ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell's regular season will finally get under way this weekend with a home-and-home non-league series against Niagara. The weekend starts at 7:05 p.m. Friday at the Purple Eagles' Dwyer Arena, which the Big Red will visit for the first time in program history. Jason Weinstein will handle play-by-play, which can be heard for free on the Ivy League Digital Network and in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870).
 
CORNELL at NIAGARA
TIME: 7:05 p.m.
DATE: Friday, October 30, 2015
PLACE: Dwyer Arena  ·  Niagara Univ., N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey  ·  Niagara 0-3-1, 0-1-1 Atlantic Hockey
LIVE VIDEO: PurpleEagles.com
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870) [LISTEN to WHCU ONLINE]
LIVE STATS: PurpleEagles.com
 
CORNELL vs. NIAGARA
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, October 31, 2015
PLACE: Lynah Rink  ·  Ithaca, N.Y
RECORDS*: Cornell 0-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey  ·  Niagara 0-3-1, 0-1-1 Atlantic Hockey
LIVE VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870) [LISTEN to WHCU ONLINE]
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
* — does not include Friday's results
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Niagara game notes (PDF)
 
About the Big Red:
Cornell returns its top three goal-scorers from a season ago in senior forward Christian Hilbrich (10-4—14), junior forward Matt Buckles (8-3—11; 4 PPGs) and senior forward John Knisley (5-0—5). Five of Cornell's top seven defensemen return as well. Senior Reece Willcox, a Philadelphia Flyers draft pick, leads the group, and junior Patrick McCarron and sophomores Dan Wedman and Ryan Bliss logged significant minutes last year. Cornell also returns all three of its goalies for the first time in seven years, with junior Mitch Gillam and sophomore Hayden Stewart playing all of the games last season.
 
Let's Get It Started:
Cornell has an all-time record of 57-34-7 in season openers, extending its unbeaten streak to four straight years after a 1-1 tie with visiting Omaha last year. Under current head coach Mike Schafer, the Big Red is 12-6-2 in season openers. That includes a 3-2 victory over Niagara to open the 2009-10 season.
 
Looking Back:
Cornell is coming off a disappointing 11-14-6 season. Just one team among Division I's 59 programs surrendered fewer goals than the Big Red — but just one scored fewer, too. Expectations were high with a strong senior class, but the squad was decimated by 84 man-games lost to injury, which included lengthy absences from All-Ivy League and All-ECAC Hockey First Team defenseman Joakim Ryan and top forward Joel Lowry. Inconsistency ultimately took its toll, and the Big Red exited the postseason in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Championships. Sophomore goaltender Mitch Gillam was placed on the All-Ivy League Second Team after posting a 1.77 goals-against average and .935 save percentage in Ivy play.
 
Exhibitions In Name Only:
Cornell is 22-1-3 in exhibitions since 2000, including last weekend's sweep of OUA's Ryerson and Laurentian at Lynah Rink. The Big Red blitzed Ryerson with five goals in the first period Saturday, eventually winning by a 5-2 margin. Junior forward Jeff Kubiak had a goal and three assists, and junior forward Matt Buckles scored goals a little more than two minutes apart. On Sunday, Cornell got all of its goals in a 6-1 win from freshmen — including four from forward Anthony Angello, a 2014 draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Defenseman Alec McCrea and forward Mitch Vanderlaan scored the other two goals, and junior goaltender Hayden Stewart only needed to make seven saves to earn the victory.
 
About Niagara:
The Purple Eagles are 0-3-1 this season, including a 3-3 tie and 8-2 loss at home last weekend against Atlantic Hockey contender Robert Morris. Freshman Guillaume Thérien (0-3-1, 4.99, .879) made 38 saves and senior forward Dan Kolenda scored the tying goal midway through the first period in the opener, but the Colonials went 4-for-4 on the power play the next night in the rout. Niagara opened the season with road losses at St. Lawrence (5-2, Oct. 9) and Clarkson (4-1, Oct. 10). ... Freshman forward Nick Farmer (2-1–3) has early team lead in goals and is tied with freshman forward Ryan Kuhn (1-2–3) and junior defenseman Vinny Muto (0-3–3) for the team scoring lead. ... Niagara is just 9-for-16 on the penalty kill so far.
 
The Series Against Niagara:
The Big Red owns a 12-2 advantage in the series, all under Mike Schafer's tenure,  including an eight-game winning streak dating back to 2001. The last time the two programs met, Cornell goaltender Mitch Gillam stole the show in his first collegiate start by scoring an empty-net goal to ice a 4-2 win on Nov. 26, 2013.
 
Goalie University:
Cornell has produced nine First-Team All-American goaltenders in its history and 21st-year Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey Mike Schafer is widely regarded as one of the top defensive minds in the game, so it should come as no surprise that the Big Red ranked seventh in the nation in goals against average last season (2.19). Junior goalie Mitch Gillam (9-9-5, 1.99 GAA, .927 SV%, SO) entered the last weekend of the regular season leading the nation in both goals against average and save percentage, and freshman goalie Hayden Stewart (2-5-1, 2.13, .923, 2 SO) was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week after each of his shutouts.
 
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).
 
Blank You Very Much:
Cornell has recorded at least one shutout in each of the last 20 seasons – a streak that was continued last 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.
 
Feel The Draft?:
Cornell has six players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including four from 2014. Freshman forward Beau Starrett (Chicago Blackhawks) was selected earliest in the group, having been taken in the third round with the 88th overall pick. Fellow newcomer Anthony Angello, also a forward, was selected in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sophomore forward Jared Fiegl (Arizona Coyotes) and Dwyer Tschantz (St. Louis Blues) were then picked in the seventh round. Junior forward Matt Buckles was taken by the Florida Panthers in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, and senior defenseman Reece Willcox was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the fifth round of 2012's event.
 
Global Influence:
The Big Red has 16 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).
 
Killin' It:
The Big Red was ranked third in the nation with an 89.2 percent success rate on the penalty kill last season, trailing just Yale (90.1) and Bowling Green (89.8).
 
Up Next:
Cornell opens ECAC Hockey play next weekend at home against Princeton at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 and Quinnipiac at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. Cornell wraps up a four-game home stand at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13 against Colgate, then the teams shift to Hamilton for a rematch at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 at the Raiders' Starr Rink.