With an ambitious non-league schedule in the rearview mirror, the Big Red will turn its attention exclusively to ECAC Hockey play for the balance of the regular season. The first order for Cornell will be to wrap up a six-game stretch away from home this weekend with its annual trek to New York's Capital District. The Big Red will visit defending ECAC Hockey champion Union on Friday, Jan. 18 before making the short jaunt east the following day to take on Rensselaer on Saturday, Jan. 19. Friday's game will be televised by the Time Warner Cable Sports Network and available in both the Ithaca and Albany markets. Jason Weinstein will handle the play-by-play for both games on WHCU-AM (870) in the Ithaca area. His call can also be accessed worldwide through Cornell's Redcast subscription service.
 
GAME 16: #16 CORNELL at #17 UNION
DATE: Friday, Jan. 18, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Messa Rink — Schenectady, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell 7-6-2, 3-3-2 ECAC Hockey; Union 10-7-4, 4-3-3 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 30-14-7
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-2, on Feb. 24, 2012 in Ithaca, N.Y.
TV: Time Warner Cable Sports Network
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE VIDEO: www.unionathletics.tv
LIVE STATS: www.unionathletics.com
 
GAME 17: #16 CORNELL at RENSSELAER
DATE: Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Houston Field House — Troy, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell 7-6-2, 3-3-2 ECAC Hockey; Rensselaer 6-10-5, 1-6-3 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 59-32-7
LAST MEETING: Rensselaer won, 2-1 in overtime, on Feb. 25, 2012 in Ithaca, N.Y.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE VIDEO: www.rpitv.org
LIVE STATS: www.rpiathletics.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Union games notes (PDF)
Rensselaer games notes (PDF)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell has been streaky this season, with a recent five-game unbeaten streak followed by a three-game losing streak. The Big Red suffered a 6-4 loss to Maine in the championship game of the Florida College Hockey Classic on Dec. 29 in Estero, Fla., then was swept the following weekend by scores of 5-1 and 2-1 in two heated contests at nationally ranked Denver. ... Senior defenseman Nick D'Agostino has five assists over the last four games. He has been on the ice for 11 of the team's last 14 goals. ... Senior center Greg Miller (7-7–14) leads the team in scoring, trying to become the team's first three-time scoring champion since Matt Moulson did it in 2006. ...  John Esposito (7-2–9) is tied for the team lead in goals. He also has four power-play goals, which leads the team by one over sophomore Joel Lowry (6-5–11). ... Junior goalie Andy Iles (7-6-2, 2.32, .913) is in line to start his 52nd consecutive start for the Big Red on Friday. He made 34 saves in the second game against Denver.
 
ABOUT UNION
The Dutchmen breezed through the opening portion of their schedule with just two losses in their first 11 games — in its season debut against Merrimack and on the road to then-league-leading Dartmouth. But Union has posted a 2-5-3 record since to slip out of the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll and to 17th in the USCHO.com poll. The Dutchmen returned to league play with a 3-2 win Friday at Princeton and a 3-2 loss the following night at league-leading Quinnipiac. ... Reigning All-ECAC Hockey First Team goaltender junior Troy Grosenick (6-5-4, 2.34, .914) has earned the majority of starts this season, but sophomore Colin Stevens (4-2-0, 1.93, .920) has better numbers and the team's two shutouts. ... Senior forward Kyle Bodie (5-18—23) leads the team in scoring, while senior forward Wayne Simpson (10-12—22) has the most goals. ... The Dutchmen have the nation's best power play, converting at a 25.2 percent clip while being paced by five tallies from senior defenseman Greg Coburn (7-11—18).
 
ABOUT RENSSELAER
The Engineers are winless in their last four games (0-3-1), but the tie came against the hottest team in the nation when RPI became the first team to claim a point off Quinnipiac in league play this season with a 1-1 deadlock on Friday. The Engineers' lone ECAC Hockey victory coming into this weekend was also against a team holding a national ranking with it knocked off Yale, 6-1, on Dec. 7. ... Sophomore forward Jacob Laliberte (7-9-—16) leads the squad in scoring. Three of his goals have come on the power play, leaving him tied for the team lead in that category with senior defenseman Nick Bailen (4-9—13). ... Sophomore forward Ryan Haggerty (8-7—15) leads the team in goals. ... All three of RPI's goalies have started at least six games, with senior Bryce Merriam (2-5-2, 2.80, .900) carrying the bulk of the load.
 
THE SERIES WITH UNION
Friday's game will be the 52nd all-time meeting between the Big Red and Dutchmen, with Cornell holding a 30-14-7 lead in the series. The Big Red holds a 7-2-2 advantage over the teams' last 11 meetings, including a victory in the 2010 ECAC Hockey Championship game. Cornell scratched out a 4-4 tie on Feb. 4, 2012 at Messa Rink before returning to Lynah Rink three weeks later for a 3-2 victory on the strength of Rodger Craig's third-period goal in the penultimate game of the regular season. Mike Schafer is 21-10-6 against Union in his tenure as the Big Red's head coach, while Friday's game will be the third against Cornell for Rick Bennett as the Dutchmen's head coach.
 
THE SERIES WITH RENSSELAER
Saturday's game will be the 99th all-time meeting between the Big Red and Engineers, with Cornell holding a 59-32-7 lead in the series — including a 10-2-3 mark in the last 15 meetings. One of those losses came in the final game of the 2011-12 regular season, when RPI scored late in overtime for a 2-1 victory at Lynah Rink. In the Big Red's last trip to Houston Field House, it held on for a 2-2 tie on Feb. 3, 2012. The Engineers' last regular-season home victory over the Big Red came on Feb. 24, 2006. Mike Schafer is 27-12-5 against Rensselaer in his tenure as the Big Red's head coach, while Engineers head coach Seth Appert is 2-10-3 against the Big Red.
 
GOLDEN AGAIN
Sophomore forward Cole Bardreau won a gold medal while serving as an assistant captain for the United States at the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship earlier this month in Ufa, Russia. It wasn't the first time he's earned gold with the U.S. either — he also wore an “A” while capturing gold at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship in April 2011. Sophomore defenseman Joakim Ryan was also among the 45 players who started the camp for this year's World Juniors before the roster was trimmed.
 
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 339 career victories, ranking him second in ECAC Hockey. Schafer trails only Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by 15 games. He is also tops among Ivy League coaches, with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet up to 321 career victories in his 25th season as a head coach.
 
WARMING UP
Sophomore forward John McCarron scored his first three goals of the season in three consecutive games from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4. It's a similar trend to his freshman season, when all six of his goals game in January, February or Match. All nine of his career goals have now come after the December break for final exams and the holidays — including three goals in the playoffs.
 
POLLS PROSE
Cornell slipped one spot during its idle week to a season-low 16th in the USCHO.com college hockey poll and has fallen out of the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll for the first time this season. The Big Red has been in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll's Top 15 for a league-high 14 weeks this season. Cornell, which plays 17th-ranked Union on Friday, is 4-3-1 in games against teams in the USCHO.com poll.
 
ILES FILES
Junior Andy Iles has already twice been named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week. The first time was on Oct. 30 after the Big Red's two victories against Colorado College, including a season-opening shutout. Iles then stopped 26 shots in the Big Red's 5-1 victory over Michigan on Nov. 24 in The Frozen Apple to earn the league's weekly goaltending honor on Nov. 27. Iles was an All-Ivy League First Team and All-ECAC Hockey Second Team selection last season after earning all-league rookie team honors as a freshman.
 
REST OPTIONAL
Andy Iles is the only goalie in Division I this season who was used exclusively by his team last season, having now made 51 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.
 
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.
 
HOBEY WATCH
The same three members of the Big Red who were nominated for the Hobey Baker Award in 2012 are back on the ballot in 2013. Senior defenseman Nick D'Agostino is one of the team's tri-captains and leads the squad's blueliners in scoring, senior forward Greg Miller is on pace to lead the team in scoring for a third consecutive season, and junior Andy Iles is the team's exclusive goaltender and a reigning All-Ivy League First Team selection.
 
WHO NEEDS EVEN-STRENGTH GOALS?
Senior forward John Esposito is tied for the team with seven goals — the first four of which came on the man advantage. 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.
 
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 four five-on-three advantages this season — John Esposito's season-opening goal on Oct. 26 against Colorado College.
 
FOR THE RECORD
With three consecutive shutouts in November 2011, 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 2011 to January 2012.
 
COLLECTING HARDWARE
While sophomore forward Cole Bardreau became the first Cornell player to earn gold with the U.S. at the IIHF World Junior Championships, juniorgoalie Andy Iles was the first to earn a medal with Team USA. Iles claimed bronze at the 2011 tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., with the only player before to compete with the United States being goaltender Jean-Marc Pelletier in 1998.
 
COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH
The Big Red has scored 19 of its 38 goals (50 pct.) this season in the third period of its 15 games. Cornell is the only team among the country's 59 Division I programs to have scored half of its goals in the third period.
 
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.
 
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 away games within ECAC Hockey play have sold out so far this season, plus the team's home away from home at the 18,200-seat Madison Square Garden in New York for The Frozen Apple against Michigan on Nov. 24. Cornell played in front of 10 consecutive capacity crowds prior to the Florida College Hockey Classic in December.
 
NOT JUST A DEFENSEMAN
Sophomore blueliner Joakim Ryan enters the weekend with nine points. All of his points have come on assists, and he's been on the ice for 18 of the team's 38 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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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. The Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick has only been on the ice for two goals against over the last eight games .
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red will play exclusively within ECAC Hockey for the remainder of the season, attempting to chase down the program's 13th league title. Cornell will play its first home games in eight weeks when it hosts Yale on Friday, Jan. 25 in a game that will be broadcast by NBC Sports Network. The Big Red then hosts another Ivy League foe, Brown, on Saturday, Jan. 26 before returning to the road for its annual trip to the North Country the following weekend. The Big Red will face St. Lawrence on Friday, Feb. 1 and Clarkson on Saturday, Feb. 2.