NIAGARA at #14/14 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Tuesday, November 26
PLACE: Lynah Rink · Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Niagara 3-8-1, 3-2-1 Atlantic Hockey · Cornell 6-3-1, 4-3-1 ECAC Hockey
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
AUDIO: www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule?date=2013-12-1
VIDEO: www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule?date=2013-12-1
LIVE STATS: www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Niagara game notes (PDF)
 
WHAT'S ON TAP
The Big Red wraps up a three-game home stand with a rare midweek game. Niagara, which received an at-large bid to the 2013 NCAA tournament, visits Lynah Rink for a non-league game at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The new Ivy League Digital Network subscription service will have both live video and audio of the game, featuring play-by-play from Jason Weinstein. His call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870).
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is riding its second three-game winning streak of the young season, coming off a home sweep of Brown and defending national champion Yale over the weekend. Freshman Eric Freschi scored twice and was one of three Big Red players to notch his first collegiate goal in a 5-1 victory over the Bears on Friday. Freshman Matt Buckles and sophomore Reece Willcox also had their first goals in the college ranks against Brown. Junior Brian Ferlin then scored a power-play goal and assisted on junior Joel Lowry's winner early in the second period in Saturday's 2-1 victory over Yale. Senior Andy Iles made 30 saves. ... The Big Red has the most effective power play in the nation with a 30.6 percent conversion rate. ... McCarron (3 goals, 10 assists – 13 points) leads the team in scoring and is tied for fifth in the nation in assists per game (1.00). ... With four goals in his last four games, Ferlin (6-6–12) is second on the team in scoring and tied with Lowry (6-5–11) for the team lead in goals. ... Junior Joakim Ryan (3-7–10) is tied for third in the nation in points per game for defensemen (1.00). ... Senior goaltender Andy Iles (6-3-1, 2.39 goals-against average, .915 save percentage) has made 80 consecutive starts.
 
ABOUT NIAGARA
Coming off a dynamite season in which they became Atlantic Hockey's first team to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament since the conference's inception in 2003, the Purple Eagles are off to a relatively slow start after the graduation and departure of several key players. Niagara is 0-6 in non-conference games to date, including a 6-0 loss Friday at Michigan in its last action. ... Special teams have been a struggle for the Purple Eagles. The power play has surrendered as many goals as it has produced (four), and the penalty kill is clicking at just a 71.4 percent success rate. ... Senior Ryan Rashid (4-4–8) and linemate sophomore Hugo Turcotte (4-4–8) are tied with junior Mike Conderman (3-5–8) for the team lead in scoring. ... Niagara has been using two freshman goalies, Jackson Teichroeb (1-5, 3.77, .883) and Adrian Ignagni (2-3-1, 3.55, .890).
 
THE 35th TO 350
Already the winningest coach in program history, Mike Schafer hit 350 victories for his career — all of which have come from behind the Big Red's bench — with a 4-2 win over Princeton on Nov. 1. He became the 35th coach all-time to rack up 350 victories across all NCAA divisions, with four of them passing the milestone last season (Ferris State's Bob Daniels, Connecticut's Bruce Marshall, Notre Dame's Jeff Jackson and Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold). Schafer is also just the third coach to pass 350 victories with Ivy League tenure, joining Ned Harkness (Cornell, Union and Rensselaer) and Tim Taylor (Yale).
 
IRON MAN
Andy Iles has started 80 consecutive games in goal for the Big Red, spanning all of the last two seasons and the final game of his freshman campaign. His 80 consecutive starts rank tied for fifth in NCAA Division I history, leaving him 24 games a familiar leader. Cornell's Ben Scrivens holds the current record of 104 consecutive starts from 2006-10. Iles was one of just two goalies to be used exclusively by his team in 2011-12, with Minnesota's Kent Patterson being the other. By starting and finishing all of the Big Red's games that season, 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.
 
POLLS PROSE
With three consecutive victories, the latest coming against No. 9/9 Yale, the Big Red moved up four spots to 14th in the USCHO.com poll this week and re-entered the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll at 14th this week. The Big Red appeared in the latter poll a league-high 14 weeks during the 2012-13 regular season. Cornell's current ranking in both polls is the highest its been this season.
 
THE PUCK STOPS HERE
With 30 saves in Saturday's victory over Yale, senior goaltender Andy Iles moved up to second on the program's all-time list in saves. Just 10 games into his final season on East Hill, Iles has now accumulated 2,472 saves over his collegiate career.  He passed Jason Elliott (2,462) for second on the all-time list, and now trails only current Los Angeles Kings starting goalie Ben Scrivens (2,873). Iles also ranks tied for first in ties, and third in consecutive starts and consecutive appearances (see chart downpage).
 
POWERFUL STUFF
Cornell enters tonight's game with the nation's best power play at 30.6 percent, thanks in large part to seven goals on the man advantage in two games Oct. 25-26 at Nebraska Omaha. All four of the Big Red's goals in the final games came on the power play. It marked the first time the Big Red has scored four power-play goals in a game since Nov. 6, 2009 against Dartmouth (a 5-1 victory). The Big Red has stayed hot on the man advantage of late, scoring six goals on the power play over the last four games.
 
FEEL THE DRAFT?
Cornell has seven players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including one pick from last June. Freshman forward Matt Buckles became the first Cornellian to be selected by the Florida Panthers, when the NHL's southern-most team nabbed the Toronto native in the fourth round with the 98th overall selection. Other NHL draft picks on the team include defensemen Reece Willcox (Philadelphia Flyers), Joakim Ryan (San Jose Sharks) and Kirill Gotovets (Tampa Bay Lightning; has since been traded to the Chicago Blackhawks) and forwards John McCarron (Edmonton Oilers), Brian Ferlin (Boston Bruins) and Joel Lowry (Los Angeles Kings).
 
FIVE-ON-THREE PROWESS
There are few situations in hockey more dire than when a team is facing a two-man disadvantage, but the Big Red has made a habit of rising to the occasion in those scenarios. Cornell is a perfect 14-for-14 killing off a two-man disadvantage over last season and the beginning of this season, spanning a total of 12 minutes, 4 seconds. The last time Cornell surrendered a five-on-three goal was against Yale on Feb. 11, 2012.
 
NOW THAT'S A STREAK
It has been 1,525 games since the Big Red has been shutout in back-to-back contests — a streak that stayed alive with the Big Red's two goals Nov. 15 at Clarkson. The streak dates back December 1963 with games vs. Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
 
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 Los Angeles Kings 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 a other 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.
 
NOT JUST A DEFENSEMAN
Just six games into the season, junior blueliner Joakim Ryan had already equaled his goal total from all of last year with three. Two of his strikes came in a 3-3 tie Nov. 8 at Rensselaer. He led the team with 20 assists last season and was tied for third in points with 23. He was also on the ice for 41 of the team's 83 goals, which ranked second on the team to only leading scorer Greg Miller (43). The production was nothing new to Ryan, who set a program record for goals by a freshman defenseman in 2011-12 with seven. He then started off this season with three points in his first two games, including a power-play goal in the Oct. 25 opener at Nebraska Omaha. The San Jose Sharks draft pick currently ranks third in the nation for points per game among defensemen (1.00).
 
COLLECTING HARDWARE
While forward Cole Bardreau became the first Cornell player to earn gold with the U.S. at the IIHF World Junior Championships, 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 him to compete with the United States being goaltender Jean-Marc Pelletier in 1998.
 
BLANK YOU VERY MUCH
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. The Big Red has yet to surrender fewer than two goals in a game this season.
 
GOLDEN AGAIN
Junior 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 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 in camp for the United States before the roster was trimmed in advance of the World Junior championships.
 
GLOBAL INFLUENCE
The Big Red has 13 players on the roster born in the United States. Cornell 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. Forward Kevin Cole then made his collegiate debut in 2011, 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. Yet another Ithaca area connection came on board last season when the Big Red added 6-foot-4 defenseman Craig Esposito, who is also from Lansing and also competes on Cornell's men's golf team.
 
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.
 
LET'S GET IT STARTED
Cornell has an all-time record of 57-34-6 in season openers, claiming its third straight win in a season debut with a 5-3 victory Oct. 25 at Nebraska Omaha. Last season, Cornell secured a 2-0 victory against visiting Colorado College behind a 19-save shutout from Andy Iles. Both of the Big Red's goals were scored on the power play by John Esposito, who has since graduated and now plays professionally in Austria. Under current head coach Mike Schafer, the Big Red is 12-6-1 in season openers.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red next plays in perhaps its most anticipated game of the season, when it heads to famed Madison Square Garden in New York for the fourth installment of the Red Hot Hockey series against Boston University at 8 p.m. Saturday. The Big Red then closes out the fall semester portion of its schedule back at home against Colgate on Dec. 7.