ESTERO, Fla. – The Sunshine State hosts the Frozen Four in a few months, and western Florida might be getting a sneak peak at some of the participants with three of the nation's top teams descending on Germain Arena for the Florida College Hockey Classic. With a seven-game unbeaten streak, ninth-ranked Cornell opens the two-day tournament at 4:05 p.m. Monday, Dec. 28 against Providence, the defending national champion and lone remaining unbeaten team in the country. Jason Weinstein will handle play-by-play, which can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM). While there is no confirmed live video feed for the tournament's four games, the games may still get picked up as part of the subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network at the 11th hour.
 
FLORIDA COLLEGE HOCKEY CLASSIC
SEMIFINAL #1: #9/9 CORNELL vs. #1/1 PROVIDENCE
TIME: 4:05 p.m.
DATE: Monday, December 28, 2015
PLACE: Germain Arena  ·  Estero, Fla.
RECORDS: Cornell 8-1-2, 6-1-1 ECAC Hockey  ·  Providence 12-0-3, 4-0-2 Hockey East
VIDEO: To Be Announced
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Providence game notes (PDF)
 
The Big Red, In Brief:
After being picked to finish seventh by the coaches and ninth by the media in the ECAC Hockey preseason polls, Cornell has soared to an 8-1-2 start to the season and to the No. 9 position in both major national polls. While the Big Red continues to be one of the best defensive teams in the country, the squad has seen improvement in both offensive production and special teams in the early going this year. Cornell is riding a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2). ... Junior Mitch Gillam (8-1-2, 1.69, .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 (3-8–11) leads the team in scoring, rating (plus-11) and faceoff percentage (58.0). Freshman forward Anthony Angello (6-3–9) leads the team in goals, and classmate and linemate Mitch Vanderlaan (4-3–7) is second on the team in goals.
 
About Providence:
The Friars are the lone remaining unbeaten team in the country and the defending national champion, having now held on to the No. 1 ranking in both major national polls for six consecutive weeks. Providence is the first team since the 1995-96 season to remain unbeaten through Christmas. ... Sophomore Jake Walman (11-8–19; 6 PPGs) leads the team in scoring and leads the nation in defenseman scoring. Senior forward Mark Jankowski (8-10–18; 5 PPGs) is second in scoring, and senior forward Nick Saracino (4-13–17) is third and the assists leader after eclipsing the 100-point plateau in career points last time out. ... Junior Nick Ellis (11-0-3, 1.70, .940, 2 SO) is the team's primary goaltender, having started 14 of the squad's 15 games. ... The Friars rank 10th in the country on the power play (23.9%). Nine of the team's 17 power-play goals have come from defensemen, Walman and senior John Gilmour. ... Nate Leaman is in his fifth season as the head coach after eight seasons building the program at Union. Assistant coach Kris Mayotte was a volunteer assistant coach at Cornell for the 2011-12 season.
 
The Series Against Providence:
The Big Red will see the Friars for the first time since Nov. 23, 1999, when visiting Providence secured a 3-2 victory at Lynah Rink. That gave the Friars a 9-8-1 advantage in the all-time series. A fair share of the previous meetings came in ECAC tournament play during the 1970s and 1980s with Providence winning the conference championship matchup by an 8-4 tally in 1981. Mike Schafer is 1-2 against Providence as the Big Red's head coach, with the one victory coming in his first season at the helm in 1996.
 
Lynah South:
Cornell is the only team to appear in every edition of the Florida College Hockey Classic, which is now in its 16th year. The Big Red has an all-time record of 10-15-5 in the tournament, though it finished fourth last season after a tie and subsequent shootout loss to Lake Superior State in the first game and a shutout loss to nationally ranked Miami the following day. Cornell has won the four-team tournament four times (2003, 2005, 2008, 2013), the first of which came over Ohio State in the championship game. The Buckeyes have a 3-4-1 record in the event spanning 2000-03, and Boston College won the crown in 2004 after victories against Cornell and St. Cloud State in its only previous trip to the tournament.
 
Tough Crowd:
There are seven four-team winter tournaments held across the country this season, and the field at the Florida College Hockey Classic is the strongest in relation to the PairWise Rankings, which are the mathemathical value used to determine seeding the NCAA tournament. The teams' average PairWise standing at the Florida event is 17.8, which edges out the field at the concurrent Three Rivers Classic (18.0).
 
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 Nov. 28 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 Nov. 20, 2015 against Yale were both scoreless ties.
 
Extraordinary Effort:
The Big Red currently leads the nation in combined special teams (60.9%), thanks in large part to 19 straight penalty kills over the last six games — a streak which started with a game-changing 68-second five-on-three survival Nov. 14 at Colgate. The team remains sharp on the man advantage and has clicked at a 20.7% success rate.
 
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 week's tournament, Weidner has been relied on to take 278 of the Big Red's 635 faceoffs (43.8%), and he ranks fourth in the country for shot blocks per game among forwards (1.73).
 
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. On the other side of the coin, Cornell has not trailed at any point in its last five games.
 
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 had an assist Dec. 5 against Clarkson, giving him at least one point in each of the eight 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.
 
Special Threads:
The Big Red wore special jerseys for its home opener which were recently auctioned off to bids totaling $10,400. Proceeds from the auction will go 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.
 
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 six goals entering the week lead the team, and he ranks fourth in the country in goals per game among freshmen (0.55).
 
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).
 
Up Next:
Cornell wraps up Florida College Hockey Classic play at 7:35 p.m. Tuesday if it defeats Providence or 4:05 p.m. if it loses. The opponent will be Boston College or Ohio State, depending on the outcome of Monday's latter semifinal between #4/4 Boston College and Ohio State.