NEW YORK, N.Y. — It's the same venue on the same date, but with a different name and a different opponent. Cornell will return to Madison Square Garden for the fourth time in six years, but this will be the inaugural edition of The Frozen Apple with Michigan serving as the opponent at the familiar time slot of 8 p.m. on the Saturday immediately following the Thanksgiving holiday. As was the case in last year's third chapter of Red Hot Hockey in a series against Boston University, Saturday's game against Michigan will be televised by MSG Network. John Giannone and Billy Jaffe will be making the call. Jason Weinstein will handle the play-by-play for both games on WHCU-AM (870) in the Ithaca area, and his call can be accessed worldwide through Cornell's Redcast subscription service.
 
GAME 9: #19 MICHIGAN vs. #13/13 CORNELL
DATES: Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012
TIME: 8 p.m.
SITE: Madison Square Garden — New York, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Michigan 5-6-1, 3-5-1 CCHA; Cornell 3-3-2, 1-3-2 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Tied, 3-3-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-2, in overtime on March 23, 2012 in Green Bay, Wis.
TV: MSG Network (John Giannone, Billy Jaffe)
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey/scoreboard.aspx
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Michigan game notes (PDF)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is winless in its last five games after a 4-1 loss to Harvard and 1-1 tie with Dartmouth last weekend in games pitting nationally ranked teams against each other in front of sold-out crowds at Lynah Rink. The Big Red's last five-game winless streak was late last season, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 4, but it was followed by a stretch of eight wins over the next 11 games before the squad was eliminated in the NCAA Midwest Region final by eventual national runner-up Ferris State. ... Freshman forward John Knisley scored his first collegiate goal in the loss to the Crimson, while junior forward Dustin Mowrey potted the first goal of the game against the Big Green. ...  Senior forward Greg Miller, who has led the team in points each of the last two seasons, is tied for the team lead in goals  (three) with classmate John Esposito and sophomore forward Joel Lowry. Sophomore defenseman Joakim Ryan leads the team in points, all on six assists. ... Junior Andy Iles has now started 44 consecutive games in goal with seven career shutouts.
 
ABOUT MICHIGAN
The 19th-ranked Wolverines' one trip outside of the state of Michigan until February brings them to The World's Most Famous Arena for the first time in program history. One of the top teams in the nation a season ago before an early exit at the hands of the Big Red in the NCAA tournament, Michigan is off to a 5-6-1 start after rebounding with a 3-1 victory Wednesday vs. Bowling Green after being swept in a two-game series at home against CCHA rival Notre Dame last weekend. The Wolverines have slipped to a season-low 19th in the most recent USCHO.poll as the lone sub-.500 team to crack the Top 20. ... Michigan is 2-5-1 in its last seven games, having surrendered at least four goals in five of those contests. ... Senior forward A.J. Treais leads the team in scoring with nine goals and five assists for 14 points through 12 games. He has been centering a line with Alex Guptill (4g-7a–11p) and Cristoval Nieves (2g-6a–8p) on the wings over the last four games. ... Freshman defenseman Jacob Trouba (4g-5a–9p), the ninth overall selection in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, leads the team with three power-play goals. ... The Wolverines have exclusively used a pair of freshmen in goal, with Steve Racine appearing in eight games with a 4-3-1 record, 2.69 goals-against average and .889 save percentage. Jared Rutledge (1-3, 4.46, .855) was pulled in his last appearance, a 7-2 loss on Nov. 10 at Michigan State.
 
THE SERIES WITH MICHIGAN
The all-time series is tied, 3-3-1, after the Big Red secured a riveting 3-2 overtime victory in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional in Green Bay, Wis. last year. Rodger Craig scored the winning goal 3:35 into overtime. It was the first meeting between the teams in 15 years, when they played to a 3-3 tie at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich. in 1997. It was Mike Schafer's second season as the head coach for the Big Red, which went on to win the ECAC Hockey title that season. The teams clashed in the postseason once before, March 15-17, 1991, in an NCAA East Regional first-round series at Yost. Michigan won the series, 2-1. The Big Red won the teams' only other meeting on neutral ice, securing a 6-2 victory on Jan. 2, 1988 at Ingalls Rink in the Yale Hockey Classic.
 
CORNELL AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
The Big Red is returning to New York for consecutive seasons for the first time, having played Boston University in the Red Hot Hockey series in 2007, 2009 and 2011. Cornell will be seeking its first victory on Madison Square Garden's famed ice after suffering a 6-3 loss in 2007, a 3-3 tie in 2009, and a 2-1 overtime loss last season.
 
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
There will be just one person on either bench who has scored a collegiate goal on Madison Square Garden's ice, and it isn't one of the players. Cornell assistant coach Topher Scott scored one of the Big Red's three goals in the inaugural Red Hot Hockey event in 2007 during his senior season. The only player in tonight's game with a point in Red Hot Hockey is forward Cole Bardreau, who assisted on Locke Jillson's goal in last year's game.
 
NOT JUST A DEFENSEMAN
Sophomore blueliner Joakim Ryan enters the weekend leading the Big Red in scoring with six points through eight games. All of his points have come on assists, and he's been on the ice for nine of the team's 16 goals to date. The production is nothing new to Ryan, who set a program record for goals by a freshman defenseman last season with seven en route to being selected by the San Jose Sharks in June's NHL Entry Draft.
 
POLLS PROSE
After ascending to fourth in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine on Nov. 5, the Big Red tumbled to 13th this week after suffering managing just one point against Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend. It's the lowest Cornell has been in the polls since its postseason run into the NCAA Midwest Region finals in March.
 
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is quickly moving up  the ranks of the coaching fraternity in his win totals.  Now in his 18th season, Schafer has 335 career victories, ranking him second in ECAC Hockey. Schafer trails only Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by five games. Schafer is tops among Ivy League coaches, with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet up to 319 career victories in his 23 seasons at the helm.
 
ILES FILES
Andy Iles is the only goalie in Division I this season who was used exclusively by his team last season, having now made 44 consecutive starts in the Cornell net. By playing all of the Big Red's games in 2011-12, Iles became the first goalie at Cornell to accomplish that feat since Darren Eliot in 1982-83, and the first Cornell sophomore to do so since Laing Kennedy in 1960-61 — when the season was just 19 games long. Iles was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week after the two season-opening victories against Colorado College, then he followed that up with 44 saves against Colgate on Nov. 2. Iles was an All-Ivy League First Team and All-ECAC Hockey Second Team selection last season.
 
POWER STRUGGLE
Special teams have been noteworthy of late for the Big Red, which has killed off 11 consecutive power-play opportunities by its opposition. Conversely, Cornell has just two power-play goals in its last 27 chances dating back to Oct. 27.
 
FIVE-ON-THREE PROWESS
There are few situations in hockey more dire than when your team is facing a two-man disadvantage, but the Big Red has been impregnable in those scenarios so far this season. Cornell is a perfect 4-for-4 on the two-man disadvantage through the opening eight games, spanning a total of 3 minutes, 47 seconds. Conversely, the Big Red offense has scored in one of its three five-on-three advantages this season — John Esposito's season-opening goal on Oct. 26 against Colorado College.
 
CLASS-Y GUY
Tri-captain Nick D'Agostino is one of 20 national candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, which is presented annually to an NCAA Division I senior that has notable achievements in four areas of excellence — community, classroom, character and competition. D'Agostino has emerged as one of the nation's top point-producing defensemen, leading the Big Red with six power-play goals en route to All-Ivy League Second Team and All-ECAC Hockey Second Team selections last season. He posted career-highs in goals (8) and points (20) last season, producing a whopping five game-winning goals. Outside of the rink, he has been involved in a service trip with the Portal De Belen Foundation to Don Juan, Dominican Republic, Feed My Starving Children, the United Way Day of Care and the Ithaca Youth Hockey Association. He is also a three-time member of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations' Dean's List in 2011 and 2012.
 
COME ONE, COME ALL
The Big Red is used to playing in front of sold-out crowds at Lynah Rink, but Cornell hockey has been a commodity this season no matter the location. All of the Big Red's games away from home have been sold out so far this season — Colgate, Princeton, Quinnipiac and now tonight's game against Michigan at Madison Square Garden.
 
WHO NEEDS EVEN-STRENGTH GOALS?
All three of senior forward John Esposito's goals have come on the power play, making him tied for ninth in the country in that department. All five of the Big Red's goals in its two victories Oct. 26-27 over Colorado College came on the man advantage, including one strike on a five-on-three. It was the first time since 2000 that Cornell opened the season without scoring a five-on-five goal. The last time the team scored as many as five power-play goals in its first two games actually wasn't that long ago — 2009, when it racked up six against Niagara and Dartmouth.
 
FOR THE RECORD
With three consecutive shutouts last November, Andy Iles recorded the second-longest shutout streak in program history, spanning 213 minutes, 35 seconds over a five-game span. The only Cornell shutout streak that went longer was posted by Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens, who held the opposition scoreless for 267:11 during the 2010 playoffs. But Iles wasn't done there — he posted back-to-back shutouts against St. Lawrence and Clarkson on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3, respectively, spurring another lengthy shutout streak of 152:36 that ranks ninth all-time in Big Red history. His success has stretched into the postseason, as evidenced by a career-high 46 saves in a March 9 double-overtime victory against Dartmouth. Iles was third in the nation with six shutouts and 10th in goal-against average (2.12). He also set a record for longest streak in ECAC Hockey play of 286:54 from November to January.
 
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 the 2011 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.
 
FEEL THE DRAFT?
Cornell has eight players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including three picks from last June. Freshman defenseman Reece Willcox was selected in the fifth round by the Philadelphia Flyers, then sophomore forward John McCarron was snagged in the sixth round by the Edmonton Oilers. The San Jose Sharks then selected sophomore defenseman Joakim Ryan in the seventh round, giving the Big Red its most NHL draft picks entering a season since it had eight in the 2006-07 campaign. Other NHL draft picks on this year's team include sophomore forwards Brian Ferlin (Boston Bruins) and Joel Lowry (Los Angeles Kings), senior defensemen Braden Birch (Chicago Blackhawks) and Nick D'Agostino (Pittsburgh Penguins), and junior defenseman Kirill Gotovets (Tampa Bay Lightning).
 
MAKING THE CUT
Sophomore forward Cole Bardreau competed for the U.S. throughout the USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp over the summer in Lake Placid, N.Y. Bardreau,  who was a member of the U.S. team that captured the gold medal at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship in April 2011, was one of the 34 players that survived a mid-camp cut during evaluation for a possible spot on the national team for the IIHF World Junior Championships in December and January. Sophomore defenseman Joakim Ryan was also among the 45 players who started the camp with the U.S. before the roster was trimmed.
 
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE
Junior Kirill Gotovets got a taste of the big time 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) — 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.
 
FIRST 1,000 DOWN
The Big Red's 2-1 win over Quinnipiac in game one of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals last season marked the 1,000th victory all-time for the Cornell men's hockey program. Cornell became the 17th program to reach that milestone.
 
GLOBAL INFLUENCE
The Big Red has 11 players on the roster born in the United States, the second-highest total for a Mike Schafer-coached team at Cornell (trailing only the 12 it had last season). The Big Red also now has players native to seven different countries on its squad. Aside from the bulk of its roster hailing from the United States and Canada, Cornell also has a player from Belarus (Kirill  Gotovets), Denmark (Christian Hilbrich), Finland (Teemu Tiitinen), Singapore (Dustin Mowrey) and South Africa (Armand de Swardt).
 
CLOSER TO HOME
Hometown fans of the Big Red got a rare treat when goalie Andy Iles became the first Ithaca native to play for the team since Mike Tallman in 1988-89. Sophomore forward Kevin Cole then made his collegiate debut last season, marking the first time in at least 50 years — and perhaps the first time in program history — that two Ithaca natives have played for the Big Red in the same season. Cole was born in Ithaca and raised in nearby Lansing before heading off to junior programs in Syracuse and Cornwall, Ontario. His father, Dave, lettered for the Big Red in the 1981-82 season. Yet another Ithaca area connection came on board this season when the Big Red added junior defenseman Craig Esposito, who is also from Lansing and serves as one of the tri-captains on Cornell's men's golf team. Freshman forward John Knisley, who calls Pittsford, N.Y. home, also joins the Big Red this season to give Cornell five players that call Upstate New York home for the first time since 1963-64.
 
BLANK YOU VERY MUCH
With its season-opening 2-0 victory over Colorado College, Cornell has recorded at least one shutout in each of the last 18 seasons. The last time the Big Red went a full schedule without posting a shutout came during the 1994-95 season under former coach Brian McCutcheon, as Cornell finished that year 11-15-4. The following year marked the first season for current head coach Mike Schafer, and his clubs have never gone a full year without recording a shutout.
 
AFTER FURTHER REVIEW ...
Junior forward Armand de Swardt was awarded his second career collegiate goal on Oct. 27 through a post-game scoring change. Video review revealed de Swardt deflected a shot by Brian Ferlin past Colorado College goalie Josh Thorimbert for a power-play goal to kick off the scoring in a 3-2 victory.
 
THE OFFENSIVE DEFENSE
The Big Red scored six shorthanded goals last season, its highest total since the 2005-06 season. Sophomore defenseman Joakim Ryan had two of those goals on the penalty kill, with the second coming in an NCAA tournament victory over Michigan. Other returning players who scored shorthanded goals last season include sophomore forward Joel Lowry and senior forward Vince Mihalek.
 
WASTING NO TIME
Junior forward Dustin Mowrey scored just 41 seconds into Friday's game at Colgate, marking the earliest goal Cornell has scored in a game since Nick D'Agostino opened the scoring just 31 seconds into the Big Red's games against Harvard on Feb. 18, 2011.
 
LET'S GET IT STARTED
Cornell has won 10 of its last 12 league openers, including a 3-1 victory Nov. 2 at Colgate. The Big Red recently improved its all-time record in season debuts to 56-32-6. By also winning Saturday's rematch with Colorado College, Cornell won its first two non-league games for the first time since 2006.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red returns to ECAC Hockey next weekend when it plays host to Clarkson on Friday, Nov. 30 and St. Lawrence on Saturday, Dec. 1. The games will serve as Cornell's last action before an extended break for final exams and the holidays. The Big Red will then participate in the annual Florida College Hockey Classic in Estero, Fla., with a game against Ferris State on Dec. 28 and either Minn.-Duluth or Maine on Dec. 29.