Game 30 • Rensselaer at Cornell
ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal Game 1
Faceoff: Friday, March 13, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink (4,267) • Ithaca, N.Y.

Game 30 • Rensselaer at Cornell
ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal Game 2
Faceoff: Friday, March 13, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink (4,267) • Ithaca, N.Y.

Game 30 • Rensselaer at Cornell
ECAC Hockey Quarterfinal Game 3 (if necessary)
Faceoff: Friday, March 13, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink (4,267) • Ithaca, N.Y.

The Basics
2008-09 Records: Cornell (18-7-4, 13-6-3 ECAC Hockey) • Rensselaer (9-25-2, 6-15-1 ECAC Hockey)
Series Record: Cornell leads, 54-30-5
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 4-1 • Feb. 20, 2009, in Ithaca, N.Y.
Television: none
Radio: WHCU 870 AM • Jason Weinstein (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: B2 Networks
Live Audio: www.CornellBigRed.com
Tickets: Available by calling (607) 254-BEAR

Complete Release in PDF Format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A pair of surprise upsets in the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs have the Cornell men's hockey team facing off against one of those suprise squads, Rensselaer, in the quarterfinal round of the league tournament this weekend. The Big Red and Engineers will open the best-of-three series on Friday, with each game being contested at 7 p.m. at Lynah Rink. Each game of the series can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU 870 AM, with Jason Weinstein on the play-by-play, while live streaming audio of the contests will be available through the Cornell RedCast subscription service. Additionally, live video of the series is being provided through B2 Networks.

Cornell, the second-seed in the ECAC Hockey playoffs, closed out the season with wins in three of its last four games, including closing out the regular season with a thrilling 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win at Brown on Feb. 28. The win over the Bears, coupled with Princeton being swept at Dartmouth and Harvard that weekend, was enough for the Big Red to leapfrog the Tigers into the second seed in the tournament. Junior Blake Gallagher had a pair of assists on Feb. 27 in a 4-2 loss at Yale, then scored the overtime game-winner the following night at Brown. Fellow junior Colin Greening also had a three-point weekend, scoring a goal against the Bulldogs and tallying a goal and an assist against Brown.

Sophomore Riley Nash leads the Big Red offense, scoring 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points in 29 games. Greening has a team-best 12 goals to go along with 14 assists for 26 points, while Gallagher has team-high honors with 19 assists to match his six goals for 25 points. Senior Evan Barlow has also reached the 20-point mark with seven goals and 13 assists on the year. Goaltender Ben Scrivens has a .937 save percentage and a 1.72 goals-against average on the year to go along with six shutouts. The Big Red has scored 26 power-play goals in 159 chances for a 16.4 percent conversion rate, while Cornell's penalty killers have been successful in 85.0 percent of their chances, killing off 130-of-153 opponents' power plays.

Cornell is led by head coach Mike Schafer, who has compiled a 272-146-49 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 RENSSELAER
Rensselaer pulled off one of the stunners of the first round, traveling to Dartmouth and handing the Big Green a 3-2 overtime defeat in game one and a 3-1 loss in game two to clinch the series. Prior to the series against Dartmouth, Rensselaer had lost five straight games and nine of its last 10, with the lone win coming over Brown on Feb. 13. Sophomore Chase Polacek leads the Engineer offense with 31 points on 11 goals and 20 assists, while freshman Patrick Cullen and sophomore Tyler Helfrich both have 22 points as the only other players above the 20-point mark. Freshman Allen York has seen the majority of time in goal over the last few weeks, including getting the start in both playoff wins, posting a .893 save percentage and a 3.10 goals-against average in 13 appearances on the season. Rensselaer has struggled with special teams this season, converting on just 17-of-184 power play chances (9.2 percent) and killing off 82.4 percent of opponents' power plays (182-of-221).

THE SERIES WITH RENSSELAER
Cornell holds a 54-30-5 lead in the all-time series against Rensselaer, dating back to Jan. 31, 1908, in Albany, N.Y. Cornell has won five straight against the Engineers including a pair of wins this season. Rensselaer's last win over the Big Red came on Feb. 24, 2006, a 2-0 victory at Houston Fieldhouse in Troy, N.Y.

PLAYOFF HISTORY AGAINST THE ENGINEERS
Cornell and Rensselaer have met in the post-season in nine different seasons, with the Big Red holding an 8-3 lead in the post-season series against the Engineers. The two teams have met twice in a best-of-three series, first in 1998 and again in 2003. Both times, Cornell came out victorious, winning in 1998 in three games at Houston Fieldhouse and pulling out the sweep in 2003 at Lynah Rink.

CORNELL IN THE PLAYOFFS
Cornell has traditionally been hard to beat, posting an all-time winning percentage of .602 (961-620-98), and the Big Red has been even better in post-season play. Friday night's game one against Rensselaer will be the 128th ECAC Hockey tournament in program history, and Cornell holds an 84-39-4 all-time mark in league playoff action, good for a .677 winning percentage.

LET'S GO TO THE POLLS
Cornell held steady in the national polls this week at 12 in both the USCHO/CBS College Sports poll and the USA Hockey/USA Today poll.

BACK WHERE WE BELONG
Cornell's second-place finish in the ECAC Hockey standings marked the first time since the 2004-05 season that the Big Red was either the regular-season champion or runner-up. Cornell finished fifth last season after taking fourth place in 2006-07 and third in 2005-06.

FEBRUARY IS GALLAGHER'S MONTH
Junior Blake Gallagher has quietly been putting together some outstanding numbers lately, as the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, native has scored at least one point in eight straight games, tallying 11 points over that span. Gallagher has three goals and eight assists dating back to the 2-1 win over Quinnipiac on Feb. 6. Gallagher tallied at least one point in each game in the month of February.

AND GALLAGHER LIKES RENSSELAER
Blake Gallagher is tied for the team lead in scoring against Rensselaer in his career, having scored a goal and six assists for seven points in six career games against the Engineers. Michael Kennedy also has seven points in his eight games against the Engineers, scoring three goals and adding four assits. Colin Greening and Tyler Mugford are tied for the team lead with three goals apiece against RPI for their careers. This season, Kennedy and Riley Nash share team-high honors, with both players having recorded a goal and an assist in the two previous games against Rensselaer.

IVY COVERED WALLS
Cornell had five players named to the All-Ivy League teams when those awards were announced last week by the league office. The five selections for the Big Red were the most by any of the six Ivy League institutions and were based on statistics compiled in games against the other Ivy League schools only. Junior Colin Greening was the only unanimous selection to the first team, and was joined by classmate Brendon Nash in earning top team honors. Blake Gallagher was named to the second-team, with Riley Nash and Ben Scrivens earning honorable mention.

STARTING EARLY
A big key to Cornell's success this season has been jumping out in front early, as the Big Red holds a 10-1 mark this season when leading after one period. That number grows to 15-1 when leading at the second intermission. Conversely, the Big Red is just 0-3-2 when trailing after the first period and 1-6-1 when trailing at the second intermission. Cornell's lone win this year when trailing at the end of the second period came in the regular-season finale, rallying from a two-goal deficit early in the second period to score a 3-2 overtime win over Brown.

MR. CLUTCH
While senior Evan Barlow may not be scoring goals as often as he might like, he's certainly shown a flair for the dramatic when lighting the lamp this season. Four of Barlow's seven goals have served as the game-winner, including his most recent in overtime on Feb. 6 in a 2-1 victory over Quinnipiac. Barlow's first non-game-winning goal came on Feb. 13 at Dartmouth.

WORKING OVERTIME
The Feb. 13 game at Dartmouth had such a rare feel to it that the Big Red scored four goals in a losing effort for the first time in two and a half years. Cornell's last four-goal output in a loss came on Nov. 25, 2006, in a 5-4 defeat at the hands of Wayne State at Lynah Rink. That game was notable in that it marked the collegiate debut of Ben Scrivens, then a freshman, and was also the first appearance at Lynah Rink for current Cornell senior Derek Punches, who was a sophomore that season at Wayne State. In all under head coach Mike Schafer, Cornell has only lost 10 games when scoring four or more goals.

LAST SECOND LOSS
For the first time this season, the Big Red dropped a contest in which it was leading at the second intermission when it fell, 2-1, to Princeton on Feb. 7 at Lynah Rink. The Big Red entered that game a perfect 13-0-0 when leading after two, but the Tigers scored twice in the final 36 seconds to steal the victory. Since the start of the 2002-03 season, Cornell holds a 111-4-7 record when leading at the end of two periods.

FREE HOCKEY
Four of Cornell's last six games have needed to be settled in overtime, with a fifth game in that series decided in the final minute. Cornell opened the streak with a scoreless tie at Clarkson on Jan. 31, before winning a 2-1 overtime contest against Quinnipiac at Lynah Rink on Feb. 6. Next came the bizarre finish the following day against Princeton, where the Tigers scored twice in the final minute to steal a 2-1 victory. The stretch continued on Friday night as the Big Red fell at Dartmouth in overtime, 5-4. Most recently, Cornell closed out the regular season with a 3-2 overtime win at Brown on Feb. 28, coming from a two-goal deficit in the third period for the victory.

DOUBLE SQUADOOSH
After going the entire history of Cornell hockey with just one 0-0 tie for the first 90 seasons, there's been a sudden outbreak of double goose-egg scores over the past two years. Cornell went nearly 85 years between the first one, a tie with Clarkson on Jan. 20, 1923, and the second, which happened on Nov. 30, 2007, at Lynah Rink against Massachusetts. This season, though, there have been a pair of scoreless ties, first on Nov. 8 at Quinnipiac and the second on Jan. 31 at Clarkson. Cornell also had a 0-0 scoreless tie in the post-season on March 4, 1989, at Walker Arena in Potsdam, N.Y.

SHUTOUT NUMBER SIX
Ben Scrivens continues his assault on David McKee's single-season shutout mark of 10, picking up his sixth clean sheet in the scoreless tie at Clarkson on Jan. 31. Scrivens reached his sixth shutout in just the 21st game of the season, three games ahead of McKee's mark. While Scrivens has spread his shutouts out over the course of the season, McKee posted eight of his 10 over a 16-game span, stretching from game 16 to 32. Included in that stretch were a pair of back-to-back shutouts, on Jan. 29, 2005 against St. Lawrence and Feb. 4 at Colgate and again with two wins over Clarkson, first on Feb. 26 and the second two weeks later on March 11.

NOT SO FRIENDLY NORTH COUNTRY
The Jan. 30-31 games continued a trend of the Big Red struggling at the northern-most members of ECAC Hockey. This year's senior class will close out its career having never won a game in the North Country, as the Big Red has gone 0-3-1 at St. Lawrence's Appleton Arena and 0-2-2 at Clarkson's Cheel Arena over the past four seasons.

DiLEO'S LYNAH DEBUT
Senior Dan DiLeo made just the second appearance of his career on Feb. 28, coming on for the final 1:25 of the Big Red's 5-2 win over Union. DiLeo made a save on the only shot he faced during that time in his first appearance in front of the Lynah Faithful. DiLeo's first appearance came in the consolation game of the ECAC Hockey tournament last season, playing the final 3:11 of the Big Red's win over Colgate.

GOING TO THE BULLPEN
Freshman goaltender Michael Garman made just his second appearance of the season on Jan. 30, coming on in relief of starter Ben Scrivens midway through the second period. Garman stopped 12 of the 15 shots he faced during the contest against the Saints. The Vail, Colo., native made his collegiate debut on Nov. 27 at North Dakota, stopping eight of the 10 shots he faced against the Sioux.

BAD BEATS
The seven-goal margin of defeat on Jan. 30 at St. Lawrence for the Big Red provided the worst loss since Cornell dropped an 11-0 contest at Yale on Feb. 6, 1998. Additionally, that game against the Bulldogs marked the last time the Big Red allowed eight or more goals in a game.

ON THE REBOUND
The Feb. 13 loss to Dartmouth marked the first time this season – and first time in almost exactly a year – that the Big Red dropped a pair of games in a row. Cornell fell on Feb. 7 to Princeton, 2-1, before dropping Friday's bizarre contest, 5-4 in overtime. The Big Red's last back-to-back defeats came on Feb. 8-15, 2008, when Cornell dropped three straight games against Clarkson, St. Lawrence and Union.

SNUB THIS
When Riley Nash was released from the Canadian Junior National Team camp on Dec. 15, he could have taken the snub one of two ways: sulking, or proving his worth. Well, the sophomore has chosen the latter path, to the tune of scoring 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists in the 21 ensuing contests. Nash also struck for his first three-point game of the season on Jan. 16 at Union, then added a four-point game in the return game against the Dutchmen on Feb. 21 with two goals and two assists.

A CHANGE WILL DO YOU GOOD
A pair of scoring changes were recorded following the Big Red's split on Jan. 23-24 against Yale and Brown. Riley Nash's power-play goal on Friday night against Yale had one assist changed from Evan Barlow to Blake Gallagher, while on Saturday, Sean Collins' goal had its assists changed from Taylor Davenport to both Keir Ross and Sean Whitney.

FRESHMAN TO FRESHMAN TO FRESHMAN
Sean Collins' goal on Jan. 24 against Brown marked the first time this season that three freshmen combined for all the scoring on a goal. The two assists went to Keir Ross and Sean Whitney, the second assist on the season for both players. Cornell's freshmen class has combined for 19 points on five goals and 14 assists.

EXTRA, EXTRA!
Brendon Nash's extra-attacker goal in the closing seconds of the Jan. 23 loss to Yale was the first such goal for the Big Red since Raymond Sawada scored one on March 8, 2008, in game two of the ECAC Hockey first-round series against Dartmouth. Cornell hasn't had many chances for an extra attacker goal this season, as the Big Red has had an empty net for just 8:18 of the 1766:10 minutes this season - with 3:01 of that time coming in the loss to Yale at Lynah Rink. The Big Red added another extra attacker goal in the return game at Yale, with Evan Barlow scoring with the Big Red's goal empty in the 4-2 loss on Feb. 27.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING!
Cornell's 10-game unbeaten streak that was snapped on Jan. 23 against Yale was the longest such streak since the 2004-05 season, when the Big Red went a span of 19 games without a defeat. Over the course of that streak, the Big Red went 18-0-1, won the ECAC Hockey tournament title with a 3-1 victory over Harvard, and advanced to the NCAA regional final before falling at Minnesota, 2-1, in overtime.

THIS IS SPORTSCENTER
While senior Evan Barlow scored what would turn out to be the game-winning goal on the power play in the first period on Jan. 16 at Union, it was his effort on the other end of the ice that found him on SportsCenter. With Cornell goaltender Ben Scrivens at the bench on a delayed penalty call, the Big Red was in control of the puck in the neutral zone. A backwards pass from Riley Nash missed its mark, and the puck went slowly skidding along toward the Cornell goal. Barlow slipped twice but regained his feet and got enough momentum to make a diving effort to sweep the puck to the side of the goal post with just a foot and a half to go before crossing the goal line. That play wound up as the number nine play on that night's SportsCenter.

THREE FOR ALL
Riley Nash's three-point outing on Jan. 16 at Union was the first three-point performance for the Big Red this season. Nash became the first player to record three points in a game since Michael Kennedy tallied three assists in the ECAC Hockey consolation game against Colgate on March 22, 2008.

FOUR SQUARE
Riley Nash also recorded Cornell's first four-point game of the year when he scored two goals and had two assists in the Big Red's 5-2 win over Union on Feb. 17. On the season, Nash has seven points in the two meetings against the Dutchmen.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW
A review of the game tape from the Jan. 17 win at Rensselaer has resulted in the game-winning goal being changed from Colin Greening to Michael Kennedy.

BROTHERLY LOVE
There must be something about lining up against a purple uniform that triggers an offensive outburst among the Kennedy family. Brothers Michael and Patrick both tallied a pair of goals and an assist each as Cornell swept Niagara at Lynah Rink on Jan. 9-10.

LAST ONE STANDING
Freshman Locke Jillson is the lone remaining skater on the 2008-09 roster to have yet to be whistled for a penalty after Joe Scali earned two minutes in the box on Jan. 23 agaisnt Yale. Jillson has appeared in 23 games and tallied a goal and six assists, all without being penalized.

FIVE SPOT
Junior Blake Gallagher had a streak of five games with a point snapped in the 3-0 win over Niagara on Jan. 9. The Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, native had his first two goals of the season in that stretch and a two-assist performance on Dec. 27 against St. Cloud State. Gallagher is currently riding an eight-game point streak, tallying 11 points over that span.

BALANCED SCORING
Another hallmark of a Cornell hockey team is offensive balance, and that number has certainly been achieved this season. A total of 17 different players have contributed toward the 76 goals scored by the Big Red, while all but two skaters - seniors Derek Punches and Taylor Davenport - have tallied at least one point this year.

UNBEATEN THROUGH EIGHT
When Cornell opened the ECAC Hockey slate with a 6-0-2 mark through the first eight games, the Big Red entered rare territory. Cornell's last time being undefeated after eight league games came during the legendary 1969-70 undefeated, untied national championship season. Cornell last went seven league games without a defeat in 2003-04 before suffering a 2-1 overtime loss to Brown in its eighth game.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...
A trio of players were recognized for their play at the Florida College Classic, as Blake Gallagher and Brendon Nash were both selected to the all-tournament team. Additionally, goaltender Ben Scrivens received the Shawn Walsh Trophy as the tournament's most valuable player. Cornell won the tournament for the third time in program history, tying Maine for the most championships won in the nine-year tournament.

AND THEN THERE WERE SIX
When Cornell and St. Cloud State met in the opening round of the Florida College Classic on Dec. 27, the list of current NCAA Division I programs that Cornell has never faced dropped to six.The Big Red has never played against Bemidji State of College Hockey America, Alaska-Anchorage and Nebraska-Omaha of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and Bentley, Connecticut and Holy Cross of Atlantic Hockey.

SUNSHINE STATE SUCCESS
The Big Red has already claimed one trophy this season, picking up a tournament victory at the Florida College Classic with a 3-2 win over St. Cloud State and a 2-2 overtime tie against Colgate in the championship game, winning the title in a shootout. The Big Red has now claimed three Florida College Classic championships, joining the titles won in 2003 and 2005. Cornell now is 7-8-3 all-time in nine appearances at the Florida College Classic.

TWO-FER
Sophomore Joe Devin scored the first two-goal game of his career when he tallied a pair of markers on Dec. 27 against St. Cloud State. Devin scored the tying goal just 20 seconds after the Huskies took the lead, then added the game-winner later in that same period. Devin now has eight goals and four assists in 25 games this season after adding his second career two-goal game on Jan. 24 against Brown.

MUGFORD'S BACK
Senior Tyler Mugford returned to the Cornell lineup on Dec. 5 against Clarkson after missing five games with a leg injury and immediately provided a spark to the offense. The senior picked up a pair of assists in the game to give him four points for the season, and has since added another two goals for six points on the year. Mugford's previous career high for points in a season is seven, set as a freshman in 2005-06.

DISCIPLINED HOCKEY
Another reason the Big Red has been so solid on defense this season would come from Cornell's current ranking as the ninth-least penalized team in the nation. The Big Red averages just 13.4 minutes in the penalty box per game. Princeton leads the nation in that category, averaging just 10.2 minutes per game in penalties.

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 Saturday night's 2-1 victory.

SCORING THE SHORTIES
After going all of the 2007-08 season without a short-handed goal, the Big Red has tallied a pair of them already this season. 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. More recently, Riley Nash scored a short-handed goal in the 3-2 win over St. Cloud State on Dec. 27 in Estero, Fla. Prior to Kennedy's goal, 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.

RARE OCCURRENCES
The seven goals allowed by the Big Red on Nov. 28 at North Dakota 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
North Dakota forward Matt Frattin's hat trick against Cornell on Nov. 29 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.

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 has added 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. This season, Cornell has moved to .500 all-time against the WCHA with a 2-1 record, scoring a 2-1 win over North Dakota and a 3-2 win over St. Cloud State. The lone loss was a 7-3 defeat at the hands of the Fighting Sioux to open the two-game set on Nov. 28. Cornell holds a winning record against Alaska-Fairbanks (1-0), Colorado College (3-1), Minnesota-Duluth (1-0-1), Minnesota State (1-0) and St. Cloud State (1-0), while posting a sub-.500 mark against Minnesota (0-2), North Dakota (2-4) and Wisconsin (2-4).

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 times 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. Still, Cornell has only allowed more than two goals in a game just six times through the first 29 games of the season.

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.

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 other than St. Lawrence. In four career games against the Saints, Nash has struck for five 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.

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 696 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.

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.

THE CENTURY CLUB
With his appearance in each of the first 21 games this season, senior co-captain Michael Kennedy has appeared in 119 games in a Cornell uniform. In his three-plus seasons, Kennedy has scored 27 goals and tallied 27 assists for 54 points. In all, five current players have appeared in more than 100 college hockey games, as Derek Punches (114), Jared Seminoff (119), Tyler Mugford (116) and Evan Barlow (116) have also crossed the century mark. Colin Greening is the next closest to 100, entering this weekend's play with 92 career games played.

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.

THE NATION'S BEST
Not only did Ben Scrivens earn ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors on Nov. 10 after opening the year with back-to-back shutouts against Princeton and Quinnipiac, but he was also named the Inside College Hockey National Player of the Week on Nov. 11. 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.

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 Anaheim Ducks 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 272 career victories, with the Jan. 17 win over Rensselaer moving him ahead of Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet for third place among active coaches in ECAC Hockey. Schafer currently trails Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by just eight. St. Lawrence's Joe Marsh, the dean of coaches in ECAC Hockey, has 434 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 .640 winning percentage entering the 2008-09 season 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
Eight 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
The winner of this weekend's best-of-three series will travel to Albany, N.Y., for the semifinals of the ECAC Hockey tournament at the Times Union Center. Times and opponents will be determined after the quarterfinal round.