ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell men's hockey team will start its pursuit of the program's 13th ECAC Hockey Championship title this weekend with a first-round series against Union at Lynah Rink. The best-of-three series will feature 7 p.m. start times across the board, with Sunday's game only played if the teams split the tilts on Friday and Saturday. All games will streamed through Boxcast on the official ECAC Hockey website. Jason Weinstein will handle play-by-play with color commentary from Tony Eisenhut. Their call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM).
 
ECAC HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPS
FIRST ROUND SERIES: 9-UNION at 8-CORNELL
FORMAT: Best of three games
GAME 1: 7 p.m. Friday, March 4, 2016
GAME 2: 7 p.m. Saturday, March 5, 2016
GAME 3 (if necessary): 7 p.m. Sunday, March 6, 2016
PLACE: Lynah Rink   ·  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 13-9-7, 8-8-6 ECAC Hockey  ·  Union 13-12-9, 6-10-6 ECAC Hockey
WEBCAST: ECACHockey.com
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
 
Cornell game notes (PDF)
Union game notes (PDF)
 
The Big Red Rewind:
Cornell ended the regular season with a 5-1 loss to Union last Friday and a 3-3 tie against Rensselaer on Saturday. ... The Big Red fell behind by two goals in the opening eight minutes against the Dutchmen before senior forward Christian Hilbrich cut that deficit in half in the second period. Union then scored twice on odd-man rushes before clinching the game with an empty-netter. Alex Sakellaropoulos made 36 saves to earn the win. ... Cornell held three one-goal leads against RPI. Anthony Angello scored twice for Cornell, then helped set up Alec McCrea's goal midway through the third period to give the Big Red a 3-2 lead. But the Engineers scored with 24 seconds left in the third period after playing nearly two minutes with their goalie pulled for an extra attacker. McCrea also had two assists for his second three-point effort of the season, and Jeff Kubiak had two assists.
 
Who's Who at CU:
Junior goaltender Mitch Gillam (13-9-7, 2.04, .929, 6 SO) has started all of the Big Red's games to date and has been named ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week four times this season. His six shutouts are tied for third-most in the country, the latest of which came Feb. 20 at Dartmouth. ... Junior forward Jeff Kubiak (8-15–23) leads the team in scoring and rating (plus-13). For the entire season, he's centered a line with a pair of freshman wingers on the 'JAM' line (an acronym of their first names) — Anthony Angello (11-10–21), who leads the team in goals, and Mitch Vanderlaan (7-8–15). Freshman Alec McCrea (3-12–15) is the team's leading scorer among defensemen and was tied for second in freshman defenseman scoring in ECAC Hockey games. ... Junior forward Matt Buckles (5-3–8) leads the team with four power-play goals and 62 shots on goal. ... Junior forward Jake Weidner (3-9–12) is the team's leading faceoff man, winning 56.1% of his draws.
 
About Union:
The Dutchmen finished ninth in the ECAC Hockey standings and will hit the road for the first round of the league playoffs for a second straight season after winning the title in 2012, 2013 and 2014. After skating away with a 5-1 victory last Friday against the Big Red at Lynah, Union dropped a 2-1 decision on Saturday afternoon at Colgate in the last men's game ever to be played at Starr Rink in Hamilton. Sebastian Vidmar scored the Union goal, but the Dutchmen surrendered the winner on a four-on-three power-play goal late in the second period. ... Junior forward Mike Vecchione (9-19–28) leads the team in scoring and has points in seven of his last eight games. He also leads the country in faceoff wins (490), winning 62.2% of his draws. ... Sophomore forwards Spencer Foo (12-13–25) and Ryan Scarfo (12-7–19) are tied for the goal-scoring lead. Scarfo and freshman forward Brett Supinski (9-11–20) each have six power-play goals. ... Junior Alex Sakellaropoulos (11-9-7, 2.39, .920, 2 SO) has started the lion's share of Union's games in goal. ... The Dutchmen have a better record on the road (6-5-2) than at home (5-6-7).
 
The Series Against Union:
Cornell holds a 34-20-8 lead in the all-time series after taking one of a possible four points in the regular-season series. Cornell scored three power-play goals in the teams' first meeting this season on Jan. 16 in Schenectady, but Union scored twice in the final four minutes of the third period to salvage a 3-3 tie. The Dutchmen then got two goals each from junior center Eli Lichtenwald and freshman winger Cole Maier in a 5-1 win last Friday at Lynah.
 
Postseason History With Union:
Even though the Big Red and Dutchmen have co-existed in ECAC Hockey since the 1991-92 season, they have only met six times in the playoffs — but three of those meetings have come in the last two years with Union ended Cornell's season on both occasions. Under similar circumstances last season, 10th-seeded Union swept seventh-seeded Cornell in the first round by scores of 4-2 and 7-0. The previous season, the Dutchmen defeated the Big Red, 5-2, in the league semifinals in Lake Placid. The loss prevented Cornell from securing an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, and Union went on to win the program's first national title. ... Cornell's first postseason clash came in a quarterfinal series in 2008, with Cornell earning a road sweep. Both games finished 3-2, with the Big Red scoring the winners on third-period power plays. Cornell then defeated Union in the 2010 ECAC Hockey Championship game, 3-0, in Albany.
 
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 seven career shutouts is that he's only won five of them — Dec. 28, 2014 against Lake Superior State and Nov. 20, 2015 against Yale were both scoreless ties.
 
Strong Starts Sought:
At the core of Cornell's 5-1 loss to Union last Friday was a lethargic start, staking the Dutchmen to a two-goal lead in the opening eight minutes. The Big Red reversed that trend its next time out with freshman forward Anthony Angello scoring just 28 seconds into Saturday's game against Rensselaer. The goal ended a stretch of seven straight games in which the Big Red did not score in the first period.
 
One And Done:
With Cornell's 1-0 win over Dartmouth on Feb. 20, the Big Red has three 1-0 victories in a single season for the first time in program history. Oddly enough, the other two also came on the road against Ivy League teams (Brown on Nov. 21; Princeton on Feb. 6), and the Big Red played to a scoreless deadlock against Yale on Nov. 20).
 
Working Overtime:
The Big Red went to overtime last Saturday for a 13th time this season, which broke a program record. The previous record was set in 1985-86, then matched in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Cornell has gone to overtime in six of its last 10 games, and it's an even 3-3-7 in its overtime games to date. The Big Red's three OT winners are tied for fourth-most in the nation, trailing just the four tallied by Quinnipiac, Michigan Tech and Minnesota.
 
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 has more points this season (23) than he had in 57 games through his freshman and sophomore seasons.
 
What, Me Worry?:
Four of Cornell's 13 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.
 
No Fear:
Cornell is 1-0-1 this season against No. 1-ranked teams. The Big Red defeated Providence in overtime, 2-1, on Dec. 28 when the Friars entered the game  undefeated and ranked No. 1 in both major college hockey polls. Cornell followed that up by rallying for a 2-2 tie Feb. 5 at Quinnipiac, which remains the No. 1 team in the country entering the final weekend of the ECAC Hockey regular season.
 
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. 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. Angello's 11 goals lead the team.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 six shutouts this season. The last time the Big Red went a full season without posting a shutout came during the 1994-95 season.
 
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).
 
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.
 
Understudy Extraordinaire:
Associate Head Coach Ben Syer improved his career record as acting head coach to 5-0-2 after taking the helm for three games (Feb. 5-12) with Mike Schafer not in attendance due to a concussion suffered in practice. All but one of Syer's games as acting head coach have come with Cornell, including victories over St. Lawrence (Feb. 18, 2012), Clarkson (Nov. 14, 2014), Union (Feb. 21, 2015) and Princeton (Feb. 6), and ties at Quinnipiac (Feb. 5) and against Brown (Feb. 12).
 
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).
 
Up Next:
If Cornell wins the first-round series against Union, it will advance to a best-of-three quarterfinal series against one of the four teams which earned first-round byes — Quinnipiac, Yale, Harvard or St. Lawrence. If the Big Red is eliminated from league contention by the Dutchmen, it will likely fall short of an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.