ESTERO, Fla. – Fresh off an exciting overtime victory over the defending national champions, the ninth-ranked Cornell men's hockey team will be seeking its fifth Florida College Hockey Classic title when it takes on Ohio State in the championship at 7:35 p.m. tonight. Top-ranked Providence and fourth-ranked Boston College will square off in the consolation game at 4:05 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network, with Jason Weinstein handling play-by-play. His call for the championship game featuring the Big Red can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM).
 
FLORIDA COLLEGE HOCKEY CLASSIC
CHAMPIONSHIP: #9/9 CORNELL vs. OHIO STATE
TIME: 7:35 p.m.
DATE: Tuesday, December 29, 2015
PLACE: Germain Arena  ·  Estero, Fla.
RECORDS: Cornell 9-1-2, 6-1-1 ECAC Hockey  ·  Ohio State 4-11, 0-2 Big Ten
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Ohio State game notes (PDF)
 
The Big Red, In Brief:
Cornell made waves in the college hockey world yesterday when Jeff Kubiak scored in overtime to send the Big Red to a 2-1 win over top-ranked Providence, ending the defending national champion's 19-game unbeaten streak. The Friars scored just 27 seconds into the game, but Jared Fiegl pulled the Big Red even by finishing off an Eric Freschi pass on a two-on-one in the second period. ... Cornell is riding the nation's third-longest unbeaten streak at eight games (6-0-2). The Big Red started the week ranked ninth in both major national polls. After receiving no votes when it started its season. ... 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. ... Junior Mitch Gillam (9-1-2, 1.63, .940, 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 (4-8–12) leads the team in scoring and rating (plus-12). Freshman forward Anthony Angello (6-4–10) leads the team in goals, and classmate and linemate Mitch Vanderlaan (4-3–7) is second on the team in goals.
 
About Ohio State:
While the Big Red's victory over Providence garnered plenty of attention in the college hockey world, the Buckeyes' come-from-behind win over fourth-ranked Boston College in Monday's second semifinal made an even bigger splash. The Eagles stormed out to a two-goal lead just 2:29, but the Buckeyes killed off a five-minute major spanning the first two periods and eventually rallied for a 3-2 victory. John Wiitala scored the winner at the end of a power play 7:31 into the third and Christian Frey (1-5, 2.85, .911) made 30 saves to help the Buckeyes halt a four-game losing streak. The win was also Ohio State's first away from home this season. ...  The Buckeyes are in their third season under head coach Steve Rohlik. There are 10 freshmen and a new transfer on the squad. ... Junior forward Nick Schilkey (8-7–15; 4 PPGs) leads the team in goal-scoring, and is tied with classmate David Gust (2-13–15) for the points lead and sophomore forward Matthew Weis (5-5–10; 4 PPGs) for the team lead in power-play goals. ... While Chicago Blackhawks draft pick Matt Tomkins (3-6, 3.20, .900) has played the majority of games in goal, Frey has started the last three contests. ... Junior defenseman Josh Healey (2-5–7, plus-3) is the only player on the roster with a plus rating.
 
The Series Against Ohio State:
Today's game will be the 13th time that Cornell takes on the Buckeyes, and it could potentially break a 6-6 split in the all-time series. Not since the first round of the NCAA West Regional in 2005 has the Big Red seen Ohio State, when Mike Schafer's bunch took down the Buckeyes by a 3-2 score to advance to the regional final. The win was one of Schafer's five against Ohio State.
 
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 11-15-5 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 4-4-1 record in the event spanning 2000-03 and 2015, and Boston College won the crown in 2004 after victories against Cornell and St. Cloud State in its only previous trip to the tournament. This is Providence's debut at the event.
 
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 start of 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 (59.2%), thanks in large part to 22 straight penalty kills over the last seven games — a streak which started with a game-changing 68-second five-on-three survival Nov. 14 at Colgate. The team now ranks second in the country with a 90.7% success rate on the kill this season.
 
The Little Things Aren't So Little:
While junior forward Jake Weidner is tied for third on the team in scoring (2-6–8), 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 today's game, Weidner has been relied on to take 304 of the Big Red's 698 faceoffs (43.6%), and he ranks fifth in the country for shot blocks per game among forwards (1.67).
 
What, Me Worry?:
Four of Cornell's nine victories 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 previous three seasons when it faced a 1-0 deficit. On the other side of the coin, Cornell had not trailed at any point in the five games prior to yesterday's win over Providence.
 
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:
After yeterday's win, the Big Red has gone to overtime six times before Jan. 1 for the first time in program history. 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 lead the team, and he ranks tied for fourth in the country in goals per game among freshmen (0.50).
 
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 non-conference play against Merrimack, hosting a two-game series Jan. 8-9 at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. The Big Red then returns to ECAC Hockey competition Jan. 15 at Rensselaer and Jan. 16 at Union.