The men's hockey team will start its pursuit of the program's 13th ECAC Hockey Championship this weekend with a first-round series against three-time defending conference champion Union at Lynah Rink. The best-of-three series will feature 7 p.m. start times across the board, with Sunday's game following the Friday and Saturday contests only if necessary. All games will be streamed through Boxcast on the ECAC Hockey official website. Jason Weinstein will handle the play-by-play and Tony Eisenhut will provide color commentary. Their call can also be heard for free on the Ivy League Digital Network and in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870).
 
ECAC HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPS — FIRST ROUND
10-UNION at 7-CORNELL
Best of three series
Lynah Rink · Ithaca, N.Y.
GAME 1: 7 p.m. Friday, March 6, 2015
GAME 2: 7 p.m. Saturday, March 7, 2015
GAME 3 (if necessary): 7 p.m. Sunday, March 8, 2015
RECORDS: Cornell 11-12-6, 9-9-4 ECAC Hockey · Union 16-16-2, 8-13-1 ECAC Hockey
LIVE VIDEO ($): ECACHockey.com
AUDIO (free): Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU-AM (870)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Union game notes (PDF)
 
WHO'S WHO
With eight points over his last seven games, senior Cole Bardreau (5-16–21; 4 PPGs) leads the team in scoring. After a slow start to the season, he's also won 57.1 percent of his draws since Jan. 1. ... Typically on Bardreau's left wing is junior Christian Hilbrich (9-4–13), who leads the team in goals by two over sophomore Matt Buckles (7-3–10; 4 PPGs). ... Sophomore Jake Weidner (3-11–14) is second on the team in scoring. He is also the team's top faceoff man, winning 57.3 percent of his draws on the season. ... Senior Joakim Ryan (1-12–13), an All-ECAC Hockey Preseason selection by both the coaches and media, has 12 points in his last 14 games. He is now tied for third on the team in scoring with Hilbrich. ... Offense has been generally hard to come by for the Big Red this season, with the squad's average of 1.90 goals per game ranking 54th of 59 teams in the nation. Injuries have played a role, with Ryan missing eight November games due to injury and senior Joel Lowry (4-4–8), the leading scorer at the time, expected to miss the remainder of the season. ... Cornell has surrendered a goal inside the first three minutes of a game six times since the semester break in December. On the flip side, the Big Red has not lost a game in which it led at the end of any period.
 
GOALIE UNIVERSITY
Cornell has produced nine First-Team All-American goaltenders in its history and 20th-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 enters this weekend surrendering the fourth-fewest goals per game in the nation (1.97). Sophomore goalie Mitch Gillam (9-8-5, 1.77 GAA, .935 SV%, SO) ranks fourth in the nation in goals-against average and fifth in 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.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Cornell was plagued by slow starts last weekend, surrendering three goals in the opening 15 minutes of Friday's game at Brown. But the Big Red rallied, tying the game by early in the third period and later appeared to have the winning goal from Cole Bardreau with 13.1 seconds remaining in overtime. But the officials conducted a lengthy video review and determined there was goaltender interference on the play, leaving the teams to settle for a 3-3 tie. The Big Red then surrendered a goal inside the first two minutes of Saturday's game at Yale and never really got any traction in a 4-0 loss, marking the sixth time this season Cornell has been shut out.
 
ABOUT UNION
The defending national champions have largely struggled this season, though the Dutchmen swept their final games of the regular season last weekend to ended a five-game losing streak. One of the top offensive teams in country, Union struggled to score during the aforementioned skid to the tune of three straight shutout losses. The Dutchmen rebounded with a pair of 3-2 victories against St. Lawrence and Clarkson last weekend. ... Senior right winger Daniel Ciampini (25-21–46; 9 PPGs; plus-22) is tied for sixth in the nation in scoring average, and sophomore center Mike Vecchione (16-27–43; 5 PPGs; plus-11) is 12th. They typically play on the same line. ... Sophomore defenseman Jeff Taylor (4-24–28) is third in the nation in scoring among defensemen, and he is the team's only NHL draft pick (Pittsburgh Penguins). He has missed the last five games due to injury. ... Senior Colin Stevens (13-13, 2.45, .915, SO) has re-emerged as Union's starting goaltender of choice after a spell of splitting time with sophomore Alex Sakellaropoulos (3-3-2, 3.07, .894). ... The Dutchmen are just 4-10 in one-goal games this season, with two of those victories coming last weekend. Nine of their 16 victories have come by at least a three-goal margin.
 
THE SERIES WITH UNION
Cornell holds a 34-17-7 lead in the series coming into this weekend's series. The Big Red holds an 11-5-2 advantage over the teams' last 18 meetings, including a sweep of the regular-season series this year. Cornell locked down a 5-1 victory on Jan. 16 at Messa Rink in Schenectady, then held on for a 2-1 victory on Feb. 21 at Lynah Rink in Ithaca. Senior forward Cole Bardreau had three assists in the first, and seven different goal-scorers have accounted for the Big Red's offense. Mike Schafer is 25-13-6 against Union in his tenure as the Big Red's head coach, while Dutchmen coach Rick Bennett is 3-5-1 against Cornell.
 
POSTSEASON SERIES WITH UNION
Even though the Big Red and Dutchmen have co-existed in ECAC Hockey since the 1991-92 season, they have only met three times in the playoffs. The first clash came in a quarterfinal series in 2008, with Cornell earning a road sweep. Both games finished 3-2, with the Big Red scoring the winners on third-period power plays. Cornell then defeated Union in the 2010 ECAC Hockey Championship game, 3-0, in Albany. The Dutchmen then secured their first postseason victory against the Big Red last season, winning 5-2 in an ECAC Hockey Championship semifinal in Lake Placid. Union went on to win the national title.
 
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.
 
KILLIN' IT
The Big Red leads the nation with a sterling 91.1 percent success rate on the penalty kill. Within that number is an impressive streak against two-man disadvantages. Cornell is a perfect 22-for-22 killing off three-on-five scenarios over the last three seasons, spanning a total of 18 minutes, 39 seconds. The last time Cornell surrendered a five-on-three goal was against Yale on Feb. 11, 2012.
 
SURGES AND OUTAGES
While the Big Red power play sits in the middle of the pack nationally, it has been particularly effective in ECAC Hockey contests. Cornell's success rate of 20.3 percent on the power play leads the league. It's quite a turnaround considering where the team stood on the man advantage earlier this season. 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.
 
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 57.3 percent success rate on faceoffs entering the weekend, which ranks fourth among ECAC Hockey players who have played in at least half of their team's games this season. Cole Bardreau won 59.9 percent of his draws in February.
 
THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SCORING
Senior forward John McCarron, a second-year captain for the Big Red, scored his first goal of the season in a 2-2 tie with Colgate on Jan. 31 and added three more since — including the second goal in last Friday's 3-3 tie at Brown. McCarron has made a habit of finishing seasons strong over his four-year career at Cornell. Of his 24 career goals, 21 have come after the December holiday break.
 
NOT JUST A DEFENSEMAN
Senior blueliner Joakim Ryan has been heating up offensively with 12 points in his last 14 games — including an assist on junior forward John Knisley's short-handed goal Feb. 21 against Union. Named to both the media's and coaches' Preseason All-ECAC Hockey Teams, Ryan suffered an early-season injury that forced him to miss eight games in November. The production is nothing new for the San Jose Sharks draft pick, who ranked 11th in the nation in points per game for defensemen (0.75) last season.
 
DEPTH MATTERS
Injuries are a part of hockey, but the Big Red has endured a particularly challenging season in that department. Entering this weekend, the Big Red has racked up 78 man games lost to injury or illness.
 
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.
 
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 375 victories in Division I play are tops among current ECAC Hockey coaches.
 
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.
 
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).
 
UP NEXT
The winners of this weekend's ECAC Hockey Championships first round series will advance to the best-of-three quarterfinal series, which will be staged at the homes of seeds 1-4 from March 13-15. Those host teams will be 1-Quinnipiac, 2-St. Lawrence, 3-Yale and 4-Colgate. The Big Red cannot potentially face Quinnipiac until the semifinals, at the earliest, though it could travel to face the other teams next weekend. Championship weekend is March 20-21 at Lake Placid. The NCAA regionals will then be played March 27-29.