Despite being one of the hottest teams in ECAC Hockey down the stretch, Cornell's postseason will start on the road this weekend with a best-of-three series at Princeton in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Championship. The ninth-seeded Big Red will take on the eighth-seeded Tigers at 7 p.m. Friday in Game 1, with a rematch to follow 24 hours later. If necessary, a third and final game would be play at 7 p.m. Sunday. All 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 heard worldwide on Cornell Athletics' subscription-based Redcast service.
 
ECAC HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP, FIRST ROUND (best of three)
9-CORNELL at 8-PRINCETON
GAME 1: 7 p.m. on Friday, March 8, 2013
GAME 2: 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, 2013
GAME 3 (if necessary): 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 10, 2013
SITE: Hobey Baker Rink — Princeton, N.J.
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell 12-14-3, 8-11-3 ECAC Hockey; Princeton 10-14-5, 8-10-4 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 81-50-8
LAST MEETING: Princeton won, 1-0, on Feb. 9, 2013 in Ithaca, N.Y.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE VIDEO: www.americaonesports.com/partner_members.asp?id=407
LIVE STATS: www.goprincetontigers.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Princeton games notes (PDF)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is 4-1-1 in its last six games, but it still came up just short of home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs after suffering a 2-1 loss Saturday at Yale in its regular-season finale. The Big Red carried a five-game unbeaten streak into that game following a dominating 4-1 victory at Brown the previous night. Senior forward Greg Miller (14-15–29) continued his hot hand with three assists, giving him 13 points over his last 10 games and the 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 Joel Lowry (11-9–20) provided a goal and an assist last weekend to take sole possession of second place in team scoring, just ahead of classmate Brian Ferlin (6-13–19). ... Senior forward John Esposito (10-4–14) leads the team with five power-play goals, just ahead of Lowry's four. ... Sophomore Joakim Ryan
(2-16–18) has the team lead in scoring from defensemen. ... Junior goalie Andy Iles (12-14-3, 2.37, .914) is in line to start his 66th consecutive game for the Big Red on Friday. He is 4-1-1 with a goal-against average of 1.65 and .943 save percentage over the last six games.
 
ABOUT PRINCETON
The Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak with a dramatic three-point weekend. After scratching out a 2-2 tie at Dartmouth on Friday, the Tigers were in overtime again the following night at Harvard. Needing a win to secure the eighth seed and the final spot for home ice, Princeton pulled its goalie for an extra attacker with 69 seconds remaining in the extra frame. The gamble paid off with a winning goal from junior center Andrew Calof (13-23–36), who leads the team in scoring. ... Junior forward Tyler Maugeri (9-14–23) is second on the team in scoring. Ottawa Senators draft pick and senior defenseman Michael Sdao (8-7–15) shares the team lead of four power-play goals with freshman winger Mike Ambrosia (6-4–10). ... Senior Mike Condon (8-9-4, 2.42, .925) has claimed the starting job in goal. One of his two shutouts on the season came against Cornell. ... The Tigers have lost their last four home games. ... Princeton surrendered  24 goals in the first period of ECAC Hockey games this season, which was the highest total in the league.
 
THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
The Big Red holds a commanding 81-50-8 lead all-time, even though the Tigers won both meetings in the regular season. Princeton lost a two-goal lead heading into the third period on Nov. 9, 2012, but surged ahead with two late goals for a 5-3 win on Nov. 9, 2012. Goalie Mike Condon then made 39 saves for a 1-0 shutout victory on Feb. 9 at Lynah Rink, with Andrew Ammon scoring the game's only goal. The last time Cornell defeated Princeton was a 4-0 decision on Nov. 18, 2011 to start off a streak of three consecutive shutouts for Andy Iles and the Cornell defense.
 
POSTSEASON HISTORY WITH PRINCETON
The Big Red is 5-2-1 against the Tigers in postseason play. The last meeting was arguably the most exciting, with Cornell's Colin Greening scoring midway through a second overtime to give Cornell a 4-3 win on March 20, 2009 in an ECAC Hockey Championship semifinal at Albany, N.Y. The only time the teams have met for playoff games at Hobey Baker Rink came in a 1999 quarterfinal, when a 4-4 tie and 6-5 victory allowed Princeton to advance based on aggregate score.
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Despite a late flourish, the Big Red has no home playoff games for the first time since ECAC Hockey went to its current playoff format before 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. The current playoff format ensures a home playoff series for the top eight seeds. After this weekend's games at Princeton, Cornell will have logged more than 2,000 miles on the bus in a span of 25 days.
 
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. The Big Red responded by going 4-1-1 over its last six games — which was second to only Rensselaer (5-1) for the hottest finish to the ECAC Hockey regular season. The Engineers' lone loss over the last three weeks was to Cornell on Feb. 23.
 
100-POINT WATCH
With 10 points and an ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honor over his last six games, senior forward Greg Miller has 94 points over his four years on East Hill. Miller is now just six points away from becoming the 48th player in program history to eclipse the 100-point plateau.
 
ILES FILES
Junior Andy Iles earned ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors for the third time this season on Feb. 27 after coming up with 65 saves in a pair of victories over Rensselaer and Union the previous weekend. The first time Iles won the award 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.
 
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 344 career victories, ranking him second in ECAC Hockey. Schafer trails only Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by 17 games. He is also tops among Ivy League coaches, with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet up to 325 career victories in his 25th season as a head coach.
 
WHO'S HOT
Senior forward Greg Miller is currently riding a six-game scoring streak, racking up six goals and a four assists for 10 points over that span. It's Miller's longest scoring streak since he had points in eight straight to being the 2011-12 season and the Big Red's longest scoring streak of the season. Classmate Erik Axell has the next best streak this season, spanning five games (Nov. 24 to Dec. 29).
 
A BREAK WILL DO YOU GOOD
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.
 
REST OPTIONAL
Andy Iles was the only goalie in Division I to be used exclusively by his team this season, having now made 63 consecutive starts in the Cornell net. But he got a rare view from the bench for the final 31 seconds of last Saturday's game against Union, when senior Omar Kanji made his collegiate debut in goal on Senior Night. Iles was one of just two goalies to be used exclusively by his team 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 sixth week this season. Cornell still finished in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine a league-high 14 weeks this regular season. Despite being outside of the USCHO.com poll, Cornell holds a 7-6-1 mark in games against teams in the Top 20 at the time of the games.
 
WE WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN
It has been 1,510 games since the Big Red has been shutout in back-to-back contests — a streak that has been threatened twice in the last couple months. 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 7-for-7 on the two-man disadvantage this season, spanning a total of 6 minutes, 18 seconds. Conversely, the Big Red offense has scored in two of its five two-man 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 leads the team in goals 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 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.
 
BE PROMPT
In 12 of the Big Red's last 18 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 the Feb. 16 game at Harvard. In six of those games, Cornell has scored first.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 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.
 
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.
 
LET'S GET IT STARTED
The Big Red is 19-2-2 in its last 23 playoff openers, including a 13-2-2 mark under head coach Mike Schafer. The only losses came in 2007 (vs. Quinnipiac) and 2009 (vs. Rensselaer). The last time Cornell opened the postseason on the road, it tied the first game, 4-4, at Princeton in 1999.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red is one of just two teams that could still potentially play any of the top four seeds in the ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinals next weekend — provided it wins this weekend's series vs. Princeton. A loss to the Tigers would end the season. A win would earn Cornell a best-of-three series at Quinnipiac, Rensselaer, Yale or Union from March 15-17.