ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell men's hockey team wraps up its season-high stretch of six straight games away from home this weekend, when it travels to New York's Capital District for ECAC Hockey games Friday night at Union and Saturday night at Rensselaer. Both games will be broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, and will be available to cable subscribers in the company's Syracuse (including Ithaca), Albany, Hudson Valley and New York City markets. Additionally, Friday's game at Union will be available in TWC's Buffalo and Rochester markets. Audio broadcasts of both games will be available for free on Big Red Digital and can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870). Jason Weinstein will handle the play-by-play.
 
CORNELL at UNION
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, January 16, 2015
PLACE: Messa Rink · Schenectady, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 6-7-1, 4-4 ECAC Hockey, 2-1 Ivy League · Union 11-8-2, 4-5-1 ECAC Hockey
TV: Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (Ch. 51 in Ithaca)
LIVE VIDEO ($): UnionAthletics.tv
AUDIO: Big Red Digital
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
LIVE STATS: Union Athletics
 
CORNELL at RENSSELAER
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, January 17, 2015
PLACE: Houston Field House · Troy, N.Y.
RECORDS*: Cornell 6-7-1, 4-4 ECAC Hockey, 2-1 Ivy League · Rensselaer 7-16-1, 5-6 ECAC Hockey
TV: Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (Ch. 51 in Ithaca)
LIVE VIDEO: None
AUDIO: Big Red Digital
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
LIVE STATS: RPI Athletics
 (* — records do not include Friday's results)
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Union game notes (PDF)
Rensselaer game notes (coming soon)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Armed with the top team defense in the country, Cornell recorded its third shutout of the season in last Saturday's 2-0 victory at Clarkson. Freshman goaltender Hayden Stewart (2-3, 1.54, .949, 2 SO) made 36 saves, including 19 in the first period. The victory halted a four-game winless skid for the Big Red, which has been a streaky team to date. Cornell started the season winless in four games, then rattled off five wins over its next six games. ... Sophomore forward Matt Buckles (4-1–5; 3 PPG) scored the winner late in the second period against Clarkson, moving into a three-way tie for the team goal-scoring lead with senior forward Joel Lowry (4-4–8) and junior forward Christian Hilbrich (4-3–7). Sophomore forward Jake Weidner (1-6–7) scored a power-play goal early in the third period Saturday to move into a second-place tie in team scoring with Hilbrich, one point behind Lowry. ... The Big Red has just four goals over its last five games, a stretch that included being shut out in consecutive games for the first time since December 1963. ... Sophomore goaltender Mitch Gillam (4-4-2, 1.33, .954, SO) has started 10 of the Big Red's 15 games. ... Lowry seven points in his last six games. ... Team defense continues to be the story for the Big Red, despite leaning heavily on three defensemen and two goalies with a combined three games of college hockey experience heading into the season. Cornell leads the nation with a team goals-against average of 1.60 heading into this weekend. ... Mike Schafer is in his 20th season as the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey. Associate head coach Ben Syer and assistant coach Topher Scott return for their fourth seasons with the Big Red. Lyle Gregory has joined the team as a volunteer assistant coach.
 
GOALIE UNIVERSITY
Cornell has a long history of celebrated goaltenders, and sophomore Mitch Gillam and freshman Hayden Stewart are starting to make names for themselves. Having entered this season notorious for scoring an empty-net goal last season, Gillam has built a reputation for being one of the best goaltenders in the nation this year. He ranks second nationally in both goals-against average (1.33) and save percentage (.954). By surrendering one or fewer goals in seven of nine starts this season, Gillam is the first Cornell goalie to accomplish that feat since Ben Scrivens late in the 2010 season. Meanwhile, freshman Hayden Stewart has made the most of his five starts this year, earning shutouts in two of them — both in ECAC Hockey play. Stewart won the league's Rookie of the Week honor after both shutouts, including last Saturday's 36-save effort at Clarkson.
 
ABOUT UNION
The Dutchmen are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, following a six-game winless skid that dropped the defending national champions and three-time defending ECAC Hockey champions out of the national rankings. Union returned to league play last weekend and sailed past Princeton, 5-2, on Friday before dropping a 4-3 affair against league-leading Quinnipiac on Saturday. The Bobcats took a four-goal lead into the third period before the Dutchmen made the game interesting with three goals in the third. ... Senior Colin Stevens (9-6, 2.45, .916, SO) started both games last weekend, but was pulled after Quinnipiac's fourth goal Saturday. Stevens was a first-team all-league selection last season. Sophomore Alex Sakellaropoulos (2-2-2, 2.69, .910) has made six starts and five relief appearances. ... Sophomore center Mike Vecchione has the highest point total in the league (11-19–30, 4 PPG), with half of his points coming on the power play. But senior right wing Daniel Ciampini (15-14–29, 5 PPG) leads the team in goals, rating (plus-19) and leads ECAC Hockey in points during league games. ... Rick Bennett is in his fourth year as head coach, posting a 91-35-18 record coming into this weekend.
 
THE SERIES WITH UNION
Friday's game will be the 57th all-time meeting between the Big Red and Dutchmen, with Cornell holding a 32-17-7 lead in the series. The Big Red holds an 9-5-2 advantage over the teams' last 16 meetings, though the Dutchmen won all three clashes between the teams last season. The final matchup came in an ECAC Hockey Championship semifinal on March 21 in Lake Placid, which Union won, 5-2. Jake Weidner, Christian Hilbrich and Joakim Ryan scored the Big Red's goals against Union last season. Mike Schafer is 23-13-6 against Union in his tenure as the Big Red's head coach, while Dutchmen coach Rick Bennett is 3-3-1 against Cornell.
 
ABOUT RENSSELAER
The Engineers halted a nine-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory Saturday at Princeton. But a closer look at those nine straight losses reveals eight of those games were against teams currently ranked in the USCHO.com Top 20 (at Yale, at Harvard, at Quinnipiac, vs. Boston University, two at Michigan and two vs. Miami). In that same stretch, RPI failed to score more than two goals once. ... Freshman left wing Drew Melanson (4-7–11) and senior winger Jacob Laliberté (2-9–11) are tied for the team lead in scoring. Laliberté also leads the team with six points on the power play and a 57.6 percent success rate on faceoffs. Junior center Miloš Bubela (5-2–7) leads the team in goals. ... Freshman winger Viktor Liljegren (4-1–5) is the Engineers' most frequent shooter, and all four of his goals have come in RPI victories. ... Junior Jason Kasdorf (7-10, 2.74, .910) is the team's starting goaltender. The Winnipeg Jets draft pick was the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year in 2012-13, then lost all but two games of last season to an injury. Senior Scott Diebold (0-6-1, 3.14, .894) has also appeared in nine games. ... Seth Appert is  in his ninth season as the head coach, entering this weekend with a 121-168-38 record.
 
THE SERIES WITH RENSSELAER
After 102 meetings, Cornell holds a 60-34-8 lead in the series against the Engineers — including a 11-4-4 mark in the last 17 meetings. The Big Red escaped with a 3-3 tie in its last visit to Houston Field House on Nov. 8, 2013. Dustin Mowrey '14 and Joakim Ryan scored extra-attacker goals late in the third period for Cornell. RPI then locked down a 3-1 victory Feb. 22, 2014 at Lynah Rink. John McCarron scored the Big Red's goal, assisted by Joel Lowry and Jacob MacDonald Mike Schafer is 28-14-6 against Rensselaer in his tenure as the Big Red's head coach, while Engineers head coach Seth Appert is 4-11-4 against the Big Red.
 
KILLIN' IT
The Big Red is ranked fifth in the nation with a 89.7 percent success rate on the penalty kill. Within that number is an impressive streak against two-man disadvantages. Cornell is a perfect 19-for-19 killing off three-on-five scenarios over the last three seasons, spanning a total of 18 minutes, 13 seconds. The last time Cornell surrendered a five-on-three goal was against Yale on Feb. 11, 2012.
 
SURGES AND OUTAGES
The Big Red power play sits in the middle of the pack nationally, mainly due to inconsistently. As of Nov. 9, the Big Red power play was converting at a clip of just 5.3 percent, mired in an 0-for-17 slump and scoring just four goals in its last 80 opportunities dating back to Dec. 28, 2013. The Big Red was then 7-for-18 on the power play over its next four games — including the season's first meetings with St. Lawrence and Clarkson. Cornell once again snapped an 0-for-17 slide with Jake Weidner's goal last Saturday at Clarkson.
 
BLANK YOU VERY MUCH
Cornell has recorded at least one shutout in each of the last 20 seasons – a streak that has been continued this year with a 4-0 blanking of Brown on Nov. 22. Freshman Hayden Stewart made 26 saves for his first career shutout and subsequent ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors. In the process, he became the first Cornell freshman to keep a clean sheet since Ben Scrivens '10 manned the crease in a 6-0 rout of Union on Dec. 2, 2006. Like Scrivens, an All-American his senior season, Stewart's first shutout came in his ECAC Hockey debut. 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. The following year marked the first season for current head coach Mike Schafer.
 
SITTING ATOP THE IVY
Cornell won the Ivy League championship outright in 2014. It's the second time in the last three years the Big Red claimed the Ivy crown, the 17th time it's done so outright and the 21st time overall in program history. Cornell came up just short of even more history when a 1-0 loss to Dartmouth on Feb. 28 proved to be the squad's only loss against the Ancient Eight last season. Just three times in program history has the Big Red completed the Ivy League schedule undefeated. The last time Cornell was unbeaten in Ivy games was 1996, when it was 9-0-1 in Mike Schafer's first season as the Big Red's head coach. The other two occasions were in 1969 and 1970.
 
TRENDING
The Big Red has welcomed two newcomers from the U.S. National Team Development Program this season in defenseman Ryan Bliss and forward Jared Fiegl. This marks the fifth consecutive season that at least one player from the U.S. Under-18s has joined the Big Red. The others were Clint Lewis (in 2013), Gavin Stoick (in 2012), Cole Bardreau (in 2011) and Andy Iles (in 2010).
 
WIN, NOT LOSE, ON DRAWS
Sophomore forward Jake Weidner has emerged as a terrific faceoff man this season. After spending most of his freshman year on the wing, he's split time on the wing and at center this year. One of the results is his 59.8 percent success rate on faceoffs entering the weekend, which ranks first among ECAC Hockey players who have appeared in at least 10 games this season. (Union's Mike Vecchione is second at 59.6 percent). Sophomore forward Jeff Kubiak has also been solid on draws with a 56.3 percent success rate.
 
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, 2013. He became the 35th coach all-time to rack up 350 victories across all NCAA divisions. 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). His current total of 369 victories in Division I play are tops among current ECAC Hockey coaches.
 
NOT JUST A DEFENSEMAN
Senior blueliner Joakim Ryan ranked 11th in the nation in points per game for defensemen (0.75) last season. He was tied for second on the team in scoring with 24 points, and his eight goals ranked third on the team. During his sophomore and junior seasons, he was on the ice for 88 of the team's 160 goals (55 percent). 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. Ryan was named to both the media's and coaches' Preseason All-ECAC Hockey Teams, but he missed eight of the first nine games this season due to injury. Ryan was able to return Dec. 5-6 vs. Denver, notching his first assist of the season in the second game.
 
FEEL THE DRAFT?
Cornell has seven players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including two picks from last June. Freshman forward Jared Fiegl was selected in the seventh round by the Arizona Coyotes, with the only other Big Red player selected by the organization being David LeNeveu in 2002. Freshman forward Dwyer Tschantz was then selected 11 picks later by the St. Louis Blues — the first time the organization has selected a Cornell product in 15 years. Other NHL draft picks on the team include defensemen Reece Willcox (Philadelphia Flyers) and Joakim Ryan (San Jose Sharks), forwards John McCarron (Edmonton Oilers), Joel Lowry (Los Angeles Kings) and Matt Buckles (Florida Panthers).
 
GOLDEN AGAIN
Senior 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. 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. Freshman forward Jared Fiegl also won gold in the same event in April 2014.
 
GLOBAL INFLUENCE
The Big Red has 17 players on the roster born in the  United States. Cornell also now has players native to four 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 Denmark (Christian Hilbrich) and Finland (Teemu Tiitinen). Even within the United States, the Big Red has some untraditional hockey areas covered. Joel Lowry has lived in Florida, Tiitinen has lived in Georgia, John Knisley has lived in South Carolina, Cole Bardreau and Ryan Bliss were both born in North Carolina, and Dwyer Tschantz is the first-ever NHL draft pick born in Delaware.
 
EXHIBITIONS IN NAME ONLY
Cornell is 20-1-3 in exhibitions since 2000, including a pair of victories last weekend by identical 3-2 scores against the U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-18 Team and Carleton. Freshman forward Jared Fiegl and junior forward Teemu Tiitinen had a goal and an assist apiece against the NTDP, with senior forward Joel Lowry scoring the winner. Senior defensemen Jacob MacDonald and Joakim Ryan then scored power-play goals to erase deficits against Carleton before Fiegl netted the winner on a rebound of a shot from freshman defenseman Ryan Bliss. Sophomore Mitch Gillam made 26 saves for the victory against the NTDP, then freshman Hayden Stewart had 24 stops the next day to earn the win against Carleton.
 
LET'S GET IT STARTED
Cornell has an all-time record of 57-34-7 in season openers, staying unbeaten in its season debut for a fourth consecutive season after a 1-1 tie with Omaha last Friday. The Big Red won its three preview season debuts, including last year's 5-3 win at Omaha. Under current head coach Mike Schafer, the Big Red is 12-6-2 in season openers.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red plays five of its next six games at home, starting with Ivy League showdowns against Harvard next Friday and Dartmouth next Saturday.