NEW YORK — The men's hockey team will descend on The World's Most Famous Arena for a sixth consecutive year and the eighth time in the last 10 years when it takes the famed ice at Madison Square Garden for a game against New Hampshire. The game will be broadcast on the subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network, with Jason Weinstein handling play-by-play and Tony Eisenhut providing color commentary. Their call 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 #8: CORNELL vs. NEW HAMPSHIRE
TIME: 8 p.m.
DATES: Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016
PLACE: Madison Square Garden · New York
RECORDS: Cornell 3-3-1, 3-1-1 ECAC Hockey · New Hampshire 5-5-1, 3-1-1 Hockey East
TV: None
RADIO: WHCU-AM (95.9 FM, 870 AM)
WEBCAST: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
New Hampshire game notes (coming soon)

About The Frozen Apple:
Tonight's game will be the third edition of the biennial event, which spawned off five wildly successful renditions of the Red Hot Hockey series against Boston University. Cornell has wins in each of the first two games of The Frozen Apple. The Big Red topped Michigan, 5-1, in the inaugural event in 2012 before a sellout crowd. Cornell then defeated Penn State, 3-1, in 2014.
 
Big Red Rewind:
Cornell is coming off a split of its first two home games of the season, rallying for a 4-2 victory over Princeton on Saturday after dropping a 3-1 decision to defending ECAC Hockey champion Quinnipiac on Friday. ... Sophomore forward Anthony Angello scored the Big Red's lone goal in the first period against the Bobcats, then the visitors tacked on two goals to skate away with the victory. It was the first time Cornell lost its home opener in ECAC Hockey play since 2007. ... Winless Princeton then got off to a hot start with two first-period goals Saturday. Cornell chipped away with junior forward Jared Fiegl's goal in the second, then junior forward Trevor Yates tied the game in the third. Sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan then scored the winner and an insurance goal in the final 6:20. ... The Big Red has won three of its last four games and has a .500 record after playing its first five games on the road. Cornell has scored 15 goals over those four games.

Highlights from Saturday's 4-2 win vs. Princeton:


Highlights from Friday's 3-1 loss to #4/6 Quinnipiac:


Who's Who at CU:
Even with Jeff Kubiak — the Big Red's leading scorer last season — out of the lineup for the last six games, the other members of the vaunted 'JAM' line from a year ago, sophomore forwards Mitch Vanderlaan (7-1–8) and Anthony Angello (3-3–6) are off to productive starts. ... Junior forward Trevor Yates (3-3–6) and freshman defenseman Yanni Kalis (0-6–6) are also tied with Angello for second in team scoring. ... Senior defenseman Patrick McCarron (0-5–5) is on a five-game points streak. ... Senior goaltender Mitch Gillam (3-3-1, 2.75, .902) has started the last 41 games for the Big Red. His seven shutouts last year were tied for the third-most in the country. ... Cornell's three injured forwards (Kubiak, junior Dwyer Tschantz and senior Matt Buckles) have accounted for 34.4% of the team's career scoring among forwards entering this weekend.
 
Turning The Trick:
Mitch Vanderlaan's hat trick Nov. 12 at Yale was Cornell's first since Jan. 22, 2011, when Tyler Roeszler scored three times against Colgate. Subsequently, Vanderlaan was named the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week on Nov. 15. The Big Red's leading scorer to date potted a couple more goals last Saturday against Princeton to become the first player from Cornell with seven goals in the first seven games of the season since Blake Gallagher did so at the start of the 2009-10 campaign. If he scores multiple goals tonight, Vanderlaan will become the first Big Red player with more than eight goals in eight games since Rob Levasseur — who had 11 goals after the Big Red's eighth game of the 1988-89 season.
 
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 leads the team with six assists and ranks second in the country in assists per game for first-year defensemen (0.88). Kaldis' passes set up the shots resulting in all three of the Big Red's power-play goals Nov. 5 at Harvard, making him 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). Subsequently, Kaldis was named the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week on Nov. 8. He also had a pair of assists last Saturday against Princeton.
 
Empire State of Mind:
Cornell's roster has numerous connections to the New York metropolitan area:
• While his hometown is in Minnesota, senior forward Eric Freschi was born in New York City and lived in Manhattan for a couple years.
• Seniors Jeff Kubiak (2015 and 2016) and Mitch Gillam (2012) have both attended New York Islanders prospect camps.
• Freshman forward Corey Hoffman hails from Plainview in Nassau County, and he grew up a season ticket-holder for the New York Islanders.
• Sophomore forward Alex Rauter is from northern New Jersey and grew up a fan of the New York Rangers. He was born two days after the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994. "My dad claims he named me after (Alexei) Kovalev. I'll never know if he's just joking with me or not," Rauter said.
 
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 ranked second in the nation in average faceoffs per game (28.0) — trailing only Bentley's Max French (28.6). One of Weidner's opponents this weekend — New Hampshire's Michael McNicholas (23.8) — ranks eighth on the list.
 
About New Hampshire:
The Wildcats enter Tuesday's game against Rensselaer with a .500 record after defeating Massachusetts, 6-2, last Friday to improve to 3-1-1 in Hockey East play. Senior forward Tyler Kelleher (14-12–26) had a goal and four assists for five points in the game. He leads the team in scoring and is second in the nation in points per game (1.83). Kelleher typically plays on the right wing of line with junior center Michael McNicholas (6-5–11; 5 PPGs) and junior left wing Jason Salvaggio (7-5–12). ... Freshman Patrick Grasso (10-8–18; 6 PPGs) leads the team in goals and is a big part of why the Wildcats' power play is clicking at a potent 23.4% success rate. ...  Junior Daniel Tirone (5-3-2, 2.48, .912, 1 SO) has started 10 of the Wildcats' 12 games in goal.
 
The Series Against New Hampshire:
The all-time series between Cornell and New Hampshire is a dead heat, with both teams claiming 13 wins since they first met in 1941 with an 8-5 Cornell victory at the Lake Placid Invitational Tournament. ... Three of the seven meetings between the teams during the tenure of Cornell head coach Mike Schafer have come in the NCAA tournament, with New Hampshire emerging victorious in each game. ... Cornell won the last meeting between the teams, 4-2, in the first round of the Florida College Classic on Dec. 28, 2013. ... None of the 26 meetings between the teams have gone to overtime. ... Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is 3-4 all-time against the Wildcats.
 
The 35th to 350:
Already the winningest coach in program history, Mike Schafer is closing in on another milestone this season. After Saturday's win against Princeton, Schafer is now just six 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 2015 — 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Up Next:
Cornell has a quick turnaround before it returns to ECAC Hockey play on Tuesday, Nov. 29 with a game at Colgate. The Big Red then returns home to wrap up the fall semester schedule with Dec. 2-3 games against Miami.