ITHACA, N.Y. —  The Cornell men's hockey team wraps up the non-league portion of its regular-season schedule at 7 p.m. tonight, when it takes on Northern Michigan for the second time in 24 hours. Featuring the call of Grady Whittenburg and color commentary from former assistant coach and team captain Topher Scott '08, the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the U.S. (with an option for international viewers also available through portal.stretchinternet.com). The game can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) with Jason Weinstein back for his 16th season on play-by-play and Tony Eisenhut '88 on color commentary.

Game Information:

#17 Northern Michigan at #1 Cornell
7 p.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020
PLACE: Lynah Rink  •  Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell 12-1-3, 8-1-1 ECAC Hockey;
                    Northern Michigan 13-7-3, 11-5 WCHA
BROADCAST: ESPN+
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
TICKETS: bigredtix.com
GAME NOTES (PDF): Cornell Saturday Supplement | Cornell Mid-Week Notes | Northern Michigan

Friday Night Redux:

•  Freshman forward Ben Berard scored a power-play goal early in the third period, and the Big Red fought off a pair of one-goal deficits for a 2-2 tie on Friday night in the non-league series' opener.
•  Berard also helped set up Cornell's first goal, which was scored by sophomore Michael Regush during four-on-four play in the first period. Of the last nine four-on-four goals during Big Red games since the start of the 2017-18 season, Cornell has scored eight of them.
•  Cornell's penalty kill was front and center, surviving two lengthy power plays created by major penalties.
•  Goaltender Nolan Kent was outstanding for Northern Michigan, making 31 saves.
•  Friday's game marked just the second time this year that Cornell yielded two even-strength goals. The other occurrence was Nov. 8 in a 6-2 victory against Yale.
•  With the tie, Cornell slipped back from first to second in the Pairwise Comparison Ratings.

Scouting Northern Michigan:

•  The Wildcats have pushed their unbeaten streak to six games to bring itself squarely back into the mix for NCAA tournament at-large contention, now sitting at 13-7-3 overall, 11-5 in WCHA play and 17th in the Pairwise. Northern is coming off a two-game sweep of Alaska-Anchorage at home last weekend with scores of 4-1 and 6-3.
•  Sophomore left wing Griffin Loughran (17-11–28; 5 PPG; plus-13) is tied for the national lead in goals, but he did not play in last night's game. He typically plays on a line centered by junior Joseph Nardi (5-14–19; plus-14).
•  Sophomore right wing Vincent de Mey (13-9–22; 5 PPG) leads the Wildcats in shots on goal while ranking second in goals and overall scoring. He has played opposite Loughran before, but more recently has flanked a line with sophomore Ty Readman (4-13–17) at center. 
•  Senior defenseman Philip Beaulieu (3-16–19; plus-13) leads the team in assists and ranks tied for 11th nationally in scoring from the blue line.
•  Sophomore Nolan Kent (9-2-1, 2.45, .918) has taken over as the team's primary goaltender role from freshman John Hawthorne (4-5-2, 3.03, .887, SO).
•  Northern Michigan has outscored its opponents in third periods, 38-16, but Cornell scored the lone goal of the third stanza last night. 
•  Grant Potulny is in his second season as the head coach of the Wildcats after serving as an assistant coach at Minnesota, his alma mater, for eight years.

The Series Against Northern Michigan:

•  Cornell swept a two-game set Nov. 9-10, 2018 in Marquette to take a 5-3 lead in the all-time series against Northern Michigan.
•  Michael Regush scored game-winning, power-play goals in both games for the Big Red — an effort that would lead to him being named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week.
•  Cam Donaldson opened the scoring in the first game, later adding an assist in a 3-1 victory that saw the Big Red yield just 13 shots on goal.
•  In the rematch the next night, Cornell struck for three power-play goals. Morgan Barron had one of those on a five-on-three, and Matthew Galajda made 24 saves to preserve the victory.
•  Prior to last year's series in Marquette, the teams last met in the first round of the final iteration of the Florida College Hockey Classic on Dec. 28, 2016 in Estero, Fla. Cornell prevailed, 5-2.
•  The first three meetings came in NCAA tournament play in 1980 and 1981, then Cornell won 4-3 in overtime on Jan. 2, 1987 in Hartford, Conn.

Full Mid-Week Game Notes:

Cornell Mid-Week Notes