ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell men's hockey will become the last Division I team in the nation to play its first home games this weekend when it hosts defending ECAC Hockey champion Quinnipiac and Ivy League rival Princeton. Both games will be broadcast by the subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network, with Friday's game against the Bobcats also simulcast on ESPN3. Jason Weinstein will handle the play-by-play, while Tony Eisenhut will provide color commentary. Their call for Saturday's game can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU-AM (870 AM, 95.9 FM) and around the world via the station's website.
 
GAME #6: #4/6 QUINNIPIAC at CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATES: Friday, Nov. 18, 2016
PLACE: Lynah Rink   ·   Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 2-2-1, 2-1-1 ECAC Hockey  ·  Quinnipiac 7-3-1, 3-1 ECAC Hockey
TV: ESPN3
WEBCAST: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
GAME #7: PRINCETON at CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATES: Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016
PLACE: Lynah Rink   ·  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 2-2-1, 2-1-1 ECAC Hockey, 2-1-1 Ivy League   ·   Princeton 0-4-1, 0-3-1 ECAC Hockey, 0-1-1 Ivy League
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
WEBCAST: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Quinnipiac game notes
Princeton game notes (PDF)

Big Red Rewind:
Cornell is coming off a road sweep of Brown and Yale last weekend, piecing together 10 goals in a weekend for the first time since a trip to the same opponents Nov. 4-5, 2011. The Big Red started off with a 4-2 win against the Bears, with all the goals coming from four players with a total of five collegiate goals amongst them entering the game. Cornell's offense then continued to shine the following night in a 6-3 win at Yale, highlighted by three goals from Mitch Vanderlaan and 39 saves from Mitch Gillam.
 
Turning The Trick:
Mitch Vanderlaan's hat trick last Saturday at Yale was Cornell's first since Jan. 22, 2011, when Tyler Roeszler scored three times against Colgate. Vanderlaan is also the first player from Cornell with five goals in the first five games of the season since Blake Gallagher did so at the start of the 2009-10 campaign. Subsequently, Vanderlaan was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week on Tuesday.
 
Who's Who at CU:
Even with Jeff Kubiak — the Big Red's leading scorer last season — out of the lineup for the last four games, the other members of the vaunted 'JAM' line from a year ago, sophomore forwards Mitch Vanderlaan (5-0–5) and Anthony Angello (2-3–5) are off to a point-per-game start. Junior forward Trevor Yates (2-3–5) is also tied for the team lead in scoring, and Angello and Yates join sophomore forward Beau Starrett (1-2–3) and senior defenseman Patrick McCarron (0-3–3) on three-game points streaks. ... Freshman forward Connor Murphy (1-1–2) was a nominee for ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors after he and classmate Noah Bauld (0-2–2) recorded their first collegiate points last weekend.

Highlights From Last Friday's 4-2 Win at Brown:


Highlights From Last Saturday's 6-3 Win at #19 Yale:


Road Warriors:
The history of Cornell hockey dates all the way back to 1900-01, but this year was 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 were lengthy. The Big Red traversed approximately 2,450 miles over a 17-day span (Oct. 27 to Nov. 13), amounting to about 44 hours on the bus. Some of the places within 2,450 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).
 
Apple Harvest:
Freshman Yanni Kaldis pulled off some rare feats Nov. 5 at Harvard, which led to garnering ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week honors last Tuesday. Kaldis' passes set up the shots resulting in all three of the Big Red's power-play goals — first on Trevor Yates' redirection of Patrick McCarron's shot, then on one-timers by Anthony Angello and Jake Weidner. Kaldis became the first Big Red player to record three power-play assists in a single game since Byron Bitz on Jan. 7, 2006 (in a 3-1 win vs. RIT).
 
Anniversary Season:
There are some significant milestones in Cornell hockey history that have happened in years ending with a '7', so this season will feature a couple noteworthy anniversaries. This is the 60th year of hockey in Lynah Rink, since the facility was dedicated April 6, 1957. This season also marks the 50th anniversary of Cornell's first national championship team in 1967. There will be a special ceremony to honor that team Jan. 27-28 during home games against Dartmouth and Harvard.
 
Face Off Frenzy:
Senior Jake Weidner has been the Big Red's leading faceoff man for three years now, but Jeff Kubiak's early-season injury has pushed Cornell's captain into even more draws this year. In fact, Weidner enters the weekend leading the nation by a fairly wide margin in average faceoffs per game (29.6). Bentley's Max French (27.0) is second, while Robert's Morris Brady Ferguson (26.4), Union's Mike Vecchione (26.3) and Minn.-Duluth's Dominic Toninato (25.3) round out the top five. One of Weidner's opponents this weekend — Quinnipiac's Tim Clifton (23.8) — ranks eighth on the list.
 
About Quinnipiac:
The Bobcats have picked up where they left off after advancing to the national championship game last season, currently ranked fourth (USCHO.com) and sixth (USA Hockey Magazine) in the national polls. The Bobcats swept home games against Dartmouth (6-3) and Harvard (4-2) last weekend after starting their ECAC Hockey season with a win at Clarkson and loss at St. Lawrence. ... Senior forward Tim Clifton (6-5–11; 4 PpGs) leads the team in scoring and was a Preseason All-ECAC Hockey selection alongside his younger brother, senior defenseman Connor Clifton (1-2–3). ... Freshman defenseman Brogan Rafferty (2-7–9) is off to a fast start, and junior forward Landon Smith (4-4–8) had a hat trick against the Big Green. ... Junior Chris Truehl (5-2-1, 2.36, .919), a transfer from Air Force, has started eight of the team's 11 games in goal. ... The Bobcats' power play got off to a slow start, but it's scored seven goals over its last four games. ... Rand Pecknold is in his 23rd season at the head coach at Quinnipiac.
 
The Series Against Quinnipiac:
Cornell leads the all-time series against Quinnipiac, 17-15-4. The Bobcats rallied to win in overtime, 5-4, on Nov. 7, 2015 in its last trip at Lynah Rink after the Big Red had built a three-goal lead after 31-plus minutes. But Cornell was next to score a late goal in the rematch on Feb. 5 in Hamden, Conn., with Mitch Vanderlaan potting a four-on-four tally with 2:42 to go in the third period of a 2-2 tie. The teams then engaged in an entertaining three-game ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series with Cornell's 5-4 victory in Game 2 bookended by losses of 5-2 in Game 1 and 6-3 in Game 3.
 
About Princeton:
The Tigers are in their third year of a rebuild under head coach Ron Fogarty, entering this weekend in search of their first victory. Princeton secured its first point in ECAC Hockey play last Saturday with a 2-2 tie against Dartmouth. Junior forward Eric Robinson (3-0–3) scored twice to take the team's early goal-scoring lead. ... Alex Riche (2-2–4) leads the team in scoring, playing on a line with fellow sophomores Max Véronneau (0-3–3) and Ryan Kuffner (1-2–3). ... Senior Colton Phinney (0-4-1, 3.58, .885) returns as the team's primary starting goaltender for a fourth season
 
The Series Against Princeton:
Cornell has been dominant against the Tigers, holding a 88-51-8 lead all-time. The Big Red swept a pair of one-goal games last year, with the first meeting decided in exciting fashion when Jeff Kubiak scored with 49 seconds left in the third period to vault Cornell to a 4-3 win on Nov. 6 at Lynah Rink. The Big Red then used John Knisley's goal and Mitch GIllam's 32 saves to record a 1-0 shutout Feb. 6 at Hobey Baker Rink in Princeton, N.J.

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.
  

Binational Interests:
Cornell has the unique distinction of having exactly 14 players hailing from both the U.S. and Canada. The Big Red joins just two other teams — Robert Morris and Michigan Tech — with an even split on their respective rosters.
 
The 35th to 350:
Already the winningest coach in program history, Mike Schafer is closing in on another milestone this season. After last weekend's sweep of Brown and Yale, Schafer is now just seven victories short of 400 career victories. He became the 35th coach all-time to rack up 350 victories across all NCAA divisions, and he 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).
 
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 in the Big Red's last trip to this weekend's opponents, 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.
 
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. Angello scored a power-play goal and added an assist last Saturday at Harvard.
 
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.
 
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 clash with Princeton. 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.
 
Up Next:
Cornell turns back to non-league play for the biennial Frozen Apple game Saturday, Nov. 26 against New Hampshire at famed Madison Square Garden in New York. The Big Red then travels to Colgate on Tuesday, Nov. 29 before playing its final five non-league games of the season.