ITHACA, N.Y. – Armed with a five-game unbeaten streak, Cornell returns to the friendly confines of Lynah Rink to wrap up the fall semester portion of its schedule this weekend against ECAC Hockey's North Country teams. The Big Red hosts St. Lawrence at 7 p.m. Friday before entertaining Clarkson at 7 p.m. Saturday. The games will be broadcast on subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network, with Jason Weinstein handling play-by-play and Tony Eisenhut providing color commentary. Their call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM).
 
#13/13 ST. LAWRENCE at #14/15 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Friday, December 4, 2015
PLACE: Lynah Rink  ·  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 6-1-2, 4-1-1 ECAC Hockey  ·  St. Lawrence 8-3-2, 3-1-1 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
CLARKSON at #14/15 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, December 5, 2015
PLACE: Lynah Rink  ·  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 6-1-2, 4-1-1 ECAC Hockey  ·  Clarkson 7-4-2, 0-3-2 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
St. Lawrence game notes (PDF)
Clarkson game notes (PDF)
 
The Big Red, In Brief:
Despite having played its last four games away from home, Cornell has continued its strong start to the season — most recently playing 2015 national runner-up Boston University to a 3-3 tie last Saturday at the biennial Red Hot Hockey game at Madison Square Garden in New York. ... Junior Mitch Gillam (6-1-2, 1.73, .937, 3 SO) has been the Big Red's exclusive goaltender to date and logged the program's third-longest shutout streak (213:17) during November. ... Junior forward Jeff Kubiak (3-7–10) leads the team in scoring, rating (plus-8) and faceoff percentage (61.0). Freshman forward Anthony Angello (5-3–8) leads the team in goals.
 
Gillam In A Groove:
Junior goaltender Mitch Gillam has been terrific of late, earning ECAC Goalie of the Week honors on Nov. 17, then Player of the Week and NCAA First Star honors on Nov. 24, followed by a 40-save effort last Saturday against Boston University. In that span, he posted the third-longest shutout streak in program history, spanning 213 minutes, 17 seconds over four games — including consecutive shutouts at Yale and Brown two weeks ago. That marked the Big Red's first back-to-back shutouts since Andy Iles did so Dec. 2-3, 2011 against St. Lawrence and Clarkson, and it was the Big Red's first consecutive road shutouts since Ben Scrivens blanked Princeton and Quinnipiac from Nov. 7-8, 2008. An odd twist on Gillam's four career shutouts is that he's only won two of them — Dec. 28, 2014 against Lake Superior State and two weeks ago against Yale were both scoreless ties.

Extraordinary Effort:
The Big Red currently leads the nation in combined special teams (60.3%), thanks in large part to 12 straight penalty kills over the last four games — a streak which started with a game-changing 68-second five-on-three survival Nov. 14 at Colgate. While Cornell has only had two or fewer power plays in each of its last five games, the team remains sharp on the man advantage and has clicked at a 24% success rate.
 
Special Threads:
The Big Red wore special jerseys for its home opener, which will soon be auctioned off at www.cornellbigred.com. Proceeds going to a mission and service trip to the Dominican Republic this summer, led by head coach Mike Schafer and current players. In addition to the special design the red jerseys with a thick horizontal white stripe across the midsection, the jerseys featured name plates of the greatest Cornell hockey player to have ever donned that number according to the player that currently wears it.
 
The Little Things Aren't So Little:
While junior forward Jake Weidner is tied for third on the team in scoring, his contributions go way deeper than those numbers — especially with increased ice time as a result of the early-season absence of John Knisley. Entering this weekend, Weidner has been relied on to take 236 of the Big Red's 541 faceoffs (43.6%), and he ranks fourth in the country for shot blocks per game among forwards (1.78).
 
What, Me Worry?:
Three of Cornell's six victories entering this season have come in games in which it has surrendered the first goal. The Big Red had a combined record of 14-34-5 over the last three seasons when it faced a 1-0 deficit.
 
Wasting No Time:
Junior forward Jeff Kubiak entered the season with 17 career points through his first two seasons, but he followed that up with nine points in the first six games this year. He had the Big Red's six-game points streak since Brian Ferlin's seven-game stretch from Dec. 28, 2013 to Jan. 31, 2014. Kubiak added an assist last Saturday against Boston University, giving him at least one point in each of the seven games this season in which Cornell has scored at least three goals.
 
Working Overtime:
For just second time in program history, the Big Red has gone to overtime five times before Jan. 1, with the 2003-04 season marking the other occurrence. Cornell still has a ways to go to match the program record for overtime games in a season, though — the Big Red played 12 in each of the 1985-86, 2010-11 and 2011-12 campaigns.
 
Freshman Force:
The jump to college hockey can be a big one for newcomers, but freshman forward Anthony Angello — a 2014 draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins — has felt right at home with Cornell. Angello is the Big Red's first player to have points in his first four collegiate games since Ryan Moynihan from Nov. 8-16, 1996 — which was Mike Schafer's second season as head coach of his alma mater. He then scored the overtime winner Nov. 14 at Colgate. His five goals entering the weekend lead the team.
 
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).
 
Class of Captains:
On the day of its season opener at Niagara, Cornell announced that its entire senior class — Christian Hilbrich, John Knisley, Teemu Tiitinen and Reece Willcox — would serve as captains during its final season on East Hill. It marks the first time in program history the Big Red has shared the captaincy among four players, though it's worth noting that only two players will wear the 'C' at any given time. Hilbrich and Willcox will serve as on-ice captains for the team's away games, while Knisley and Tiitinen will do so in home games.
 
Blank You Very Much:
Cornell has recorded at least one shutout in each of the last 21 seasons – a streak that has easily been continued behind junior goaltender Mitch Gillam's three shutouts in just the first five weeks of this season. The last time the Big Red went a full season without posting a shutout came during the 1994-95 season.
 
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).
 
About St. Lawrence:
The Saints were last in action two weeks ago, kicking off a stretch of five straight road games with a 5-1 smashing of Princeton and a 0-0 tie at undefeated Quinnipiac — which marked the first scoreless tie in SLU's lengthy program history. ... Junior defensemen Gavin Bayreuther (4-6–10) and Eric Sweetman (3-7–10) lead the team in scoring, though the Saints sport a balanced attack. Five players have four goals apiece and 10 have at least six points in the team's 13 games. ... Sophomore goaltender Kyle Hayton (8-3-1, 1.82, .938, 2 SO) was the 2015 ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year. ... The Saints' power play has struggled (7.4%), but the penalty kill (91.9%) is ranked third in the country.
 
The Series Against St. Lawrence:
Cornell holds a 57-44-8 all-time lead in a series which began in 1926-27. Last season was the first time since the 2006-07 campaign that the Big Red was swept by the Saints, with St. Lawrence picking up a pair of two-goal games. Before last season's loss in Ithaca, the Big Red had not lost to the Saints at Lynah since that same 2006-07 year. Mike Schafer is 21-18-6 against St. Lawrence.
 
About Clarkson:
The Golden Knights halted a five-game winless skid with last weekend's two-game sweep of Arizona State, which is in its first season of a transition to the NCAA Division I ranks. Clarkson's 1-1 tie Nov. 20 at Quinnipiac was the Bobcats' first non-win this season, but the Golden Knights were blanked the following night at Princeton to remain the only winless team in ECAC Hockey play to date. ... Sophomore Sam Vigneault (4-8–12) leads the team in scoring, though junior forward A.J. Fossen (7-4–11, 5 PPGs) leads the team in goals and is tied for the national lead in power-play goals. ... Junior Steve Perry (6-4-1, 2.46, .895) is the team's primary goaltender. ... Clarkson has just four goals in five league games entering Friday's contest at Colgate. ... Despite recent struggles, the Golden Knights are 16th in the Pairwise Rankings thanks to a 5-1 start, including a two-game sweep of Western Michigan.
 
The Series Against Clarkson:
Saturday's meeting will mark the 130th game between the two programs that have been battling since the 1922-23 season. The Big Red owns a 63-52-14 record against the Golden Knights, with Cornell sweeping the season series during 2014-15. Eric Freschi's short-handed overtime winner on Nov. 14 at Lynah Rink secured the Big Red's first win of the season, then Hayden Stewart stopped 36 saves in a perfect performance to lift Cornell to a 2-0 victory on Jan. 10 at Cheel Arena.

Up Next:
After a three-week hiatus for final exams and the holidays, the Big Red will reconvene in Estero, Fla. for the two-day Florida College Classic. Cornell opens the tournament on Dec. 28 against defending national champion Providence before taking on either Boston College or Ohio State the following day. The Big Red then returns to Ithaca for its final non-league games of the season, welcoming Merrimack to Lynah Rink for a two-game set Jan. 8-9.