ITHACA, N.Y. – In its most anticipated home game off every season, Cornell will square off against rival and defending ECAC Hockey champion Harvard at 7 p.m. tonight at Lynah Rink. Jason Weinstein will handle play-by-play and Tony Eisenhut will provide color commentary on the live web stream on subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network. Their call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM).
 
GAME 18: #8/9 HARVARD at #10/10 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATES: Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016
PLACE: Lynah Rink  ·  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 11-4-3, 6-3-2 ECAC Hockey  ·  Harvard 10-4-3, 6-3-3 ECAC Hockey
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Harvard game notes (PDF)
 
The Big Red, In Brief:
Cornell is winless in three straight games for the first time this season after a 3-0 loss to Dartmouth last night. The Big Green scored twice in a span of 37 seconds to take command, and the Big Red had just 18 shots on goal. ... Junior goaltender Mitch Gillam (11-4-3, 1.81, .932, 4 SO) has started all 18 of the Big Red's games to date and logged the program's third-longest shutout streak (213:17) during November. He ranks eighth in the country in goals-against average and 12th in save percentage, and his four shutouts are tied for fifth-most in the country. ... Junior forward Jeff Kubiak (6-10–16) leads the team in scoring and rating (plus-13), and he's doing so without taking a single penalty to date. For the entire season, he's centered the "JAM line" with a pair of freshman wingers — Anthony Angello (8-6–14) leads the team in goals and is ranked sixth in the country for goals per game among freshmen (0.47), and Mitch Vanderlaan (5-7–12) is third in points and tied for third in goal-scoring. ... Junior Matt Buckles (5-2–7) leads the team with four power-play goals. ... Junior forward Jake Weidner (2-9–11) ranks second in assists, defensemen Reece Willcox, Alec McCrea and Patrick McCarron all have the same scoring line (2-7–9). ... Gillam and Kubiak were nominated for the Hobey Baker Award this week.
 
About Harvard:
The defending ECAC Hockey champions moved up to fifth in the PairWise Rankings with a 4-2 win last night at Colgate. Prior to that, the Crimson had a pair of bizarre losses Jan. 7-9 against Boston University (surrendering three goals in the last four minutes) and Quinnipiac (yielding four goals in the opening 13 minutes only to force overtime, but eventually lose), then only mustered a split last week last weekend at home against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. ... Senior forward Jimmy Vesey (14-14–28, 5 PPGs) ranks third in the country in points per game, and his natural hat trick in the third period spurred the Crimson's 3-2 win over SLU last weekend. Similar to the Big Red, Harvard's top three scorers typically play on a line together — Vesey on the left, junior Alexander Kerfoot (4-16–20) at center and senior Kyle Criscuolo (13-7–20, 5 PPGs) on the right. All three scored goals last night at Colgate. ... The Crimson's power play ranks second in the nation, converting at a 29.0% clip. ... Sophomore Merrick Madsen (9-1-2, 1.90, .934, 4 SO) has been the primary starting goalie and earned the win last night, though freshman Michael Lackey (1-3-1, 3.27, .887) has also started two of the last five games. ... Harvard entered the weekend eighth in the USA Hockey poll and ninth in the USCHO.com poll.
 
The Series Against Harvard:
The teams have met 145 times since 1910, with the Big Red holding a 74-61-10 lead in the series. Cornell has gotten the better of Harvard in the past five years, with the Crimson winning just three times during the last 15 matchups. Last year's series had plenty of fireworks with a last-minute goal from Eric Freschi lifting Cornell to the win at Lynah Rink, then a back-and-forth contest ended in a tie in Cambridge, Mass. Jared Fiegl secored the game-tying tally with a touch under four minutes to play in regulation. Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is 34-14-5 in 53 games against Harvard. 
 
Gillam's Groove:
Junior goaltender Mitch Gillam was named ECAC Hockey 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 fourth in the country with an 88.7 percent success rate on the penalty kill, having yielded no five-on-four goals in 11 of its last 12 games. The power play was 3-for-4 last Saturday at Union, then didn't convert in its only opportunity last night to slip to a 19.6% success rate.
 
The Little Things Aren't So Little:
While junior forward Jake Weidner is tied for fourth on the team in scoring (2-9–11), 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 tonight's game, Weidner is the team's leading faceoff man (57.6%), and he ranks sixth in the country for shot blocks per game among forwards (1.44).
 
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. With his next point, Kubiak would have as many points this season as he had in 57 games through his freshman and sophomore seasons.
 
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 and later had two goals against Merrimack on Jan. 9 to garner ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors a few days later. Angello's eight goals lead the team, and he ranks sixth in the country in goals per game among freshmen (0.44).
 
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 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.
 
Onward and Upward:
With a Jan. 9 win over Merrimack, Cornell had 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.
 
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).
 
Working Overtime:
The Big Red went to overtime six times before Jan. 1 for the first time in program history. Now with seven overtime appearances, 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 3-1-3 in its six overtime games to date, with its three OT winners tied for the national lead with Michigan Tech and Yale.
 
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).
 
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.
 
Little Apples:
•  Four of the last six goals the Big Red has conceded have gone in off Cornell defenders.
•  Cornell has not scored an even-strength goal in its last three games. Shutouts have bookended a 3-3 tie with Union in which all three Big Red goals were on the power play.
•  Cornell's 44 shots on goal last Friday at Rensselaer was the most it's had in a non-overtime game since March 14, 2008 in a playoff game also against RPI (though those shot totals were inflated by 18 power plays).
•  The Big Red scored three power-play goals for the second time this season last Saturday at Union. Oddly enough, Cornell didn't win either game — mustering just a tie against the Dutchmen and losing in overtime, 5-4, against Quinnipiac on Nov. 7.
•  Cornell went 13 games before it faced its first two-goal deficit of the season (Dec. 29 vs. Ohio State). The only other two-goal deficit the Big Red has seen this season was in last night's 3-0 loss to Dartmouth.
•  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 three times this year.
•  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 on Jan. 8. Cornell then surrendered its first empty-net goal last night against Dartmouth.
•  With Alec McCrea, Trent Shore and Brendan Smith all in the lineup Jan. 9 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 has two demanding ECAC Hockey road trips on the horizon, first trekking north for games at Clarkson (Jan. 29) and St. Lawrence (Jan. 30), followed by visits to Quinnipiac (Feb. 5) and Princeton (Feb. 6).