of the most overlooked players on the Big Red roster is perhaps one of the most visible in goaltender Ben Scrivens. Entering his senior season, Scrivens ranks among the top-10 goaltenders in NCAA history in several categories, though he typically gets passed over for league and national recognition. Scrivens enters the year ranked tied for eighth in save percentage (.928) and tied for ninth in goals-against average (1.96). Additionally, last season, he tied for 15th all-time with his six single-season shutouts, and, should he start every game this season, he would break David McKee's NCAA record of consecutive starts by a goaltender of 102 – Scrivens stands at 70 games straight, which ranks third all-time in NCAA history.

I FEEL A DRAFT
Cornell has six players on the roster for 2009-10 who have been previously selected in the NHL Entry Draft. Seniors Colin Greening and Justin Krueger, junior Riley Nash, sophomore Sean Collins and freshmen Braden Birch and Nick D'Agostino have been picked in the NHL draft over the last five seasons.

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 15th season, Schafer has 276 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 Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by eight, with St. Lawrence's Joe Marsh well ahead with 439 career wins.

WHAT'S IN A NUMBER?
Sophomore defenseman Sean Whitney will be wearing jersey number 19 this season, the same number that his older brother, Ryan, wears for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League.

IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR
In what seems to be an annual trend for the Cornell hockey team, there are two sets of brothers on the roster in 2009-10. Twins Joe and Mike Devin are juniors, while the Nash family has senior defenseman Brendon and junior forward Riley as members of the Big Red.

BROTHERLY LOVE
A glance around the college hockey landscape shows 10 collegiate players who have older brothers as regular players in the NHL. Two of those 10 players happen to play for the Big Red, as sophomore defenseman Sean Whitney's brother, Ryan, is a defenseman for the Anaheim Ducks. Additionally, freshman forward Chris Moulson's older brother, Matt, is a forward for the New York Islanders. Cornell joins both New Hampshire and North Dakota (coincidentally, two opponents on the schedule in 2009-10) with having two players whose older brothers are currently in the NHL. Interestingly, all 10 of the older brothers also played college hockey.

ONE LONG SEASON
In 2007-08, the Big Red tied the 2002-03 campaign with the most games in a single season in school history. That mark was again equaled last year as the Big Red went 22-10-4, just the third time in program history that Cornell has played 36 games. The Big Red advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional Final, where it fell to Bemidji State, 4-1.

IRON MAN
Senior Colin Greening has a shot at breaking the school consecutive games record this season. Entering the year with 103 straight games played, the Big Red captain needs to play in 36 games this season to eclipse the mark of 138, set by Jeremy Downs from 2002-05.

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 calling Big Red hockey action.

ON THE TUBE
Five of Cornell's regular season games are scheduled to be on television this season, with the first being the Big Red's game at Union on Dec. 5, televised in the Albany area by Time Warner Sports. The other four games are all slated to be after the New Year, including the Big Red's game against North Dakota on Jan. 22. Other games to be televised include the game at New Hampshire on Jan. 3, at Quinnipiac on Feb. 5 and at Colgate on Feb. 16. Last season, Cornell played in 12 televised games, going 8-4 when on television.

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 opens up league play against Ivy League rivals Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend. Cornell opens the series with Dartmouth on Friday night before taking the ice against the Crimson the following evening. Both games will begin at 7 p.m.