Cornell returns to Lynah Rink for its penultimate home stand of the regular season this weekend when it hosts ECAC Hockey-leading Quinnipiac at 7 p.m. Friday and Ivy League foe Princeton at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lynah Rink. The first tilt features teams that have endured opposite fortunes in recent months, with Quinnipiac riding a 19-game unbeaten streak to surge into the national spotlight, while the Big Red has dropped eight of its last nine and has suffered its first five-game losing streak since the early stages of the 1999-2000 campaign. Cornell will seek its first victory in Ivy play on Saturday when it takes on Princeton. 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 along with a live webcast on Cornell Athletics' subscription-based Redcast service.
 
GAME 22: #2/2 QUINNIPIAC at CORNELL
DATE: Friday, Feb. 8, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Quinnipiac 19-3-4, 12-0-2 ECAC Hockey; Cornell 8-11-2, 4-8-2 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 14-6-2
LAST MEETING: Quinnipiac won, 4-1, on Nov. 10, 2012 in Hamden, Conn.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE VIDEO: http://cornellbigred.com/showcase/
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey/
 
GAME 23: PRINCETON at CORNELL
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Lynah Rink — Ithaca, N.Y.
2012-13 RECORDS: Princeton 7-10-4, 5-6-3 ECAC Hockey; Cornell 8-11-2, 4-8-2 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 81-49-8
LAST MEETING: Princeton won, 5-3, on Nov. 9, 2012 in Princeton, N.J.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE VIDEO: http://cornellbigred.com/showcase/
LIVE STATS: http://sidearmstats.com/cornell/mhockey/
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Quinnipiac games notes (coming soon)
Princeton games notes (coming soon)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is enduring an uncharacteristically long stretch of futility, losing eight games in a nine-game stretch for the first time under 18th-year head coach Mike Schafer.  The Big Red has lost five in a row since winning Jan. 18 at Union. Most recently, Cornell came up empty on last weekend's trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson. In both games, the Big Red was assessed a major penalty that yielded to the hosts pulling ahead on the ensuing power plays. ... Senior center Greg Miller (7-11–18) has 13 points over his last 13 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 (9-4–13) leads the team in goals by one over sophomore Joel Lowry (8-6–14). Esposito also leads the team with five power-play goals, just ahead of Lowry's four. ... Sophomore Joakim Ryan (1-12–13) has the team lead in scoring from defensemen. ... Junior goalie Andy Iles (8-11-2, 2.61, .906) is in line to start his 58th consecutive game for the Big Red on Friday.
 
ABOUT QUINNIPIAC
It's been nearly three months since the Big Red has last seen the Bobcats, but the league's junior member hasn't dropped a game since. Having now tied or won its last 19 games, Quinnipiac has taken a seven-point lead atop ECAC Hockey, having yet to suffer defeat in 14 league games. Senior forward Jeremy Langlois (11-14–25) leads the team in scoring and is leading the team in goals for the third straight season. He typically centers a line with sophomore Matthew Peca (8-8–16) and senior Clay Harvey (3-12–15) on the wings. ... Junior Connor Jones (6-4–10) leads the team with five power-play goals. He centers a line with twin brother Kellen Jones (4-9–13) and Travis St. Denis (5-4–9) on the flanks. ... Senior defenseman Mike Dalhuisen (8-4–12) is tied for second on the team in goals. ... Senior goalie Eric Hartzell (19-2-4, 1.46, .936) has started all but one game for the Bobcats this season. That one game was the last time Quinnipiac lost – Nov. 6 vs. American International.
 
ABOUT PRINCETON
The Tigers are coming off road losses to Yale and Brown, which halted the squad's best stretch of the season of four wins over five games – including a 2-1 victory over nationally ranked Dartmouth. ... Junior center Andrew Calof  (10-19–29) is leading the team in scoring for a third straight season. Since the team's January break for exams, Calof has pivoted a line with freshman Mike Ambrosia (5-4–9) and sophomore Tyler Maugeri (9-12–21) on the wings. Ambrosia is tied with senior defenseman Michael Sdao (6-6–12) for the team lead in power-play goals with four. Sdao is the team's lone NHL draft pick, having been selected by the Ottawa Senators. ... Senior Mike Condon (5-7-3, 2.62, .918) has started two-thirds of the games in goal. ... The Tigers are 0-10-0 when trailing after two periods. ... Princeton's power play has converted 23.6 percent of its chances, ranking fifth in the nation.
 
THE SERIES WITH QUINNIPIAC
Cornell holds a 14-6-2 lead in the all-time series against the Bobcats, who joined the Division I ranks in 1998 with Rand Pecknold at the helm. The Big Red swept last season's series, winning 4-0 on Nov. 19, 2011 at Lynah Rink, but the Bobcats came out victorious in this season's first meeting with a 4-1 decision on Nov. 10 at TD Bank Sports Center. That loss ended Cornell's five-game winning streak in  regular-season meetings between the squads. The Big Red also won a best-of-three ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series against the Bobcats in March 2011. ... The Bobcats have scored just two power-play goals in its last 44 chances (4.5 pct.) against the Big Red.
 
THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
The Big Red holds a commanding 81-49-8 lead all-time, having won three of the last four meetings. Cornell won the last clash at Lynah Rink, nailing down a 4-0 decision on Nov. 18, 2011 to start off a streak of three consecutive shutouts for Andy Iles and the Cornell defense. The teams then tied, 3-3, in last season's matchup at Hobey Baker Rink on Jan. 14, 2012. The first meetings between the squads this season went in favor of the homestanding Tigers, who lost a two-goal lead heading into the third period only to surge ahead with three goals in the final five minutes for a 5-3 victory on Nov. 9, 2012.
 
IT'S TIMES LIKE THESE ...
Cornell's recent struggles are a rare bump in the road for one of the most decorated teams in ECAC Hockey.
* This is the first time the Big Red has surrendered three or more goals in five straight games since Nov. 23-Dec. 4, 1999.
* This is the first five-game losing streak since Nov. 23-Dec. 4, 1999.
* This is the first time the Big Red has been four games under .500 in league play since Feb. 24, 1995.
* This is the first time the Big Red has eight losses in a nine-game stretch since Feb. 5-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 340 career victories, ranking him second in ECAC Hockey. Schafer trails only Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by 16 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. Saturday's game will be Schafer's 600th at the helm.
 
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. and fifth Feb. 1 at St. Lawrence. It's a similar trend to his freshman season, when all six of his goals game in January, February or Match. All 11 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 is out of both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls for the just the second 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 5-4-1 mark in games against teams in the Top 20 at the time of the games.
 
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 57 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.
 
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.
 
... AND POWERFUL OF LATE
The power play is converting at a 16.2 percent clip so far, but it's begun to heat up of late. With Joel Lowry, John McCarron and Nick D'Agostino scoring power-play goals last weekend, the Big Red has notched five goals on the man advantage in its last 23 opportunities (21.7 pct.).
 
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 5-for-5 on the two-man disadvantage this season, spanning a total of 4 minutes, 30 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 tied for the team leadin 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 1,502 games since the Big Red has been shutout in back-to-back contests — a streak that survived last weekend when Cornell answered a home shutout loss to Brown with two goals on Feb. 1 at St. Lawrence. The last time Cornell was blanked twice in a row was vs. Clarkson and St. Lawrence in December 1963.
 
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 hit the road for a pair of Ivy League showdowns in its next games — vs. Dartmouth on Friday, Feb. 15 and vs. Harvard on Saturday, Feb. 16. The Big Red then returns to Ithaca for its final two home games of the regular season when it plays host to Rensselaer on Feb. 22 and defending league champion Union on Feb. 23.