Cornell hits the road for the fourth time in the last six weeks, heading north for a clash with St. Lawrence on Friday and a Saturday tilt with Clarkson. The three teams are all within one point of each other in the ECAC Hockey standings as the league's regular-season schedule begins to hit its stretch drive. Both games will feature familiar faces, as St. Lawrence assistant coach Kris Mayotte served as volunteer assistant with the Big Red last season, and Clarkson head coach Casey Jones served as an associate head coach at Cornell from 2008-11. Both of this weekend's games can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870), with Jason Weinstein handling the play-by-play duties. His call can also be accessed worldwide on Cornell Athletics' subscription-based Redcast service.
 
GAME 20: CORNELL at ST. LAWRENCE
DATE: Friday, Feb. 1, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Appleton Arena — Canton, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell 8-9-2, 4-6-2 ECAC Hockey; St. Lawrence 11-10-3, 4-5-3 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 56-41-7
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-1, on Dec. 1, 2012 in Ithaca, N.Y.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE VIDEO: www.americaonesports.com
LIVE STATS: www.stlawu.edu/athletics
 
GAME 21: CORNELL at CLARKSON
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Cheel Arena — Potsdam, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell 8-9-2, 4-6-2 ECAC Hockey; Clarkson 5-13-6, 4-6-2 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 58-49-14
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-1, on Nov. 30, 2012 in Ithaca, N.Y.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE VIDEO: www.americaonesports.com
LIVE STATS: www.clarksonathletics.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
St. Lawrence games notes (PDF)
Clarkson games notes (PDF)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell has endured a difficult portion of its schedule, winning just one of its last seven games. Four of those seven games came against teams in the top 20 of the Ratings Percentage Index, including last Friday's overtime loss to Yale. The Big Red was then blanked the following night by Brown, marking the first time since Nov. 19-20, 2010 that it has failed to secure at least point in a home ECAC Hockey weekend featuring two games. It's also the first time the team has lost six of seven since 1998. ... Senior center Greg Miller (7-9–16) has 11 points over his last 11 games, surging to the team lead in scoring. He is attempting to become the Big Red's first three-time scoring champion since current NHLer Matt Moulson did it in 2006. ... Senior John Esposito (9-2–11) leads the team in goals by two over Miller and sophomore Joel Lowry (7-6–13). Esposito also leads the team with five power-play goals. ... Senior Nick D'Agostino (2-8–10) and sophomore Joakim Ryan (0-10–10) are tied for the team lead in scoring from defensemen. ... Junior goalie Andy Iles (8-9-2, 2.41, .913) is in line to start his 56th consecutive game for the Big Red on Friday.
 
ABOUT ST. LAWRENCE
The Saints are coming off an impressive road sweep of 16th-ranked Dartmouth and Harvard, the latter coming in overtime and boosting the team to above .500. Now unbeaten in its last four (3-0-1), St. Lawrence has scored at least three goals in its last seven games, headed by two of the nation's top five scorers. The Saints brandish a line of senior Kyle Flanagan (12-21–33; 4 PPGs) at center with juniors Greg Carey (16-18–34; 6 PPGs) and Jeremy Wick (8-7–15; 3 PPGs) on the wings. ... Senior George Hughes (4-16–20) ranks fourth in the country in points per game for defensemen (0.83). ... Incumbent starter unior Matt Weninger (11-10-3, 2.79, .911) has played all but half a game in goal for the Saints. ... St. Lawrence has surrendered 33 of its 69 goals against in the third period this season. The Saints are also 9-3-3 when scoring first, compared to 2-7 when allowing the first goal. ... St. Lawrence has surrendered at least two goals in its last 18 games.
 
ABOUT CLARKSON
The Golden Knights are 1-6-1 in their last eight games, with the lone win coming last Friday at Harvard. Last weekend's trip featured the team's only two road games in a 12-game span. ... Junior center Allan McPherson (4-14–18) leads the team in scoring, four points ahead of linemate Jarrett Burton (7-7–14) and freshman winger Pat Megannety (7-7–14). Sophomore winger Joe Zarbo (11-2–13) leads the team in goals and power-play goals (four). He leads ECAC Hockey with nine goals in league play. ... Junior center Ben Sexton (4-7–11 in 17 games) is the team's lone NHL draft pick to see regular playing time. His rights are owned by the Boston Bruins. ... Freshman Greg Lewis (5-11-5, 2.78, .907) has assumed the role of starting goalie, appearing in 22 of Clarkson's 24 games. ... The Golden Knights are 1-5 in one-goal games  and 1-5 in two-goal games.
 
THE SERIES WITH ST. LAWRENCE
Cornell leads the all-time series against St. Lawrence, 56-41-7, including a four-game winning streak. The Big Red won the teams' first meeting of the season, 3-1, on Dec. 1 at Lynah Rink. Andy Iles needed to make only 13 saves in the win, and John Esposito and Joel Lowry scored goals in the final six minutes for the Big Red. The three previous games between the programs were decided by one goal, including Cornell's last trip to Appleton Arena when Sean Collins scored the winner 36 seconds into overtime on Feb. 18, 2012. Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is 20-15-5 all-time against the Saints. Cornell and St. Lawrence first met during the 1926-27 season, when the Big Red's home games were played on Beebe Lake.
 
THE SERIES WITH CLARKSON
Saturday's game will be the 122nd all-time meeting between the Big Red and Golden Knights. Cornell is unbeaten in its last nine games (6-0-3) against Clarkson, taking a 58-49-14 lead in the all-time series. The Big Red won the first meeting between the squads earlier this season, with Nick D'Agostino and John Esposito scoring second-period goals on the power play before Esposito added an empty netter in the game's final minute to sew up a 3-1 victory on Nov. 30. Two of last season's three meetings ended in ties — including Cornell's last visit to Cheel Arena, when Greg Miller scored the Big Red's goal in a 1-1 deadlock on Feb. 17, 2012. Cornell goalie Andy Iles has a 3-0-2 record, 1.18 goals-against average and .957 save percentage in five career starts against Clarkson. Cornell head coach Mike Schafer holds a 31-14-7 record against the Golden Knights.
 
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 340 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 323 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, then added his fourth Jan. 19 at Rensselaer. It's a similar trend to his freshman season, when all six of his goals game in January, February or Match. All 10 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
The Big Red has fallen out of both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls for the first time this season, though it is still receiving votes in the latter. Cornell has been in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine a league-high 14 weeks this season. Despite being outside of the USCHO.com poll, Cornell holds a 5-4-1 mark in games against teams in the Top 20.
 
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 53 consecutive starts in the Cornell net. By starting and finishing 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 league'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.
 
POWERFUL START ...
Senior forward John Esposito leads the team with nine 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.
 
... BUT POWER STRUGGLES OF LATE
Strong special teams are a staple of Cornell hockey, but this year has been an anomaly with the Big Red struggling on both the power play and penalty kill of late. Cornell has scored just three power-play goals in 38 opportunities (7.9 percent) in December and January. The Big Red has also surrendered nine goals in its last 28 penalty-killing scenarios (67.9 percent).
 
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.
 
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 squad's tri-captains and is tied for the team lead in scoring among blueliners, 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.
 
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. He then scored a goal and added an assist in his first game back with the Big Red last weekend against Union. It wasn't the first time Bardreau'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.
 
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, junior goalie 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.
 
FIRST 1,000 DOWN
The Big Red's 2-1 win over Quinnipiac in game one of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals in 2011 marked the 1,000th victory all-time for the Cornell men's hockey program. Cornell became the 17th program to reach that milestone.
 
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.
 
COMING THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH
The Big Red has scored 22 of its 45 goals (48.9 percent) this season in the third period of its 19 games. That's the highest percentage among the country's 59 Division I programs.
 
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.
 
NOW THAT'S A STREAK
It has been exactly 1,500 games since the Big Red has been shutout in back-to-back contests — a streak that could come to an end Friday at St. Lawrence if the visitors fail to get on the board against the Saints. The last time Cornell was blanked twice in a row was vs. Clarkson and St. Lawrence in December 1963.
 
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.
 
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 return home for its penultimate home stand of the regular season when it hosts league-leading Quinnipiac on Friday, Feb. 8 and Ivy League rival Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 9. The following weekend will be back on the road for the Big Red, which visits Dartmouth on Feb. 15 and Harvard on Feb. 16.