SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Cornell men's hockey team will conclude its first ECAC Hockey road trip in nearly two months with a 7 p.m. Saturday visit to Union. Jason Weinstein will handle play-by-play, which can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM). The game will also be streamed online by subscription-based UnionAthletics.tv.
 
GAMES 16: #7/8 CORNELL at UNION
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATES: Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016
PLACE: Mess Rink  ·  Schenectady, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 11-3-2, 6-2-1 ECAC Hockey  ·  Union 9-8-5, 2-7-2 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: UnionAthletics.tv
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: UnionAthletics.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Union game notes (PDF)

The Big Red, In Brief:
Cornell was mostly dominant last night at Rensselaer, nearly tripling the Engineers in shot on goal totals, but ultimately suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Jason Kasdorf's 44-save shutout. RPI's Chris Bradley scored the game's only goal in the latter half of the second period, then the Engineers survived a Big Red two-man advantage for 75 seconds early in the third. ... Last weekend, Cornell swept Merrimack to wrap up non-conference play with a 5-1-1 record outside of ECAC Hockey play. The line of junior center Jeff Kubiak and freshman wingers Anthony Angello had four points apiece over the two games, and junior goalie Mitch Gillam made 26 saves to record his fourth shutout in Cornell's 3-0 victory Friday. In Saturday's rematch, the Big Red once again jumped out to a two-goal lead and effectively held the Warriors at bay through the third period for a 5-2 win. ... Gillam (11-3-2, 1.72, .935, 4 SO) has started all 16 of the Big Red's games to date and logged the program's third-longest shutout streak (213:17) during November. ... Kubiak (6-10–16) leads the team in scoring and rating (plus-15), Angello (8-6–14) leads the team in goals and is ranked fifth in the country for goals per game among freshmen (0.53). Vanderlaan (4-7–11) is third in goal-scoring and tied for second in assists with junior forward Jake Weidner (2-7–9) and freshman defenseman Alec McCrea (2-7–9).
 
Rank and File:
With last night's loss to Rensselaer, Cornell fell two spots to seventh in the PairWise Rankings. The Big Red also fell to seventh in both the Ratings Percentage Index and KRACH ratings. In the most recent polls, Cornell was tabbed seventh in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll and eighth in the USCHO.com poll.
 
About Union:
The Dutchmen took the lead into last night's game against Colgate only to yield goals 16 seconds apart in the third en route to a 4-2 loss. Brett Supinski scored in the game's first minute, and Nick DeSimone added Union's final tally early in the second. Union was coming off a 5-0 loss to Quinnipiac and a 4-4 tie at Princeton last weekend. Prior to that, the Dutchmen had a seven-game unbeaten streak. ... Sophomore right wing Spencer Foo (10-11–21) leads the team in scoring, and junior center Mike Vecchione (5-11–16) ranks second. They typically play on a line with freshman Sebastian Vidmar (4-3–7), who was ECAC Hockey's Rookie of the Month for December. Sophomore center Ryan Scarfo (11-4–15) leads the team in goals, with five of those goals coming on the power play. ... Junior Alex Sakellaropoulos (7-6-4, 2.48, .916, 2 SO) is the team's primary goaltender. ... Union has already played in nine overtime games, going 2-2-5 in those contests.
 
The Series Against Union:
The Big Red and Dutchmen will do battle for the 61st time tonight, with Cornell holding a 34-19-7 lead in the series. The Dutchmen have an opportunity to hand the Big Red consecutive losses for the first time since Union ended Cornell's season last year with a two-game sweep of an ECAC Hockey first round series at Lynah Rink. Cornell swept the regular-season series last year, including a 5-1 win at Union.
 
Gillam's Groove:
Junior goaltender Mitch Gillam was named ECAC Goalie of the Week on Nov. 17, then earned 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. 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 five career shutouts is that he's only won three of them — Dec. 28, 2014 against Lake Superior State and Nov. 20, 2015 against Yale were both scoreless ties.
 
Special Order:
The Big Red is ranked third in the country with an 89.5 percent success rate on the penalty kill, having yielded no power-play goals in nine of its last 10 games. The power play broke an 0-for-19 skid last weekend with Reece Willcox and Anthony Angello both scoring on the man advantage, but was 0-for-2 last night.
 
The Little Things Aren't So Little:
While junior forward Jake Weidner is tied for fourth on the team in scoring (2-7–9), 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 is the team's leading faceoff man (57.4%), and he ranks fifth in the country for shot blocks per game among forwards (1.50).
 
What, Me Worry?:
Four of Cornell's 11 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. Cornell was a remarkable 4-0 when yielding the first goal until its Dec. 29 loss to Ohio State.
 
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 point 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:
The Big Red went 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. Cornell is 3-1-2 in its six overtime games to date, with its three OT winners tied for the national lead with Michigan Tech.
 
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 eight goals lead the team, and he ranks fifth in the country in goals per game among freshmen (0.50).
 
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.
 
Onward and Upward:
With last Saturday's win over Merrimack, Cornell has already matched its win total from the 2014-15 season — and it still hadn't reached the halfway point of this season. The Big Red's two wins over the Warriors, coupled with victories over St. Lawrence and Clarkson in early December, also gave Cornell its first consecutive home sweeps since the 2008-09 season.
 
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 four shutouts in just the first half of this season. The last time the Big Red went a full season without posting a shutout came during the 1994-95 season.
 
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).
 
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).
 
Little Apples:
•  The Big Red became the last team in the country to either score or surrender an empty-net goal this season with Dwyer Tschantz's first goal of the season last Friday.
•  Cornell went 13 games before it faced its first two-goal deficit of the season (Dec. 29 vs. Ohio State). The Big Red never trailed last weekend against Merrimack.
•  Cornell has scored just five goals in the third period. While that's the lowest total in the country, the Big Red has only trailed in the final period twice this year.
•  With Alec McCrea, Trent Shore and Brendan Smith all in the lineup last Saturday against Merrimack, the Big Red dressed three freshmen defensemen for the first time since Jan. 20, 2008 against Clarkson (Jordan Berk, Mike Devin and Jacob  Johnston).
 
Up Next:
Cornell returns home for an exciting weekend with a Friday, Jan. 22 game against Dartmouth (simulcast on ESPN3) and the annual rivalry game Saturday, Jan. 23 against defending ECAC Hockey champion Harvard. Cornell then hits the road for games at Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Quinnipiac and Princeton the following two weeks.