Freshman Friday is a Q-and-A feature with new members of the men's hockey team. This is the fifth of nine installments this year, featuring forward Zach Tupker.

Q: So it's been a couple of months so now. What do you think of Cornell so far?
A: It's awesome. It's really just what I was hoping for and more. The team has been really welcoming, and I couldn't have asked for better teammates to be surrounded by. The school has been a pretty good transition, there's a lot of support. I don't have any problems; definitely not any complaints.

Q: How about the hockey so far? Obviously got a few games under your belt and have seen the lay of the land. About what you expected? What, if anything, surprised you?
A: Not too many surprises, just guys are a lot bigger, faster, and stronger. The game is a lot quicker, so it's definitely a transition period. But now we're a few games in, I'm starting to get comfortable and get used to the speed of the game. The games are fast paced. They are fun to play. The crowd was awesome in the exhibition games and the games this past weekend, so I've had a lot of fun.

Q: And you got your first collegiate goal on a breakaway in fron of that crowd. Is that pretty much how you thought you'd draw up your first goal at this level?
A: No, but you take what you can get I guess, right? It was a lot of fun for sure.

Q: How about the celebration? Happy with it afterward?
A: Yeah, just a lot of emotion, for sure.

Q: OK, just I'll backtrack a bit. Coming from the CCHL, is it about what you thought in terms of what the jump would be like? Were you ever contemplating a year somewhere else?
A: No, so I had a really good program. I played all three years with the same team, the Carleton Place Canadians. We were ranked pretty highly. We won the league one year, lost in the finals the other two years, so there were a lot of competitive programs. There's a lot of guys who went on to play Division I hockey. So you just play against guys who are Division I players everyday, which was just definitely what I thought would prepare me for Cornell.

Q: I can't help but notice that your hometown is Collingwood, Ontario – which is five hours away from Carleton Place, but it looked like you kept an address in Carleton Place, too. Did your whole family move when you played there?
A: With his company, my dad worked out of the Ottawa area for a couple of years before we ended up playing for Carleton Place. We played for Carleton Place for the first year, and then he ended up getting the full-time transfer. So we moved to Ottawa for the last two years.

Q: Born and in raised in Collingwood, though. What's the town like? It looks like it's right on the water …
A: Yeah, it's an incredible place to live. It's like a resort town, so there's the ski hills in the winter. So, growing up, we would go skiing every day after school. And then in the summer, you've got the Georgian Bay. Beautiful waterfront. Yeah, it's a pretty nice town.

Q: I hear you're a golfer. Are you a good golfer?
A: I wouldn't say good, no. Just a golfer.

Q: We have a bit of a twin tradition here; I'd be remiss if I forgot to mention it. Is that something you knew about before looking at Cornell? Was that something that resonated with you at all or was it a funny coincidence?
A: I knew there's a few sets of twins that came through, which is definitely not something you base your decision off of. But it's just something that's interesting to look at.

Q: You and Ben are paternal twins, right?
A: Yeah.

Q: We think you're the first fraternal twins, because I think the other three were all identical …
A: Really? That's kind of unique. You don't really hear that too often where it's more identical and less paternal.

Q: What you are studying here and what school you are in?
A: I'm in the College of Arts and Sciences. I intend to major in Economics.

Q: What are you hoping to do with that someday?
A: Just go into business, maybe open up my own business. Consulting, maybe. I have no idea.

Q: And I think Ben is in a different school, isn't he?
A: Yeah, he's in the Industrial and Labor Relations School so I think he may want to be a lawyer or something like that one day.

Q: Don't get me wrong, I'll ask him all of this stuff, too – but I think that's interesting because you guys do seem to have different interests. So when you are looking at programs and different schools, was all this academic divertsity a big 'pro' for Cornell?
A: Definitely. Ben was pretty certain on what he wanted to do. I liked the broad scope of Arts and Sciences. So the "any person, any study" was a big reason for choosing Cornell.

Q: Now, had you guys kind of decided that you were going to be looking at the same school for both of you?
A: Yeah, I think that the goal was to end up at the same school, and fortunately enough that happened.

Q: Tell me about your hockey path. Always playing from days of being little?
A: It was definitely just the traditional Canadian and hockey – as soon as you can walk, you are on skates. So I started skating, probably around 3 or 4, and then just minor hockey to junior, and then Cornell.

Q: Mom or Dad ever play?
A: No, both my parents were like hockey players, but not professional level or anything crazy like that. Just got us enrolled and took off from there.

Q: Was the NCAA always the path, or did you ever look toward major juniors or anything like that?
A: Not really, no. My minor midget team took a trip down to University of Michigan, so we saw Yost Arena. Pretty similar – the whole student section was pretty electric, so that's what kind of opened our eyes to NCAA hockey. From there, just doing some research, seeing what it's all about. You just see that it's such a great opportunity, such a great path to combine academics and athletics into one place.

Q: Have you and Ben always played on the same line? Always center and wing?
A: Yeah, I can't remember a time when we weren't on the same line, which is kind of unique.

Q: And yet at the same time I feel like here, that's not necessarily going to be a given. How different is it playing when he's not out there?
A: To be honest, hockey is hockey. You just go out there and you just play with your linemates, whoever you are put with. You adapt and evolve and try to do the best that you can.

Q: I have to ask one or two twin questions. So how are you guys different? What would you say that's one thing that you would say that you are better at then him and what's one thing that he is better at than you?
A: I've never thought of it like that. I'd say that he's probably more outgoing. He's pretty sociable, and I'm just a little quieter. He can kind of speak up in a crowded room and I just wouldn't do that, to be honest. Tell him that I have more jokes than he is. I'm funnier than he is.

Q: Would you say your games are similar or different?
A: Yeah, we're both pretty similar. I like to think we are just 200-foot hardworking guys who like to make plays, too. We play a pretty honest game, like to hit guys, knock guys over, keep the puck off people. Pretty much a three-zone player.

Q: Is that kind of why Cornell spoke to you? Because we kind of have a history of taking guys like that …
A: Yeah, I think that when you look at the past lineups it's been a lot of bigger guys. They have a reputation. They like to play fast and are a pretty physical team, which appealed to us just given the type of games that we played before.

Q: Anyone that you model your game after, NHL-wise?
A: Growing up, I was a big Leafs fan, so like Tyler Bozak was someone who I looked up to, just because he was a 200-foot centerman. Just someone who you watched the Leafs play Saturday night and you kind of played like him.

Freshman Friday

•  Oct. 18: Sam Malinski
•  Oct. 25: Matt Stienburg
•  Nov. 1: Travis Mitchell
•  Nov. 15: Ben Berard
•  Nov. 22: Zach Tupker