ITHACA, N.Y. — Coming off its best league weekend off the semester, Cornell will return home for its final two home games of the regular season when it hosts Rensselaer on Friday  and Union on Saturday. The latter game will also serve as Senior Night with a postgame ceremony to honor the eight seniors on the Big Red's roster — Erik Axell, Braden Birch, Nick D'Agostino, John Esposito, Chris Hogan, Omar Kanji, Vince Mihalek and Greg Miller. 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 and Tony Eisenhut on color. Their call can also be heard along with a live webcast worldwide on Cornell Athletics' subscription-based Redcast service.
 
GAME 26: RENSSELAER at CORNELL
DATE: Friday, Feb. 22, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Rensselaer 14-11-5, 9-6-3 ECAC Hockey; Cornell 9-13-3, 5-10-3 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 59-33-7
LAST MEETING: RPI won, 3-2, on Jan. 19, 2013 in Troy, N.Y.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein, Tony Eisenhut)
LIVE VIDEO: http://cornellbigred.com/showcase/
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey/scoreboard.aspx
 
GAME 27: #20 UNION at CORNELL
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Union 15-10-5, 8-6-4 ECAC Hockey; Cornell 9-13-3, 5-10-3 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 31-14-7
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-2, on Jan. 18, 2013 in Schenectady, N.Y.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein, Tony Eisenhut)
LIVE VIDEO: http://cornellbigred.com/showcase/
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey/scoreboard.aspx
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Rensselaer games notes (PDF)
Union games notes (coming soon)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell ended an uncharacteristic seven-game losing streak on Friday by never trailing in a 4-2 victory at Dartmouth. The Big Red tallied three times in a 10-minute span early in the second period to open the scoring, including Madison Dias' first collegiate goal. The next night at Harvard, defenseman Nick D'Agostino scored late in the second period to tie the game at 2 — which is how the contest would end, despite the Big Red firing 21 shots on goal in the final 25 minutes. ... Senior forward Greg Miller (10-11–21) has 16 points over his last 17 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. ... Sophomore forward Joel Lowry (9-8–17) had a goal and two assists last weekend and is now tied for second on the team in goals with senior forward John Esposito (9-4–13). Esposito also leads the team with five power-play goals, just ahead of Lowry's four. ... Sophomore Joakim Ryan (1-14–15) has the team lead in scoring from defensemen. ... Junior goalie Andy Iles (9-13-3, 2.51, .906) is in line to start his 62th consecutive game for the Big Red on Friday.
 
ABOUT RENSSELAER
The Engineers are the league's hottest team, having won six straight and — when including their home sweep of Cornell and Colgate in mid-January — eight of their last nine. Just like last season, RPI is enjoying a late-season surge in offense, having four goals per game over its last eight contests. Most recently, the Engineers are coming off a home sweep of Brown and Yale to take sole possession of second place in the ECAC Hockey standings. ... Sophomore forwards Jacob Laliberte (9-16–25) and Matt Neal (7-18–25) are tied for scoring lead, while classmate Ryan Haggerty (12-12–24) leads the team in goals. ... Senior defenseman Nick Bailen (10-14–24), a former All-ECAC Hockey First Team selection, leads the team with six power-play goals. He also has seven points over his last four games. ... Freshman Jason Kasdorf (10-2-2, 1.52, .942) leads the league in goals-against average. He's a draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets.
 
ABOUT UNION
The defending ECAC Hockey champions have endured an up-and-down season to date. After starting the season 8-2-1, the Dutchmen were 2-6-3 over their next 11. But Union is back on the uptick by going 5-2-1 since its home loss to Cornell on Jan. 18, including last weekend's home sweep of Yale and Brown to boost the team into a tie for third place in the ECAC Hockey standings coming into its Friday date at Colgate. ...  Senior forward Wayne Simpson (13-16–29) leads the team in scoring, one point ahead of classmate Kyle Bodie (7-21–28). Simpson's five power-play goals are tied for the team lead with junior Daniel Carr (11-11–22) and senior defenseman Greg Coburn (8-13–21). In all, the Dutchmen have eight players with at least three power-play goals. ... Junior Troy Grosenick (11-7-5, 2.18, .922) is the team's primary goaltender. He was last season's All-ECAC Hockey First Team goalie selection and a Hobey Baker Award finalist.
 
THE SERIES WITH RENSSELAER
Friday's game will be the 100th all-time meeting between the Big Red and Engineers, with Cornell holding a 59-33-7 lead in the series — including a 10-3-3 mark in the last 16 meetings. One of those losses came earlier this season, when Rensselaer never trailed and held off the Big Red by a score of 3-2 on Jan. 19 at Houston Field House. John McCarron scored the Big Red's first goal on the power play, then Joel Lowry scored late in the third with Cornell goalie Andy Iles pulled in favor of an extra attacker. The Engineers also won the teams' last meeting at Lynah Rink, winning in overtime, 2-1, on an overtime goal by Patrick Cullen on Feb. 25, 2012. Mike Schafer is 27-13-5 against Rensselaer in his tenure as the Big Red's head coach, while Engineers head coach Seth Appert is 3-10-3 against the Big Red.
 
THE SERIES WITH UNION
Saturday's game will be the 53rd all-time meeting between the Big Red and Dutchmen, with Cornell holding a 31-14-7 lead in the series. The Big Red holds an 8-2-2 advantage over the teams' last 12 meetings, including a victory in the 2010 ECAC Hockey Championship game. More recently, Cornell won the teams' first clash this season by a score of 3-2 on Jan. 18 at Messa Rink. Linemates Cole Bardreau and John Esposito each had a goal and an assist for the Big Red, while John McCarron had two assists. Sophomore Brian Ferlin scored the game-winner with 9:33 remaining in the third period, finishing off a pass from classmate Joel Lowry on a two-on-one. In the teams' last meeting at Lynah Rink, Cornell secured 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 22-10-6 against Union in his tenure as the Big Red's head coach, while Saturday's game will be the fourth against Cornell for Rick Bennett as the Dutchmen's head coach.
 
HOME HUNTING
If the Big Red loses or ties any of its remaining four regular-season games, it will finish the season below .500 in ECAC Hockey for the first time since 1998-99. As a result, Cornell is in danger of not having home playoff games for the first time since ECAC Hockey went to its current playoff format  for the 2002-03 season. The last time the Big Red didn't have home games in the postseason was 1999, when the league used a format where only the top five teams hosted playoff series.
 
BREAKING THE FUNK
One of the most decorated teams in ECAC Hockey, Cornell has endured rare bumps in the road this season — including a seven-game losing streak (from Jan. 19 to Feb. 9) and a stretch of 10 losses over 11 games (from Dec. 29 to Feb. 9). Both skids were the first of their kind since the Big Red lost 11 straight games from Dec. 23, 1992 to March 5, 1993.
 
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 341 career victories, ranking him second in ECAC Hockey. Schafer trails only Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by 18 games. He is also tops among Ivy League coaches, with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet up to 324 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, and he's added three more since. It's a similar trend to his freshman season, when all six of his goals game in January, February or Match. All 12 of his career goals have now come after the December break for final exams and the holidays — including three goals in the playoffs.
 
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 to be used exclusively by his team this season, having now made 59 consecutive starts in the Cornell net. He was one of just two goalies to pull off a similar feat last season, with Minnesota's Kent Patterson being the other. 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.
 
POLLS PROSE
The Big Red is out of both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls for the just the fourth week this season. 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 6-5-1 mark in games against teams in the Top 20 at the time of the games.
 
NOW THAT'S A STREAK
It has been 1,506 games since the Big Red has been shutout in back-to-back contests — a streak that has been threatened twice in the last month. But Cornell bounced back from shutout losses to Brown and Princeton to keep the streak alive, dating back to December 1963 games vs. Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
 
POWERFUL START
Senior forward John Esposito is tied for second on 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.
 
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 6-for-6 on the two-man disadvantage this season, spanning a total of 4 minutes, 58 seconds. Conversely, the Big Red offense has scored in two of its five five-on-three advantages this season — John Esposito on Oct. 26 against Colorado College and Nick D'Agostino on Feb. 2 at Clarkson.
 
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 one point off 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
BE PROMPT
In 12 of the Big Red's last 14 games, a goal has been scored in the first four minutes of the first period — the latest occurrence being Greg Miller's goal 2:03 into Saturday's game at Harvard. In six of those games, Cornell has scored first.
 
UP NEXT
Cornell wraps up the regular season with an Ivy League road trip to Brown on March 1 and Yale on March 2. At that time, the Big Red will know where its postseason path will begin. ECAC Hockey's best-of-three first round series will staged March 8-10 at campus sites, while the quarterfinals will feature an identical format March 15-17.