Game 20: Cornell at Dartmouth
Face Off: Friday, January 28 • 7:00 p.m.
Site: Thompson Arena • Hanover, N.H.
2010-11 Records:
    Cornell - 8-9-2, 6-5-1 ECAC Hockey
    Dartmouth - 11-6-2, 7-4-1 ECAC Hockey
Series Record: Cornell leads, 72-43-2
Last Meeting: Dartmouth won, 5-4, on 2/20/10 in Hanover, N.H.
Media Information
Live Audio: www.cornellbigred.com/showcase
Live Stats: dartmouthsports.com

Game 21: Cornell at Harvard
Face Off: Saturday, January 29 • 7 p.m.
Site: Bright Hockey Center • Cambridge, Mass.
2010-11 Records:
    Cornell - 8-9-2, 6-5-1 ECAC Hockey
    Harvard - 3-15-0, 2-11-0 ECAC Hockey
Series Record: Cornell leads, 69-58-7
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 3-0, on 3/13/10 in Ithaca, N.Y. (ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals)
Media Information
Live Audio: www.cornellbigred.com/showcase
Live Stats: livestats.prestosports.com/harvard/

Game Notes (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's hockey team takes to the road this weekend on its longest venture away from home, heading east to face Dartmouth and Harvard in a pair of ECAC Hockey and Ivy League games. Cornell enters the week tied for sixth in the league standings, just two points back of the fourth and final first-round bye for the ECAC Hockey playoffs with 10 games remaining. Both of this weekend's games can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU 870 AM and worldwide through the Cornell Redcast subscription service with Jason Weinstein providing the call of the action.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell picked up three points last weekend in the home-and-home series against its travel partner, Colgate, to move up one spot in the league table to a tie for sixth with Clarkson. The Big Red skated to a 1-1 tie on Friday in Hamilton, with junior Locke Jillson scoring the only goal of the game for the Big Red, while Saturday was the Tyler Roeszler show, as the senior had a hand in four of the five Cornell goals in a 5-2 victory. Roeszler scored the first Cornell hat trick in nearly two years in the contest and added an assist on the game-winning goal. On the season, sophomore Greg Miller leads the Big Red offense with 18 points in 19 games on two goals and 16 assists, while senior Joe Devin is second with 14 points on seven goals and seven assists. Roeszler leads all players with eight goals, coupling that number with four assists for 12 points to rank third. In goal, junior Mike Garman and freshman Andy Iles have split time almost exactly evenly this season, with both netminders posting similar numbers. Garman has a 2.30 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage to go along with a 4-5-1 record, while Iles has a 2.50 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage and a 4-4-1 mark. Cornell's power play has converted on 12-of-79 opportunities this season (15.2 percent, 42nd in the nation), while the penalty killing unit has successfully ended 79-of-90 opponents' power-play chances (87.8 percent, fourth nationally).

ABOUT DARTMOUTH
The Big Green enters this weekend's action tied for third in the league table with Princeton, tallying 15 points on a 7-4-1 league mark. Dartmouth, receiving votes in this week's USA Today/USA Hockey poll and ranked 18th in the USCHO.com poll, split its two games last weekend in New York's Capital District, defeating Union in the opener, 4-1, before dropping a 5-1 contest to Rensselaer the following night. The loss to the Engineers snapped a four-game winning streak for Dartmouth, which had scored 17 goals over that span. Senior Scott Fleming leads the Big Green in scoring with 22 points on 10 goals and 12 assists, while fellow seniors Adam Estoclet (8-9--17) and Matt Reber (4-13--17) are tied for second on the team in scoring. In goal, junior James Mello has been outstanding on the year, sporting a 2.08 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage with a 9-3-2 record. Dartmouth's power-play unit has converted on 16-of-74 chances this season (11th nationally, 21.6 percent), while the penalty-killing unit has successfully ended 61-of-73 opponents' chances this season (83.6 percent, 23rd nationally).

THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH
Cornell holds a 72-43-2 lead in the all-time series against Dartmouth, a series that dates back to a Dartmouth win on Feb. 2, 1909, in Hanover, N.H. Cornell has won six of the last nine contests against the Big Green, though Dartmouth won the both of the last two games played in Hanover, N.H., by identical 5-4 scores. Cornell is 17-18 all-time at Dartmouth's Thompson Arena, while Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is 16-16-1 against the Big Green during his tenure behind the Cornell bench.

ABOUT HARVARD
The Crimson have struggled offensively this season, ranking last in the nation in scoring offense at just 1.78 goals per game. Harvard stands in 11th place in the league standings with four points, scoring early-season wins over Rensselaer and St. Lawrence. Since then, however, the Crimson have dropped 14 of their last 15 games, including each of the last seven. Harvard will play Colgate on Friday night before Saturday's matchup with the Big Red, giving Harvard a chance to build some momentum heading into the rivalry game on Saturday. Senior Michael Biega and junior Alex Killorn lead the team in scoring with 14 points each on six goals and eight assists, with sophomore Danny Biega the only other player in double digits on the season in scoring with 12 points on three goals and nine assists. Senior Kyle Richter has played most of the time in goal this season, posting a .909 save percentage and a 2.75 goals-against average with a 3-9-0 record. Harvard's power-play unit has converted on 9-of-70 chances this season (12.9 percent, 51st nationally), while the penalty-killing unit has successfully ended 60-of-73 opponents' power-play chances (82.2 percent, 31st nationally).

THE SERIES WITH HARVARD
One of the best rivalries in all of college hockey, Cornell holds a 69-58-7 lead in the all-time series with the Crimson. The Big Red claimed all four meetings last season, including wins by  5-1 and 3-0 scores in the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals at Lynah Rink. The two programs have met 133 times over the last 100 years, and Cornell head coach Mike Schafer holds a 29-12-2 mark against his program's biggest rival.

TURN THE PAGE
As the calendar has turned from 2010 to 2011, so too have the fortunes of the Big Red. After finishing the 2010 season with a 4-8-1 overall mark and a 2-4 league record, the Big Red has gone 4-1-1 so far in 2011, raising the records to 8-9-1 overall and 6-5-1 in league play.

HATS OFF
Tyler Roeszler scored a hat trick on Jan. 22 against Colgate, the first three-goal performance by a Big Red player since Colin Greening on Feb. 29, 2008, a span of 97 games. Roeszler also added an assist against the Raiders, giving him the first four-point night by a Cornell player since Blake Gallagher had a goal and three assists on Jan. 30, 2010, a span of 33 games.

FIRST ONE'S IN THE BAG
Erik Axell scored his first career goal on Jan. 22 against Colgate, poking home the rebound off a Tyler Roeszler shot, for his first career tally in 20 games for the sophomore from Toronto. Axell now has one goal and three assists in 20 career contests.

WALK THE LINE
With John Esposito sidelined due to injury for the last six games, head coach Mike Schafer combined the trio of Tyler Roeszler, Greg Miller and Joe Devin, and that line has immediately clicked for the Big Red. Over the last six games, that trio has combined for 21 points, nearly half of the 45 points scored by the Big Red over that span as Cornell has gone 4-1-1 over that stretch. Joe Devin has four goals and two assists over that span, Roeszler has five goals and four helpers and Miller has six assists since being put on the same offensive line, with the trio combining for seven multi-point games.

THREE FOR ALL
Cornell's modest three-game winning streak from Jan. 7 through Jan. 14 was the longest such streak for the Big Red this season and the longest one since Cornell won four straight contests in last year's ECAC Hockey playoffs.

BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
The Big Red's sweep at Princeton and Quinnipiac on Jan. 7-8 marked the first weekend sweep for the Big Red since winning the ECAC Hockey tournament last march, claiming back-to-back 3-0 wins against Brown and Union at the Times Union Center in Albany. The last time the Big Red swept a weekend during the regular season came on Jan. 29-30, 2010, when the Big Red defeated St. Lawrence and Clarkson at Lynah Rink. Cornell's last road weekend sweep came nearly two years ago when the Big Red scored a 4-1 win at Union and a 3-0 victory at Rensselaer on Jan. 16-17, 2009.

LIKING LEAGUE PLAY
Mike Garman has been strong in goal for the Big Red in the seven league games he has appeared in this season. Garman has a .948 save percentage and a 1.46 goals-against average in games against ECAC Hockey foes. Garman ranks eighth in the league in all games in save percentage and goals-against average, but those rankings jump to second in goals-against average behind Princeton's Sean Bonar  and third in save percentage behind Bonar and Dartmouth's James Mellow when only factoring in league games. Garman has allowed just nine goals in seven league appearances this season, allowing just one goal in each of his last three league starts.

WORKING OVERTIME
Cornell has played seven overtime games so far this season, including five of the last nine. The seven overtime games are one more than the total played during 2009-10 and the most played by the Big Red since 2008-09.

SAVING THE DAY
Mike Garman stopped 39 of the 40 shots he faced on Jan. 7 at Princeton night in a 2-1 victory. The 39 saves are tied for the 12th-highest total in a single game by a Cornell goaltender, tied with the total set by David McKee at St. Lawrence on Feb. 11, 2006.

THREE FOR ALL
Joe Devin's three-point night on Feb. 8 at Quinnipiac marked the third such contest of the career of the senior from Scituate, Mass. Devin scored two goals and added an assist in the 3-2 victory, equaling his highest single-game point total in his career.

COLLECTING HARDWARE
Andy Iles became the first Cornell hockey player to earn a medal for the United States at the IIHF World Junior Championships when he was part of Team USA that claimed bronze at this year's tournament in Buffalo, N.Y. Iles is just the second Cornell player to be a member of the United States team, joining Jean-Marc Pelletier in 1998. The last Cornell player to earn a medal for any nation at the IIHF World Junior Championships was Sasha Pokulok, who claimed gold with Canada in 2006. The bronze medal won by Iles is the first bronze of the seven medals claimed by Cornellians at the world's most prestigious junior hockey tournament.

ELITE COMPANY
Cornell's victory over Colgate on Nov. 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., gave head coach Mike Schafer the 300th victory of his coaching career. Schafer became the 46th coach in NCAA Division I history with 300 career wins, and is just the 14th active coach to reach that mark. He ranks third in ECAC Hockey in career victories among active coaches, trailing Joe Marsh of St. Lawrence (461) and Rand Pecknold of Quinnipiac (312), with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet (291) and Colgate's Don Vaughan (287) both closing in on 300 victories themselves.

ANOTHER MILESTONE NEARS
The Big Red's 5-2 win against Colgate on Jan. 22 marked the 994th all-time victory in the history of the Cornell program. Cornell ranks 17th all-time in wins by current NCAA Division I programs.

ANOTHER MILESTONE WILL HAVE TO WAIT
Cornell needs another eight victories at Lynah Rink to post the 500th win at the storied venue, a feat that will have to wait until the 2011-12 season to be reached. Cornell has just four guaranteed home games the rest of the season, and even with hosting a playoff series, the Big Red could only reach 499 wins at Lynah Rink. The Big Red claimed win number 492 on Jan. 22 against Colgate, a 5-2 victory.

PUT IT IN NEUTRAL
When Cornell and Colgate met at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Nov. 27, it marked the 22nd time that the two programs have played at a neutral site among the 138 contests played between the two schools. In those 22 games, the two teams are split evenly, with Cornell holding a 10-10-2 record in those games. Prior to the game at the home of the New Jersey Devils in November, the last neutral site game between the two programs came on March 22, 2008, in the consolation game of the ECAC Hockey tournament, a game won by Cornell, 4-2.

OUT IN FRONT
Cornell is 6-3-1 this season when scoring the game's first goal, but has gone 2-6-1 in the nine games that it has given up the opening tally of the contest. Cornell has also gone 5-3 this season when leading after one period.

RISK/REWARD
Cornell has had some success playing with the extra attacker this season when trailing late in games. While the Big Red has allowed five empty-net goals – one in each of the first three games of the year, one against Yale on Nov. 19 and one against Union on Jan. 15 – Cornell has also scored three times with the extra attacker. The Big Red also scored a delayed penalty goal on Nov. 20 against Brown

ANOTHER LONG AWAITED DEBUT
A pair of sophomores this season have made their collegiate debuts after being scratched for every game last season. Vince Mihalek made his debut on Oct. 30 against RIT, collecting an assist in that contest. Meanwhile, defenseman Jarred Seymour made his first career appearance on Nov. 13 against Princeton after Nick D'Agostino and Mathieu Brisson were sidelined due to illness and injury, respectively. Every skater on the Cornell roster has appeared in at least one game in his career, and every player but sophomore Omar Kanji has played this season.

NOT THE RIGHT KIND OF STREAK
Cornell has posted a pair of three-game losing skids this season, something that hasn't happened since the 2006-07 season. That year, Cornell dropped three straight from Dec. 30 through Jan. 12, before closing out the season with four straight defeats. Cornell hasn't had three three-game losing streaks in the same season since 1986-87.

WORKED WELL LAST TIME
Cornell opened the 2010-11 season with three straight defeats, something that hasn't happened since the 1979-80 season. While Cornell finished that season with a 16-15 record, the Big Red peaked at the right time, winning the ECAC championship and advancing to the Frozen Four for the first time since 1973.

BALANCED ATTACK
When Cornell got its first win of the season on Nov. 6 at Clarkson, it came by way of a balanced offensive attack. A total of 13 different skaters collected at least one point on the night, with four players – Jordan Kary, Kirill Gotovets, Locke Jillson and Dan Nicholls – collecting a pair of points.

SHORT-HANDED
John Esposito's goal against New Hampshire on Oct. 29 marked the first short-handed goal for a Cornell player in a span of 59 games since Riley Nash scored short-handed against St. Cloud State on Dec. 27, 2008, in Estero, Fla.

THE FIRST ONE'S OUT OF THE WAY
Freshman Andy Iles picked up his first win of his career on Nov. 6 at Clarkson, picking up 35 saves in the victory. Iles is now 2-3-1 on the year and has seen action in seven of the Big Red's 11 games this season. Mike Garman, meanwhile, scored his first victory of his career when he stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced on Nov. 12 against Quinnipiac at Lynah Rink and has a 2-3 record this year.

NOT BLANKED OFTEN
Cornell's shutout loss at St. Lawrence on Nov. 5 marked the first time that the Big Red had been shut out since falling to Yale in the 2009 ECAC Hockey championship game in Albany, N.Y., by a 5-0 margin. Cornell went both NCAA tournament games that season, all of last season and the first two games of 2010-11 without being blanked, a span of 38 games. Despite Cornell's struggles this season, the Big Red has only been shut out once.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB
All six members of the freshman class made their collegiate debut during the season's opening weekend on Oct. 29-30 against New Hampshire and RIT. Dustin Mowrey, Rodger Craig, Kirill Gotovets and Andy Iles saw time in both games, while Mathieu Brisson and Armand de Swardt both played in one game apiece, with Brisson appearing in the RIT game and de Swardt playing against New Hampshire.

THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN HERE
When New Hampshire scored seven times against the Big Red in the season opener on Oct. 29, it marked the first time that an opponent scored seven goals at Lynah Rink since Providence did so on Jan. 5, 1999, in a 7-3 Friar victory. It's been even longer since Cornell gave up seven in a season opener - in fact, it's never happened since Lynah Rink has been open. The last time the Big Red gave up seven goals in a season opener came in the 1947-48 season when Cornell lost, 9-0, to Army.

ALLOWING A DOZEN
Traditionally one of the nation's top defensive teams, Cornell allowed 12 goals in the first weekend of the season on Oct. 29-30 against New Hampshire and RIT. The Big Red hadn't given up 12 goals in a weekend since Feb. 6-7, 1999, at Yale and Princeton. That weekend, Cornell dropped the opener, 11-0, at Ingalls Rink in New Haven, Conn., before rebounding the following night with a 4-1 victory at Princeton. The last time Cornell gave up at least 12 goals in back-to-back losses came in Brian McCutcheon's final games as head coach, losing at Clarkson on March 6-7, 1995, by 6-2 and 7-2 scores.

0-2 OPENERS
The last time Cornell began a season 0-2 was the 2007-08 season, when the Big Red dropped contests to RIT and Princeton to begin the year. The Big Red rebounded in the third game to record a 5-3 win against Quinnipiac to avoid going 0-3 to begin the season. Cornell concluded that season with a 19-14-3 record and a third-place finish in the ECAC Hockey tournament. The Big Red last began a season 0-3 in 1979-80, falling twice to Notre Dame and at Brown before picking up a victory in game number four at Yale. In spite of the start, Cornell wound up winning the ECAC Hockey championship that season and finished fourth at the NCAA tournament.

A SOUTHWEST FLAVOR
Cornell's roster in 2010-11 features a trio of players from the state of Texas, in juniors Locke Jillson and Keir Ross and freshman Armand de Swardt, with all three calling the Dallas area home. Cornell has now had four players from the Lone Star State, as the trio joins David McKee in hailing from Texas.

INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE
Freshman Kirill Gotovets got a taste of the big time in May when he was selected to represent his native Belarus in the 2010 IIHF World Championships – not an age group World Championships (though he did play for Belarus at the U20 World Championship as well) – but playing against some of the best players the world has to offer. He played in three of Belarus' eight games at the World Championships, recording two shots and two minutes in penalties, helping his nation to a 10th-place finish. Gotovets has been in the United States for the last two years while attending school at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Minnesota.

BROTHERLY LOVE
A pair of Cornell players have older brothers who are currently on rosters of NHL clubs, with four players having older brothers playing professional hockey at some level. Junior Sean Whitney's older brother, Ryan, plays for the Anaheim Ducks, while sophomore Chris Moulson's brother, Matt, plays with the New York Islanders. Another player, sophomore John Esposito, has an older brother, Angelo, who plays for the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (Atlanta affiliate), with senior Patrick Kennedy's older brother, Michael, playing in the ECHL for the Florida Everblades.

IS THERE A DRAFT IN HERE?
Cornell has four players on the roster for 2010-11 who have been selected by NHL clubs. Junior Sean Collins (Columbus), sophomores Braden Birch (Chicago) and Nick D'Agostino (Pittsburgh) and freshman Kirill Gotovets (Tampa Bay) are each the property of NHL clubs after having been drafted prior to beginning their careers at Cornell.

AMERICAN INFLUENCE
The Big Red roster in 2010-11 has nine players who call the United States home, up from seven last season and tied for second-most on a Mike Schafer-coached Big Red team. Cornell had 10 Americans on the roster in 1997-98, Schafer's third season, and had nine in 1999-2000, 2006-07 and 2008-09.

HOMETOWN HERO
With programs in major cities like in Boston and Minneapolis, it's commonplace for a hometown player to suit up for the local college team, but that's not something as common in a city like Ithaca. So when freshman goaltender Andy Iles made his official collegiate debut on Oct. 29 against New Hampshire, he became the first Ithaca native to play for Cornell since Mike Tallman, who suited up for 37 games in three seasons from 1986-87 to 1988-89.

UP NEXT
The Big Red returns home to Lynah Rink for contests against Clarkson and St. Lawrence on February 4-5. Cornell will take on the Golden Knights on Friday night, while Saturday night features Cornell facing St. Lawrence. Both games will begin at 7 p.m.