The men's hockey team begins its ECAC Hockey-exclusive finish to the regular season with a pair of Ivy League games Friday at Harvard and Saturday at Dartmouth. Live video of both games will be available on the new Ivy League Digital Network subscription service. Jason Weinstein will also handle the play-by-play for both games, which can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870) or worldwide via the Ivy League Digital Network.
 
#12/12 CORNELL at HARVARD
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, January 17
PLACE: Bright-Landry Hockey Center · Cambridge, Mass.
RECORDS: Cornell 8-4-3, 4-3-2 ECAC Hockey · Harvard 5-8-3, 2-6-3 ECAC Hockey
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
AUDIO: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
LIVE STATS: GoCrimson.com
 
#12/12 CORNELL at DARTMOUTH
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, January 18
PLACE: Thompson Arena · Hanover, N.H.
RECORDS: Cornell 8-4-3, 4-3-2 ECAC Hockey · Dartmouth 3-12-2, 2-8 ECAC Hockey
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
AUDIO: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
LIVE STATS: www.dartmouthsports.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Harvard game notes (PDF)
Dartmouth game notes (PDF)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell enters the weekend on the heels of a bizarre cancelation of a non-league game with Massachusetts after a mechanical issue produced poor ice conditions on Jan. 10. Prior to that, the Big Red's last game action was a 6-0 victory over the Russian Red Stars on Jan. 3. The Big Red also recently won the program's fourth Florida College Hockey Classic championship Dec. 28-29 in Estero, Fla. Rodger Craig scored the winning goal in the ninth round of a shootout after the Big Red played to a 1-1 tie with Maine in the championship game. ... The Big Red is 5-1-2 over its last eight games. ... Cornell has the second-most effective power play in the nation with a 26.0 percent conversion rate. Cornell has 10 goals on the power play over the last nine games. ... Junior John McCarron (4 goals, 13 assists – 17 points) is tied for the team lead in scoring with classmate and linemate Joel Lowry (6-11–17). Junior forward Brian Ferlin (8-8–16) has six goals over his last nine games to take the team lead in that category, and Lowry now has 11 points over the same nine-game span. ... Junior Joakim Ryan (5-11–16) is second in the nation in points per game for defensemen (1.07), trailing only Bentley's Steve Weinstein. ... Iles (7-4-3, 2.25 goals-against average, .919 save percentage) had his streak of 80 consecutive starts snapped with Mitch Gillam's start on Nov. 26, but he has started all three regular-season games since.
 
ABOUT HARVARD
The Crimson had a modest three-game unbeaten streak snapped Saturday in a 5-1 loss to Yale at Madison Square Garden in New York. Sophomore forward Jimmy Vesey scored the lone goal for Harvard, his team-leading 10th tally to go with four assists for a team-high 14 points. The team's top six scorers are underclassmen, including sophomore Kyle Criscuolo (8-4–12) and Buffalo Sabres draft pick Sean Malone (3-6–9; 2 SHGs). ... Senior Raphael Girard (4-5-2, 2.38, .931, 2 SOs) has started 11 of the team's 16 games, but was pulled in favor of junior Steve Michalek (1-3-1, 3.03, .910) against Yale. ... Harvard is 0-4 in one-goal games and hasn't won any game when trailing at the end of any period.
 
ABOUT DARTMOUTH
The Big Green are a respectable 3-4-2 in its last nine games since a shocking 0-8 start to the season. Team defense (3.94 goals against per game) has been a big factor in the team's struggles, including six games in which Dartmouth has surrendered at least five goals. ... Following ties with Northeastern and Vermont, the Big Green has defeated Boston University, 4-2, on Jan. 8 and lost to New Hampshire, 4-2, on Saturday. ... Junior Eric Neiley (10-4–14) leads the team in scoring and has twice as many goals as anyone else on the squad. ... Dartmouth has just three points from seniors. ... Sophomore Charles Grant (3-7-2, 3.49, .895) is the primary goaltender.
 
THE SERIES WITH HARVARD
One of the best rivalries in all of college hockey, Cornell holds a 71-61-9 lead in the all-time series with the Crimson. The Big Red has been particularly successful of late, boasting a 7-4-2 advantage in the teams' 13 meetings since the 2008-09 season began. The Big Red rallied for a 2-2 tie in the teams' last meeting in Cambridge on Feb. 16, 2013 after Harvard won last season's other meeting, 4-1, on Nov. 16, 2012 at Lynah Rink. John Knisley scored his first collegiate goal in that game for the Big Red. Cornell head coach Mike Schafer holds a 31-14-4 mark against Harvard.
 
THE SERIES WITH DARTMOUTH
Cornell holds a 79-43-4 lead in the all-time series against Dartmouth, a series that dates back to a Dartmouth win on Feb. 2, 1909, in Hanover, N.H. Cornell currently owns a nine-game unbeaten streak (7-0-2) in the series, and is 13-3-2 over the last seven seasons. Last season, Cornell scored the first three goals in a 4-2 victory over Dartmouth on Feb. 15, 2013 at Thompson Arena, highlighted by Madison Dias' first collegiate goal. The teams played to a 1-1 draw Nov. 17, 2012 in the teams' other meeting of the season at Lynah Rink. Head coach Mike Schafer is 22-16-4 against the Big Green during his tenure behind the Cornell bench.
 
POWERFUL STUFF
Cornell power play ranks second in the nation with a 26.0 percent conversion rate. The Big Red has 11 power-play goals over its last nine games and also scored 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 second game came against the Mavericks 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).
 
NOT JUST A DEFENSEMAN
As of Monday, junior blueliner Joakim Ryan is second in the nation in points per game for defensemen (1.07). Just six games into the season, 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 for the San Jose Sharks draft pick, 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.
 
POLLS PROSE
The Big Red held steady at 12th in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls this week. The No. 12 ranking is the highest Cornell has held in both polls this season. More importantly, the Big Red is also currently 12th in the Ratings Percentage Index, which is used to help determine which teams qualify for the NCAA tournament.
 
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 season 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 PUCK STOPS HERE
With 30 saves in a Nov. 23 victory over Yale, senior goaltender Andy Iles moved up to second on the program's all-time list in saves. Just 13 games into his final season on East Hill, Iles has now accumulated an even 2,576 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) (see chart on opposite page). For his 55-save effort over two games against Brown and Yale from Nov. 22-23, Iles was named the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week.
 
NOW THAT'S A STREAK
It has been 1,530 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.
 
IRON MAN
Andy Iles 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, before the streak came to an end Nov. 26 with Mitch Gillam getting the nod against Niagara. Iles' 80 consecutive starts are 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.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
CLASS-Y GUY
Andy Iles 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. Iles is continuing the program's tradition of highly decorated goaltenders, having been named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year (2011) and an All-Ivy League First Team selection (2012). Outside of the rink, he has been involved in a service trip with the Portal De Belen Foundation to Don Juan, Dominican Republic, and is the organizer and planner of the Cornell Hockey Teddy Bear Toss, which donates proceeds to Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes and the Franziska Racker Centers. He is also a five-time member of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Dean's List and carries a 3.78 cumulative grade point average.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
EXHIBITIONS IN NAME ONLY
Cornell is now 18-1-3 in exhibitions since 2000, including a 6-0 thrashing of the Russian Red Stars last Friday. It was Cornell's first midseason exhibition since a 4-0 victory over the U.S. National Team Development Program on Dec. 8, 2002, and the Big Red used the game to give ice time to four players who haven't yet appeared in regular-season play. Freshman Matt Buckles scored twice, and freshman Jeff Kubiak and senior Craig Esposito also scored goals in the rout.
 
UP NEXT
Nearly seven weeks removed from its last home games, the Big Red will return to Lynah Rink for ECAC Hockey games against St. Lawrence on Jan. 24 and Clarkson on Jan. 25. The respite is short, though, with Cornell hitting the road for the next three contests. The Big Red makes an Ivy League swing to Yale on Jan. 31 and Brown on Feb. 1 before taking on regional rival Colgate on Feb. 8 at Starr Rink in Hamilton, N.Y.