ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team starts ECAC Hockey and Ivy League play this weekend with another trip to New England to take on Dartmouth at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Harvard at 7 p.m. Saturday. Both games will be broadcast by the subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network, but also simulcast for free on ESPN3. Additionally, play-by-play from Jason Weinstein can be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870 AM, 95.9 FM) and around the world via the station's website.
GAME #2: CORNELL at DARTMOUTH
TIME: 7:05 p.m.
DATES: Friday, Nov. 4, 2016
PLACE: Thompson Arena
· Hanover, N.H.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-1, 0-0 ECAC Hockey, 0-0 Ivy League
· Dartmouth 1-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey, 0-0 Ivy League
TV: ESPN3
WEBCAST:
Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS:
DartmouthSports.com
GAME #3: CORNELL at #12/12 HARVARD
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATES: Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016
PLACE: Bright-Landry Hockey Center
· Cambridge, Mass.
RECORDS: Cornell 0-1, 0-0 ECAC Hockey, 0-0 Ivy League
· Harvard 2-0, 0-0 ECAC Hockey, 0-0 Ivy League
TV: ESPN3
WEBCAST:
Ivy League Digital Network
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS:
GoCrimson.com
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Dartmouth game notes (coming soon)
Harvard game notes (coming soon)
About the Big Red:
Cornell is coming off a 3-2 loss in its season opener last Friday at Merrimack. After the Warriors scored their third goal in the second period, Cornell largely took control of the game and finally broke through on
Matt Buckles' goal late in the second. After killing off a major penalty that also included nearly two minutes of another two-man disadvantage,
Mitch Vanderlaan scored a six-on-four goal to get Cornell to within one late, but Merrimack held on for the win. Junior goaltender
Hayden Stewart stopped all 15 shots he saw in relief.
Big Red Rewind:
Cornell is coming off a 16-11-7 season in which it fell on the wrong side of the bubble for the NCAA tournament after an ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series loss to eventual league champion and national runner-up Quinnipiac. The Big Red got off to a hot start and was 9-1-2 after defeating previously undefeated national No. 1 Providence, but Cornell later won just once in an 11-game stretch and eventually fell to eighth place in the league standings. The Big Red returns its top five scorers, eight of its nine defensemen and all three of its goaltenders.
Highlights From Last Friday's 3-2 Loss at Merrimack:
Road Warriors:
The history of Cornell hockey dates all the way back to 1900-01, but this year marks the first time the Big Red has ever started its season with five consecutive road games — and all three of the trips over that stretch are lengthy. The Big Red will traverse an estimated 2,389 miles to play the five games, amounting to about 42 hours on the bus over a 17-day span. Some of the places within 2,389 miles of Cornell's campus as the crow flies include Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (2,060 miles), the Atlantic Ocean's entrance to the Panama Canal (2,293 miles) and sophomore defensman
Alec McCrea's hometown of El Cajon, Calif. (2,290 miles).
About Dartmouth:
The Big Green opened the season last Saturday with a 3-2 victory against Michigan at Thompson Arena. Senior forward Troy Crema scored the winning goal with 49 seconds left in the third period. Junior forward Kevin Neiley and freshman forward Cam Strong scored the other goals, and junior goaltender Devin Buffalo made 22 saves to earn the win. ... Dartmouth was predicted to finish ninth in ECAC Hockey this year by both the coaches and the media association poll. The Big Green finished tied for seventh in the league last year with Cornell, then upset Yale in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals to earn its first trip to the league's championship weekend since 2011 before bowing out in the semifinals to eventual champion Quinnipiac. Dartmouth graduated 10 from that squad, including its two primary goaltenders, three of its top five scorers and two defensemen. ... Bob Gaudet is in his 29th season as the Big Green's head coach.
The Series Against Dartmouth:
Cornell and Dartmouth have met on 132 occasions since 1909, with the Big Red holding a wide margin in the series with a 80-47-5 advantage. The Big Green extended an unbeaten streak in the series to five games (4-0-1) with a 3-0 victory Jan. 22 at Lynah Rink, but the Big Red returned the favor three weeks later with a 1-0 victory in Hanover behind
Jeff Kubiak's goal and
Mitch Gillam's 33-save shutout. Since taking over the reigns as Cornell head coach,
Mike Schafer is 23-20-5 against Dartmouth.
About Harvard:
The Crimson opened the season last weekend with two comfortable victories of 7-0 and 6-2 at Division I independent Arizona State. Luke Esposito (2-4–6) has the early scoring lead, while fellow senior forwards Tyler Moy and Sean Malone, and sophomore forward Ryan Donato also have two goals each. Junior goaltender Merrick Madsen (2-0, 1.01, .959) returns in a starting role for a second season. Harvard is ranked 12th in both major national college hockey polls. ... Harvard was predicted to finish third in ECAC Hockey this year by both the coaches and the media association poll. That's where the Crimson finished last year before losing to Quinnipiac in the league championship game and Boston College in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Harvard graduated two-thirds of its dynamic scoring line from that team — Hobey Baker Award winner Jimmy Vesey and Kyle Criscuolo. ... Ted Donato is in his 13th season as the Crimson's head coach.
The Series Against Harvard:
Cornell has been battling with ancient rival Harvard since 1910, and they have matched up 147 times with the Big Red holding a 74-62-11 lead in the series. Cornell has gotten the better of Harvard in the past five years, with the Crimson winning just four times during the last 17 matchups. One of those victories was a 6-2 contest Jan. 23 in Ithaca, and the teams' last two meetings at Harvard have resulted in ties. Last year,
Dan Wedman's first collegiate goal midway through the third period helped Cornell secure a 2-2 tie in Cambridge. The year before,
Jared Fiegl scored the game-tying goal with a touch under four minutes to play in regulation. Cornell head coach
Mike Schafer is 34-15-6 in 54 games against Harvard.
Never Too Close For Comfort:
The Big Red had four 1-0 victories last season for the first time in program history — including its last visit to Dartmouth. Cornell also set a team record by going to overtime in 14 of its 34 games last year. The previous record was 12, set in 1985-86, then matched in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Cornell went to overtime in seven of its final 15 games, with a 4-3-7 record in those games.
Freshman Force:
The jump to college hockey can be a big one for newcomers, but forward
Anthony Angello — a 2014 draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins — clearly felt right at home as a freshman last season. Angello was 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. Angello then scored the overtime winner Nov. 14 at Colgate and was been named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week twice (Jan. 12 and March 1) on his way to posting a team-high 11 goals.
Helping Out:
Members and friends of the Cornell men's hockey program embarked on another mission trip to the Dominican Republic through the Portal de Belén Foundation over the summer. It was the fourth time the program has participated, following trips in 2009, 2012 and 2014. Current members of the team
Ryan Bliss,
Alec McCrea,
Anthony Angello,
Dan Wedman,
Alex Rauter,
Hayden Stewart,
Trent Shore,
Jared Fiegl and
Dwyer Tschantz were on this year's trip, as well as
Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey.
Feel The Draft?:
Cornell has five players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including four from 2014. Sophomore forward
Beau Starrett (Chicago Blackhawks) was selected earliest in the group, having been taken in the third round with the 88th overall pick. Classmate
Anthony Angello, also a forward, was selected in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Junior forwards
Jared Fiegl (Arizona Coyotes) and
Dwyer Tschantz (St. Louis Blues) were then picked in the seventh round. Senior forward
Matt Buckles was taken by the Florida Panthers in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.
Gillam's Groove:
Senior goaltender
Mitch Gillam posted the third-longest shutout streak in program history last season, spanning 213 minutes, 17 seconds over four games in November — 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 eight career shutouts is that he's only won six of them — Dec. 28, 2014 against Lake Superior State and Nov. 20, 2015 against Yale were both scoreless ties.
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 and he is now just nine wins away from 400. 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).
Up Next:
Cornell closes out its season-opening travels with visits to two more Ivy League rivals — Brown on Friday, Nov. 11 and Yale on Saturday, Nov. 12 — before its official home opener against Quinnipiac on Friday, Nov. 18. The Big Red's game at Brown will be streamed on ESPN3.
