ITHACA, N.Y. — With a showdown against its biggest Ivy League rival in the rearview mirror, the Cornell men's hockey team turns its attention to its biggest regional rival this weekend for a two-game set against Colgate. The teams will meet Friday in Hamilton, then the series shifts to Ithaca for a rematch the following night. Saturday's game has been dubbed the inaugural Courage Classic, with honorary coaches assigned to each team from Camp Good Days. Jason Weinstein will handle play-by-play and Tony Eisenhut will provide color commentary for both games, which can be heard for free on the Ivy League Digital Network and in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870). Their call will also be featured Saturday's webcast on subscription-based Big Red Digital.
 
CORNELL at #17 COLGATE
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, January 30, 2015
PLACE: Starr Rink · Hamilton, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 8-9-1, 6-6 ECAC Hockey, 3-2 Ivy League · Colgate 14-8-2, 6-4-2 ECAC Hockey
LIVE VIDEO (free): GoColgateRaiders.com
AUDIO: Big Red Digital
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
LIVE STATS: GoColgateRaiders.com
 
#17 COLGATE at CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, January 31, 2015
PLACE: Lynah Rink · Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS*: Cornell 8-9-1, 6-6 ECAC Hockey, 3-2 Ivy League · Colgate 14-8-2, 6-4-2 ECAC Hockey
LIVE VIDEO($): Big Red Digital
AUDIO: Big Red Digital
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 (*—records do not include Friday's results)
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Colgate game notes (coming soon)
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell has split its games in each of the last three weekends, including a rollercoaster of a ride last weekend. The Big Red secured a thrilling 3-2 victory over fourth-ranked Harvard on Friday night, thanks to sophomore forward Eric Freschi's goal with 40.5 seconds remaining in the third period. Cornell then yielded the four goals in the first 31 minutes against Dartmouth on Saturday, eventually losing 5-2 to fall back to 6-6 in ECAC Hockey play — good for eighth place with 10 games remaining in the regular season. ... By conceding a meaningless empty-net goal in the waning seconds of Saturday's game, the Big Red surrendered five goals in a game for the first time this season. Even with the disappointing result, Cornell enters this weekend surrendering the second-fewest goals per game in the nation (1.84). Sophomore goalie Mitch Gillam (6-5-2, 1.46 GAA, .948 SV%, SO) leads the nation in both goals-against average and save percentage, and freshman goalie Hayden Stewart (2-4-0, 2.10, .931, 2 SO) has been named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week after each of his shutouts. ... Senior forward Cole Bardreau (3-9–12) scored in each game last weekend, pushing his point total to six over the last four games. ... Typically on Bardreau's left wing is junior Christian Hilbrich, (6-3–9) who scored against Harvard to take the team lead in goals. Sophomore forward Matt Buckles (6-1–7; 4 PPG) then pulled even with him with a third-period strike against the Big Green. ... Sophomore forward Jake Weidner (2-8–10) had assists in each game last weekend, and now is in solo possession of second on the team's scoring list. He is also the team's top faceoff man, winning 60.0 percent of his draws on the season. ... Offense has been generally hard to come by for the Big Red this season, with the squad's average of 1.84 goals per game ranking 54th of 59 teams in the nation. Injuries have played a role, with senior defenseman Joakim Ryan — an All-ECAC Hockey Preseason selection by both the coaches and media — missing eight games due to injury in November and senior forward Joel Lowry (4-4–8), the leading scorer at the time, expected to miss the remainder of the season. ... 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.
 
ABOUT COLGATE
Picked to finish first by the coaches and the media in ECAC Hockey preseason polls, the Raiders are tied for fifth entering the weekend. Colgate is 5-2-1 since the holiday break, but mustered just a 2-2 tie with Dartmouth and 6-1 loss to Harvard last weekend. The Raiders have conceded 16 goals in their last four games after yielding just three in the four games prior. ... Junior right wing Kyle Baun (10-11–21; 4 PPGs) leads the team in scoring by one point over classmate Tyson Spink (10-10–20; 3 PPGs), who typically plays on Baun's opposite wing. Junior forward Darcy Murphy (5-11–16) has a team-best plus-11 rating, and senior forward Joe Wilson (7-7–14; 4 PPGs) is tied with Baun for the team lead in power-play goals. ... Sophomore goalie Charlie Finn (14-7-2, 2.12, .921, 4 SO) has started all but one of the Raiders' games this season. He was chased by Harvard on Saturday, marking just the second time this season he's been pulled in favor of freshman Zac Hamilton (0-1, 1.44, .959). ... The Raiders are 10-2 when scoring the first goal.
 
THE SERIES WITH COLGATE
This weekend's games will mark the 148th and 149th all-time meetings between the two Central New York rivals , with the series dating back to 1921. The Big Red holds a 76-57-14 lead in the series, including a 19-7-7 edge since 2001. The teams played to a 2-2 tie in last season's first meeting on Dec. 7, 2013 at Lynah Rink, with the Big Red rallying from a two goals down on five-on-three goals from Joakim Ryan and Cole Bardreau. Colgate won the second meeting, Feb. 8, 2014 at Starr Rink, by a 6-1 margin. Patrick McCarron scored Cornell's lone goal, and Colgate struck three times on the power play. ... Colgate last swept the regular-season series in 2011-2012, and Cornell last swept the regular-season series in 2009-10. ... Cornell head coach Mike Schafer holds a 26-13-9 lead over the Raiders during his tenure behind the bench.
 
KILLIN' IT
The Big Red is ranks third in the nation with a 89.9 percent success rate on the penalty kill. Within that number is an impressive streak against two-man disadvantages. Cornell is a perfect 20-for-20 killing off three-on-five scenarios over the last three seasons, spanning a total of 18 minutes, 25 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 inconsistenty. 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 before going on another 0-for-17 slide. The power play has scored four goals in the five games since, including two by sophomore forward Jake Weidner.
 
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.
 
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 60.0 percent success rate on faceoffs entering the weekend, which ranks second among ECAC Hockey players who have appeared in at least 10 games this season (Union's Mike Vecchione leads at 60.4 pct.). Jeff Kubiak has also been solid on draws with a 56.6 percent success rate.
 
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.
 
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).
 
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 372 victories in Division I play are tops among current ECAC Hockey coaches.
 
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.
 
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.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red returns home to face Quinnipiac on Friday, Feb. 6 and Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 7 before hitting the road for two of its final three regular-season weekends. Cornell travels Feb. 13-14 to Dartmouth and Harvard, returns to Ithaca for Senior Weekend Feb. 20-21 against Rensselaer and Union before closing out Feb. 27-28 at Brown and Yale.