Game 26: Cornell vs. Harvard
Face Off: Friday, February 18 • 7:00 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink • Ithaca, N.Y.
2010-11 Records:
Cornell - 12-10-3, 10-6-2 ECAC Hockey
Harvard - 5-18-1, 3-13-1 ECAC Hockey
Series Record: Cornell leads, 70-58-7
Last Meeting: Cornell won, 2-1, on Jan. 29, 2011, in Cambridge, Mass.
Media Information
Live Video: www.cornellbigred.com/showcase
Live Stats: sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey

Game 27: Cornell vs. Dartmouth
Face Off: Saturday, February 19 • 7 p.m.
Site: Lynah Rink • Ithaca, N.Y.
2010-11 Records:
Cornell - 12-10-3, 10-6-2 ECAC Hockey
Dartmouth - 15-7-3, 11-5-2 ECAC Hockey
Series Record: Cornell leads, 72-43-3
Last Meeting: Tied, 3-3 (ot), on Jan. 28, 2011, in Hanover, N.H.
Media Information
Live Video: www.cornellbigred.com/showcase
Live Stats: sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey

Game Notes in PDF Format

ITHACA, N.Y. -- As the final home weekend of the regular season approaches, the Cornell men's hockey team finds itself in the thick of the chase for one of the four coveted first-round byes in the upcoming ECAC Hockey playoffs. The weekend's matchups are also of critical importance, with the Big Red set to square off on Friday night against its long-time rival, Harvard, before battling Dartmouth on Saturday, with the Big Green entering the weekend just two points ahead of Cornell in the league standings. Both of this weekend's games can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU 870 AM with Jason Weinstein providing the call of the action, while live streaming video of both contests is also available through the Cornell Redcast subscription service.

ABOUT THE BIG RED Cornell picked up a split of its two games last weekend to leapfrog Rensselaer in the league standings and grab sole possession of fourth place, two points back of Dartmouth and one point ahead of the Engineers. The Big Red dropped a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Union on Friday night, a game that Cornell was held to just nine shots on goal, but responded the following afternoon with a 3-2 overtime victory over Rensselaer in a game televised nationally on the NHL Network. Joe Devin picked up the overtime game-winner on Saturday against Rensselaer, tipping home a shot from his brother, Mike, with 1:28 to play in the extra session. Andy Iles picked up 30 saves for his second straight overtime win, while Mike Garman made 32 saves on Friday in the loss to the Dutchmen. For the season, Greg Miller leads the Big Red offensively with 22 points in 25 games, collecting three goals and a team-best 19 assists. Joe Devin is a close second in scoring, recording 12 goals to lead the squad and adding nine assists for 21 points. Iles and Garman have split the netminding duties on the season, and both goaltenders have put up outstanding numbers this season. Iles has a .917 save percentage and a 2.32 goals-against average with a 7-4-2 overall record, while Garman has a .919 save percentage and a 2.33 goals-against average with a 5-6-1 mark. Cornell's special teams have progressively improved as the season has gone along, with the power-play units now converting on 18-of-103 chances (17.5 percent, 30th nationally) and the penalty-killing squad successfully ending 100-of-116 opponents' chances (86.2 percent, seventh in the nation).

ABOUT HARVARD Harvard enters the week with a 4-18-1 record, playing in the Beanpot consolation game on Monday afternoon before making the trip to Central New York for the weekend. The Crimson stand in 11th place in the ECAC Hockey standings, one point ahead of Colgate but with one additional game in hand. Harvard has not won since defeating the Raiders on Jan. 28 in Cambridge, Mass., but did pick up a 4-4 tie last Friday against Princeton. Since the calendar has turned to 2011, the Crimson are just 2-10-1 including a 4-2 victory over Army on New Year's Day. Harvard's offense is led by Alex Killorn, who has eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points, leading four players in double figures on thes eason. The Crimson are last in the nation in scoring offense, averaging just 1.87 goals per contest. In goal, the tandem of Kyle Richter and Ryan Carroll have split time throughout conference play, with Richter recording slightly better numbers for the season. Richter has a .908 save percentage and a 2.77 goals-against average with a 3-9-1 record, while Carroll has the same save percentage but a 3.37 goals-against average and a 1-8 mark. Harvard has struggled on special teams, with the power-play units converting on just 13-of-90 chances (14.4 percent, 49th nationally) while killing penalties at an 82.4 percent rate (75-of-91, 29th nationally).

THE SERIES WITH HARVARD Cornell leads the all-time series against its most intense rival, 70-58-7, including five straight meetings and six of the last seven. The Big Red claimed the first matchup of the season, 2-1, on Jan. 29, after taking all four games between the two programs last season. Friday's game will mark the 135th all-time meeting between the two programs over the last 100 years. Since taking over as head coach of the Big Red in 1995, Mike Schafer holds a 30-12-2 mark against the Crimson. Cornell and Harvard have met 60 times at Lynah Rink, with the Big Red leading, 35-20-5, in games played at the historic venue.

ABOUT DARTMOUTH The Big Green have put together a solid season, entering the weekend with a 15-7-3 overall record and an 11-5-2 mark in league play. Dartmouth garnered a sweep last weekend of Quinnipiac and Princeton at home, and has gone 8-3-1 since the beginning of the new year, though Dartmouth has played just four true road games over that span, going 2-2 in those contests. Dartmouth's offense is led by Scott Fleming's 24 points, with Fleming leading the way with 11 goals. Doug Jones and Matt Reber share the team assist lead with 14 apiece, while a total of nine players are in double figures offensively for the season. In goal, James Mello has been outstanding, posting a .936 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average to go along with a 13-4-3 record. The Dartmouth power play is converting on 20.4 percent of its chances (19-of-93, 14th nationally), while the Big Green have killed off 83-of-98 opponents' power play chances (84.7 percent, 15th in the nation).

THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH The two teams tied, 2-2, when they squared off on Jan. 28 in Hanover, N.H., to bring the all-time series record to 72-43-3 in favor of the Big Red. The series, which dates back to 1909, has seen the Big Red claim victory in six of the last 10 meetings. The two teams have met 55 times at Lynah Rink, with Cornell holding a 41-12-2 lead in those games. Under current Cornell head coach Mike Schafer, the Big Red holds a 16-16-2 mark against Dartmouth.

A FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC Cornell senior Joe Devin has a team-best four game-winning goals this season, and two of those have been overtime game-winners for the Big Red. Devin potted his first on Jan. 8 at Quinnipiac before tallying the game-winner on Feb. 12 at Rensselaer. For his career, Devin has three overtime game-winning goals including one scored on Oct. 30, 2009, against Niagara at Lynah Rink.

WORKING OVERTIME The Big Red is approaching its single-season mark for overtime games, having played nine contests so far this season that have gone beyond regulation. The school mark is 12, set during the 1985-86 season, with Cornell going 21-7-4 that year. The Big Red ended the regular season that year with nine games that went into overtime, then added another three in the ECAC Hockey playoffs, including a two-overtime win over Yale in the semifinals and an overtime victory against Clarkson in the championship game.

LEADING THE WAY With Cornell's 48 goals in league play 20 goals behind Yale's league-leading total and ranking sixth overall, it's a bit surprising to see Joe Devin leading the league with 12 goals in league play. Devin's tally is one more than Rensselaer's Chase Polacek, a Hobey Baker Award finalist last season.

I'VE GOT THE POWER When scoring at least one power play goal, the Big Red holds a solid 9-4-1 record. A closer look at those numbers, however, details an even more telling statistic; since the beginning of January, the Big Red is a perfect 7-0-0 when scoring with the man advantage. By contrast, the Big Red is just 1-2-2 since the first of January when it does not score a power-play goal.

CONNECT FOUR After going four straight games without allowing a power-play goal from Jan. 21 through Jan. 29, the Big Red has now allowed at least one power-play tally in each of its last four games.

IN THE RANKINGS Cornell has a 2-5-1 record this season when playing an opponent ranked either in the USA Today/USA Hockey poll or in the USCHO.com poll. Both of Cornell's wins over ranked foes have come against Rensselaer, which was ranked in the top 10 of both polls at the time of facing the Big Red. Cornell gets another crack at a ranked foe this weekend, as Dartmouth heads into Lynah Rink ranked 16th in the USCHO.com poll and is the highest team receiving votes in the USA Today/USA Hockey poll to not be ranked.

IN THE SIN BIN Over the course of the last six seasons, Cornell has seen its total penalty minutes decrease, froma high of 681 minutes in 2005-06 to a low of 405 last season. That trend will likely end this season, as the Big Red currently has been whistled for 377 minutes worth of penalties through the first 25 games of the year. At Cornell's current rate of 18 minutes in the box per contest, Cornell is on pace to finish with 485 minutes' worth of penalties, assuming the Big Red plays the minimum number of games the remainder of the way. That number would be the highest total since 2007-08, when Cornell had 536 minutes in penalties, but still just the 11th-most in the 16-year tenure of head coach Mike Schafer. The most penalty minutes served by a Mike Schafer-led team was his first club at Cornell, serving 786 minutes in 1995-96.

HOME SWEET HOME? One product of Cornell having a young team and having played so many home games while the squad was trying to find itself during the early portion of the season is the fact that with just two home games and two road games remaining in the regular season, Cornell has a far better road record than at home this season. The Big Red is just 6-6-1 when playing at Lynah Rink, compared to a 5-2-2 mark away from home.

A MILESTONE NEARS The Big Red's 3-2 win against Rensselaer on Feb. 12 marked the 998th 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 six 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 498 wins at Lynah Rink.

CLICKING ON ALL CYLINDERS The Big Red finally got its power-play unit on track on Feb. 4 and 5 against Clarkson and St. Lawrence, going 4-for-9 with the man advantage on the weekend. Cornell finished the contest against the Golden Knights with three goals in five power-play chances, the Big Red's first multiple power-play goal game since Oct. 29 against New Hampshire. Cornell then followed that up with a 1-for-4 showing on Saturday against St. Lawrence.

GETTING A CHANCE With Mike Garman sidelined by the flu for the two games at Dartmouth and Harvard on Jan. 28-29, Andy Iles was called upon to make his first back-to-back weekend starts of the season, and the freshman from Ithaca responded with two of his strongest outings of the year. Iles stopped 31 of the 33 shots he saw at Dartmouth, then made 33 saves on 34 shots on Saturday against Harvard.

LESS IS MORE... With Cornell two games over the .500 mark on the season, an examination of the shot totals from the Big Red's 12 wins shows that Cornell has been out-shot in five of those contests, while the Big Red has gotten the victory six times when it has taken fewer than 25 shots.

...BUT THERE'S A FINE LINE While selective shooting appears to favor the Big Red this season, taking too few shots hasn't been good for the team's results. Cornell has been held under 20 shots five times this season, and has a 0-3-2 mark when taking less than 20 attempts at the goal.

WALK THE LINE With John Esposito sidelined due to injury for the six games from Jan. 7 through Jan. 22, 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 that six-game span, the trio combined for 21 points, nearly half of the 45 points scored by the Big Red as Cornell went 4-1-1 over that stretch. Joe Devin had four goals and two assists, Roeszler had five goals and four helpers and Miller had six assists since being put on the same offensive line, with the trio combining for seven multi-point games. The line remained intact when Esposito returned on Jan. 28 against Dartmouth, but the production continued as Devin and Roeszler combined for a goal and an assist against the Big Green, while the line combination added seven points against Clarkson on Feb. 4 and another five against St. Lawrence the following night.

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 8-2-2 so far in 2011, raising the records to 12-10-3 overall and 10-6-2 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 21 career contests. Classmate Vince Mihalek joined him in collecting his first career goal when he scored the game's first tally on Feb. 12 at Rensselaer in Cornell's 3-2 victory against the Engineers. Mihalek has a pair of points this season on a goal and an assist.

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. Cornell added another four-point weekend with a sweep over Clarkson and St. Lawrence at Lynah Rink on Feb. 4-5.

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 .940 save percentage and a 1.71 goals-against average in games against ECAC Hockey foes. Garman ranks sixth in the league in all games in save percentage and eighth in goals-against average, but those rankings jump to second behind Dartmouth's James Mello in both categories.

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.

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 (463) and Rand Pecknold of Quinnipiac (313), with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet (295) and Colgate's Don Vaughan (289) both closing in on 300 victories themselves.

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.

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 four times with the extra attacker, most recently on Feb. 5 against St. Lawrence. The Big Red also scored a delayed penalty goal on Nov. 20 against Brown.

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 year 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. Cornell has three short-handed goals this season, with Sean Collins picking up a pair, most recently against Clarkson on Feb. 4.

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.

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 Cornell closes out the regular season with a trip to Brown and Yale, looking to sew up a bye for the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The Big Red faces the Bears on Friday, Feb. 25, in Providence, R.I., before taking on Yale the following night in New Haven, Conn.