ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team concludes a stretch of five games in 10 days when it hosts Ivy League foes Yale and Brown this weekend at Lynah Rink. The games, which were rescheduled to 7 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday due to a snow storm pummeling New England, will be broadcast on the subscription-based Ivy League Digital Network. Jason Weinstein will have the play-by-play and Tony Eisenhut will provide color commentary. Their call can also be heard in the Ithaca area on WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM) and accessed worldwide here.

GAME #24: YALE at #12/15 CORNELL
TIME: 7 p.m.
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017
PLACE: Lynah Rink · Ithaca, N.Y.
CORNELL: 15-6-2 overall, 10-4-2 ECAC Hockey, 4-3-1 Ivy League
YALE: 10-9-4 overall, 6-7-3 ECAC Hockey, 3-1-1 Ivy League
TV: None
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

GAME #25: BROWN at #12/15 CORNELL
TIME: 4 p.m.
DATE: Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017
PLACE: Lynah Rink · Ithaca, N.Y.
CORNELL: 15-6-2 overall, 10-4-2 ECAC Hockey, 4-3-1 Ivy League
BROWN: 4-17-2 overall, 3-12-1 ECAC Hockey, 1-4 Ivy League
TV: None
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 95.9 FM)
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)
Yale game notes (PDF)
Brown game notes (coming soon)

Big Red Rewind:
•  Cornell has won three straight after a 4-0 rout of Colgate on Tuesday night. The Big Red also recorded a road sweep of ECAC Hockey's Capital District teams last weekend, scoring the winning goals late in the third period on both nights.
•  Mitch Gillam made 28 saves against the Raiders to record the 10th shutout of his career, capping a night in which the Big Red had four different goal-scorers. Matt Nuttle's two first-period assists led to his first career multiple-point game.
•  Jake Weidner scored a power-play goal from a tight angle with 4:09 left in the third, then Anthony Angello scored his second goal of the night on a breakaway 39 seconds later to propel the Big Red to a 5-3 victory at Union last Friday.
•  The Big Red then trailed three times last Saturday at Rensselaer, but Yanni Kaldis scored his first collegiate goal with 24.6 seconds left for the winner. He also had two assists on the weekend and was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week on Tuesday.

Who's Who at CU:
•  Senior defenseman Patrick McCarron (4-14–18) is part of a three-way tie for the team scoring lead. His 0.78 points per game is the fifth-highest total among ECAC Hockey blueliners. He had an eight-game points streak earlier this season, which was the first for a Cornellian since Greg Miller from Oct. 29 to Nov. 22, 2011, and the first for a Big Red defenseman since Mark McRae from Jan. 25 to Feb. 21, 2003.
•  Sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan (9-9–18) leads the team in goals and is still in a tie for overall scoring, breaking a string of five straight scoreless games with an assist Tuesday vs. Colgate.
•  Junior forward Trevor Yates (9-9–18) leads the team with six power-play goals and 11 power-play points. He moved into a tie for the overall scoring with five points over the Big Red's current three-game winning streak.
•  Junior forward Alex Rauter (8-4–12) has the third-most goals on the team. He had a streak of five straight games with a point snapped Tuesday, but still has points in seven of his last nine games.
•  Senior forward Matt Buckles (6-6–12) has 10 points in 12 games since returning from an injury-related absence to close out the first semester.
•  Senior Mitch Gillam (15-5-2, 2.14, .917, SO) had the nation's longest active unbeaten streak for goaltenders snapped Jan. 27, having backstopped the Big Red to a 10-0-1 record over 11 starts. The Big Red's lone nominee for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award had a 1.63 goals against average and .931 save percentage over that span.

Road Warriors:
•  Cornell's wins at Union and Rensselaer last weekend marked the first time the Big Red has swept the Capital District road weekend since Jan. 16-17, 2009.
•  This year marks the first time since 2004-05 that the Big Red has swept three ECAC Hockey road weekends in a single season.
•  Cornell enters this weekend having played just nine home games, which is the lowest total in the country (Boston College, Harvard, Ohio State and Princeton have all played 10). The Big Red will now play four of its final six regular-season games at home.

A Little Perspective:
•  Cornell is currently aligned for one of ECAC Hockey's coveted first-round byes, moving up to fourth place in the standings with Tuesday's victory. The Big Red still has one game in hand (which will be evened out after Saturday's games) on two of the teams ahead of it — St. Lawrence and Harvard.
•  The Big Red moved up four positions in the Pairwise Rankings over the weekend, then held steady at 13th after Tuesday's win over Colgate. If the season ended today and there were one or fewer major upset champions in the Big Ten, Hockey East, ECAC Hockey or NCHC tournaments, Cornell would be in line for an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.

The Sum of Intangibles Is Tangible:
•  A quick glance at Cornell's traditional statistics illustrates some of the team's storylines, though several others fly beneath the radar.
•  Through 23 games, the Big Red has already accumulated 94 man-games lost to injury — which includes lengthy absences from the team's leading scorer last year (Jeff Kubiak, 10 games) and a top-four defenseman (Ryan Bliss, 23).
•  With Kubiak out of the lineup for so long, senior Jake Weidner took on an even bigger role as the Big Red's leading faceoff man. He is ranked sixth in the nation in average faceoffs per game (24.2), and his 60.1 winning percentage since Dec. 1 is sixth-best among those taking at least 100 draws over that span.
•  By a wide margin, Weidner is also the nation's top shot-blocker among forwards (2.36 per game) and eighth overall. Sophomore defenseman Alec McCrea is also tied for 13th in the nation in shot-blocking (2.27 per game).

What, Me Worry?:
•  Six of Cornell's 14 victories so far this season have come in games in which the Big Red has surrendered the first goal.
•  The Big Red's resilience from an early deficit has become somewhat of a trend, with the team sporting a very respectable 11-11-4 record when conceding the game's first strike since the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign. That's a stark turnaround from the team's 14-34-5 record when yielding the game's first goal from the previous three seasons (2012-15).

Blip On The Radar:
•  The Big Red had the third-best penalty kill in the nation on Jan. 29 after killing 46 of its opponents' previous 50 power plays (92.0%). But over the last three games, Cornell has been just 15-for-22 on the penalty kill and is now ranked 20th nationally.
•  Cornell's Jan. 28 loss to Dartmouth marked the first time the Big Red has lost a game in which it held a two-goal lead since Nov. 7, 2015 — a 5-4 overtime loss to Quinnipiac). Oddly enough, the Big Red watched another two-goal lead evaporate last Friday at Union only to surge ahead with two late goals to salvage a 5-3 victory.

First Ivy League Coach To 400:
•  Already the winningest coach in program history and in Ivy League history, Mike Schafer has eclipsed another milestone in his career with his 400th victory in January. He ranks 10th in victories among active Division I coaches and is Cornell's fifth-winningest coach across all sports — second among current coaches, behind just Dave Eldredge (men's and women's polo).

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 goal-scorer to date potted a couple more goals Nov. 19 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.
•  Freshman forward Jeff Malott (4-3–7) then scored his first three collegiate goals in a span of 8 minutes, 44 seconds during the first period to power the Big Red past Princeton on Jan. 13. He was subsequently named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week after becoming the first Cornell freshman with a hat trick since current NHLer Matt Moulson on Feb. 7, 2003.

Gillam's Groove:
•  Senior goaltender Mitch Gillam moved up to a tie for fourth on the program's all-time list for career shutouts after Tuesday's win against Colgate. By stopping all 28 shots from the Raiders, Gillam earned his 10th career clean sheet.
•  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 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 10 career shutouts is that he's only won eight of them — Dec. 28, 2014 against Lake Superior State and Nov. 20, 2015 against Yale were both scoreless ties.

Never Too Close For Comfort:
•  Cornell's 1-0 win Jan. 7 at Merrimack was hardly new territory for the team. The Big Red had four 1-0 victories last season for the first time in program history. 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 last year, with a 4-3-7 record in those games.

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.
  

About Yale:
•  The Bulldogs fell to 31st in the Pairwise Rankings as of Wednesday after being swept at home last weekend. Yale was defeated by Princeton on Friday, 4-2, and Quinnipiac on Saturday, 5-2.
•  Yale was 7-1-2 in a 10-game stretch prior to last weekend's losses. The Bulldogs started the season 2-4-2.
•  Senior John Hayden (16-12–28; 10 PPGs) is a linchpin to the offense, though sophomore Joe Snively (10-20–30) actually leads the team in scoring. Hayden leads the team with 117 shots on goal, while Snively is second with 58.
•  Over the last six games, Yale has put its three active leading scorers on the same line. Snively has been the pivot between Hayden and senior Frankie DiChiara (9-8–17). Junior Ryan Hitchcock (3-16–19) is reportedly out for an extended period of time due to injury.
•  Senior Patrick Spano (8-5-4, 2.54, .909, SO) has been the primary goaltender, though he split starts last weekend with sophomore Sam Tucker (2-4, 3.56, .877).

The Series Against Yale:
•  This will be the 150th all-time matchup since the series started in 1902, with the Big Red holding a 83-60-6 lead.
•  Cornell rolled to a 6-3 win on Nov. 12 at Yale when the teams met early this season. The six goals are still a season-high for the Big Red, with sophomore forward Mitch Vanderlaan recorded his first career hat trick.

About Brown:
•  The Bears scored three unanswered goals to salvage a 3-3 tie with visiting Princeton last Saturday. That stemmed a three-game losing streak, though Brown remains in last place in ECAC Hockey and is currently 54th in the Pairwise Rankings.
•  Junior forward Sam Lafferty (8-20–28) leads the team in scoring. He's one of three NHL draft picks at Brown, and he also competes with the school's golf team. Junior Charlie Corcoran (14-11–25; 4 PPGs) leads the team in goals, and he's tied for the most power-play goals with classmate Max Willman (10-10–20). Those three forwards account for precisely 50% of the team's points this season.
•  The Bears have the worst combined special teams (43.3%) in the country. The power play has scored once in its last 37 opportunities.
•  Freshman Gavin Nieto (3-14-1, 3.74, .883) has started 20 of 23 games in goal for the Bears.
 
The Series Against Brown:
•  The Big Red has a commanding lead in the all-time series, 75-43-7, and Mike Schafer is a dominating 33-7-5 against the Bears during his 21-plus seasons as the Big Red's head coach.
•  Cornell used three second-period goals to pull away for a 4-2 victory Nov. 11 at Brown in the teams' first meeting this season. Connor Murphy scored his first collegiate goal.

Apple Harvest:
•  Freshman Yanni Kaldis (1-9–10) is tied for second on the team in assists. His 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. He was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week following that effort, then garnered the honor a second time earlier this week.

The Streak Is Over!
•  Junior forward Alex Rauter's penalty-shot goal in The Frozen Apple on Nov. 26 ended a remarkable string of futility on such plays for the Big Red. Rauter became the first Cornellian to score on a penalty shot since Feb. 27, 1987 — 949 games since Joe Nieuwendyk scored on a penalty shot against Rensselaer.

Anniversary Season:
•  The Jan. 27-28 weekend marked a reunion for the 50th anniversary of Cornell's first national championship team in 1967. There were festivities throughout, highlighted by a special ceremony to honor the returning
members of the team during the first intermission of the second game.
•  This is also the 60th year of hockey in Lynah Rink. The facility was dedicated April 6, 1957, a few weeks after it hosted an exhibition between the New York Rangers and the Rochester Americans (AHL).

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.

The Offensive Defense:
•  Mitch Gillam leads the nation's goaltenders in career points. His quick outlet pass Jan. 21 against St. Lawrence set up the line rush leading to Patrick McCarron's goal, giving Gillam five career points on one goal and four assists.

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.

An Empire State of Mind:
•  The Big Red's stars in the Nov. 26 win over New Hampshire at The Frozen Apple at Madison Square Garden all had ties to New York. Junior forward Alex Rauter, who scored on a penalty shot in the third period, is from nearby Chatham, N.J., participated in the New York Rangers prospect development camp in 2012 and once played youth hockey on MSG ice in between periods of a Rangers game. Freshman forward Noah Bauld, who scored the game-winner, was actually born in New York before moving to his hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia when he was a toddler, and senior goaltender Mitch Gillam once attended the New York Islanders' prospect camp.

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.

Up Next:
•  After this weekend's games, all of ECAC Hockey's 12 teams have four regular-season games remaining — two on the road and two at home. Cornell heads to the North Country to take on St. Lawrence on Friday, Feb. 17 before making the quick jaunt to Clarkson on Satruday, Feb. 18. The Big Red then returns home to face Rensselaer and Union the following weekend.