ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team makes a quick trip to New England for a makeup game at 3 p.m. Tuesday against Brown at Meehan Auditorium in Providence, R.I.

Game Information:

#11 Cornell at Brown
SITE: Meehan Auditorium — Providence, R.I. 
TIME: 3 p.m.
DATE: Tuesday, February 1, 2022 
BROADCAST (U.S.): ESPN+
BROADCAST (Int'l): Stretch Internet
RADIO: WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM)
STATS: BrownBears.com

Cornell game notes (PDF)

How To Watch:

•  The game will be broadcast through the host school on ESPN+ in the U.S. (with an option for international viewers also available through Stretch Internet). 
•  The game can also be heard on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM) with Jason Weinstein in his 17th season on play-by-play.

Big Red Rewind:

•  Cornell wrapped up a four-game home stand with a pair of 2-2 ties and subsequent shootout losses to both Dartmouth and Harvard last weekend. The results sent the Big Red down to 11th in the DCU/USCHO.com poll and 13th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
•  The Big Red never led against the Big Green, though it held a dominating edge in the game territorially with a 32-13 advantage in shots on goal and seven of the game's nine power plays.
•  Ondrej Psenicka scored the first goal for Cornell midway through the second period, but Dartmouth took the lead back 1:59 later. The tying goal was then scored by Jack Malone with 2:22 left in the third period on a power play created by a major penalty.
•  Cornell had a better start the next night against rival Harvard, including Brenden Locke's power-play goal just 1:23 into the game. The Crimson largely controlled play for the rest of the opening 40 minutes, scoring twice within the first five minutes of the second period before Matt Stienburg's tying goal at the 11:01 mark.
•  Ian Shane wrapped up a stellar first month of his collegiate career with a career-high 34 saves against Harvard, which went on to win a six-round shootout.
•  Despite having only one opportunity against the Crimson, Cornell now has power-play goals in four straight games for the first time since Feb. 1-15, 2020.
•  By securing just four of a possible 12 points over its four-game home stand, Cornell has slipped to fourth place in the ECAC Hockey standings (though it has just a three-point deficit and two games in hand on third-place Harvard). The Big Red is seven points ahead of Rensselaer in the race for the fourth and final first-round bye for the playoffs. 

Saturday's Highlights vs. Harvard:

Friday's Highlights vs. Dartmouth:

By The Numbers:

•  After missing five of the Big Red's previous six games, junior forward Matt Stienburg (#20, 9-12–21) had a point in each of last weekend's games to take over solo possession of the team's scoring lead. The ECAC Hockey Player of the Month for December ranks fifth in the nation in points per game (1.31).
•  Stienburg has spent the bulk of the season on a line centered by senior forward Max Andreev (#15, 8-11–19), who is also enjoying a breakthrough season. Andreev is tied for the team lead in rating (plus-14) and has the solo lead in faceoff winning percentage (58.0) — though he has been out of the lineup for the Big Red's last four games.
•  With six assists over the last four games — five coming on the power play — junior 
Sam Malinski (#24, 4-14–18, plus-14) now ranks third in team scoring.
•  Senior forward Brenden Locke (#28, 6-8–14) has 73 career points, which is highest among Cornell's 27 skaters coming into Tuesday's game. He has recently centered a line flanked by junior Ben Berard (#29, 9-7–16, 3 PPG) and Jack Malone (#13, 6-7–13). Malone has eight points in his last eight games.
•  Three of the seven hat tricks recorded by ECAC Hockey players this season have come from Cornell, courtesy of Berard (Nov. 6 at Dartmouth), Andreev (Nov. 13 vs. Rensselaer) and Stienburg (Dec. 3 at St. Lawrence).

No Experience Required:

•  Freshman Ian Shane (#30, 4-2-1, 1.65, .937, SO) has made the most of his window of opportunity, becoming the third Cornell goaltender to win his collegiate debut this season. Shane won consecutive ECAC Hockey MAC Goaltending Goalie of the Week honors 
(Jan. 3 and Jan. 10) before recording an 18-save shutout Jan. 15 at Yale.
•  Prior to Shane's starts at North Dakota, senior Nate McDonald (#33, 5-1-1, 2.49, .896) and freshman Joe Howe (#34, 4-2, 2.35, .905, SO) had shared starts in the crease after the Big Red entered the season with zero varsity collegiate experience within its goaltending corps for the first time since the 1983-84 season.
•  By making 20 saves Oct. 30 against Alaska, Howe became the first Cornell freshman goaltender to earn a shutout in his collegiate debut since the aforementioned 1983-84 season, when Don Fawcett '87 blanked Wilfrid Laurier.
•  McDonald — the lone incumbent among the Big Red's goaltending trio who backed up All-American Matthew Galajda '21 and All-Ivy League first-teamer Austin McGrath '21 for his first two seasons at Cornell — has the unique distinction of becoming the first goaltender in modern program history to make his collegiate debut as a senior.

A Night To Remember:

•  An 11-3 victory over Rensselaer on Nov. 13 created a long list of occurrences that had not been achieved by the Big Red in a long time. Among them:
    »    Cornell scored at least 10 goals for the first time since Nov. 20, 1999 (10-4 vs. Clarkson).
    »    Cornell scored 11 goals for the first time since Feb. 21, 1979 (11-3 vs. Harvard).
    »    Andreev's six points were the most for a Big Red player in a single game since Ryan Vesce '04 had seven on Nov. 8, 2003 (7-0 at Princeton).
    »    Andreev's four goals were the most for a Big Red player in a single game since Ryan Hughes '93 on Jan. 29, 1991 (5-4 loss vs. Boston College).
    »    Cornell scored at least 15 goals in a two-game span for the first time since March 8-9, 1996 (both games vs. Colgate, 8-3 and 8-1).
    »    Cornell scored at least 11 goals in a single game against Rensselaer for the second time in 115 all-time meetings (the other was 13-1 on Feb. 16, 1924).

The League Within The League:

•  Despite the loss Jan. 21 vs. Princeton and deadlocks last weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard, Cornell is 28-5-6 in its last 38 Ivy League contests. The Big Red is the defending Ivy League champion after laying claim to its third straight and 20th overall Ivy League title in 2020, but it now trails Harvard for the Ancient Eight lead with Princeton and its several games in hand.

Deep Up The Middle:

•  The Big Red currently ranks tied for seventh in the country with a 54.0% success rate on draws. That number slightly exceeds what Cornell posted in 2019-20, when it was tied for 13th in the nation and third among ECAC Hockey programs at 52.5%. The top five players taking draws for Cornell are all incumbents.

Flair For The Dramatic:

•  No one on the Big Red's roster had won a collegiate game in overtime before Oct. 29-30, but they were all been a part of two such victories in a span of just around 24 hours. 
•  With the caveat that college hockey's modified overtime rules encourage more scoring, Cornell's sweep of Alaska marks the program's first consecutive extra-session victories since March 10-11, 2006 — a pair of double-overtime wins over Clarkson to earn a sweep in an ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series.

Paring Down The Pairwise:

•  If not for the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cornell was a shoo-in to earn a berth to the NCAA tournament for a fourth consecutive season in 2019-20. That feat has only happened once in program history — a stretch from 1967 to 1970 that was book-ended by a pair of national championships.
•  The numbers bear out Cornell's standing as one of the nation's elite programs. The Big Red's season-ending average Pairwise Ratings Index scores over its last three seasons is 5.7. For comparison, that numbers ranks: 
    »    second in the country (trailing just Minnesota State, 3.7)
    »    first among ECAC Hockey programs (Clarkson 8.0, Quinnipiac 18.3, etc.)
    »    first among Ivy League programs (Harvard 22.7, Yale 36.0, etc.)

The First Ivy League Coach to 400 Wins:

•  Already the winningest coach in program history and in Ivy League history, Mike Schafer '86 ranks fifth among active coaches with 494 victories at the Division I level. He also leads all active coaches of Cornell's 37 varsity teams in career victories.

The Twin Tradition:

•  Juniors Ben and Zach Tupker give the Big Red its fourth pair of twins in Mike Schafer's 27-year tenure as the program's head coach. The others were the Devins (Joe and Mike, 2007-11), the Abbotts (Chris and Cam, 2001-06), and the McRaes (Mark and Matt, 1999-2003).

Feel The Draft?:

•  Cornell has four players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, with the program laying claim to at least one selection in six of the last seven drafts. Freshman forward Matt Stienburg (Colorado Avalanche) was selected earliest in that group, having been taken in the third round with the 63rd overall pick in June.
•  Another St. Andrew's College product, freshman forward Justin Ertel, was also selected in the third round of the draft. The Dallas Stars selected the budding power forward with the 79th overall pick last summer.
•  Junior forward Jack Malone was taken by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round in 2019, and freshman defenseman Hank Kempf was taken in the seventh round last summer by the New York Rangers.

Rare Territory:

•  Freshman goaltender Joe Howe is doing something that no Cornell men's hockey player has ever done before — wearing #34. It is the 36th number to be worn by a member of the Big Red, and currently only the second to be worn by just one player (fellow goaltender Eddie Skazyk '96 is the only to have worn #39).
•  Junior forward Jack Malone is the first Cornell men's hockey player to wear #13 in more than 50 years. The perceived unluckiest of numbers has only been donned by five previous members of the Big Red, all in the first nine years of the program's resurrection in 1957. The last to wear #13 was James Wallace during the 1965-66 season.

About Brown:

•  Brown fell to 4-14 after a pair of losses over the weekend, having now dropped seven of its last games. Princeton handed Brown a 6-1 loss on Friday afternoon, then LIU visited The Ocean State and came away with a 4-3 decision on Sunday.
•  The team's goaltending duties have largely been split between freshman Mathieu Caron (#31, 3-8, 3.18, .902, 2 SO) and graduate student Luke Kania (#35, 1-6, 3.71, .886, SO). 
•  Senior Justin Jallen (#7, 5-6–11) leads the team in scoring and shots on goal (43), and he lays claim to three of the team's eight power-play goals to date. He typically plays on a line centered by junior Cole Quisenberry (#29, 2-3–5), with Nathan Plessis (#11, 3-2–5) on the opposite wing. 
•  Senior center Michael Maloney (#25, 5-3–8) is tied with Jallen for the team's goal-scoring lead, and tied for second in overall points with junior defenseman Luke Krys (#2, 2-6–8, 63 blocked shots).
•  Brendan Whittet is in his 11th season as the head coach at his alma mater after previously serving as an assistant coach at Dartmouth.

The Series With Brown:

•  Cornell has a commanding 83-43-8 lead in the all-time series with Brown, entering Tuesday's game on a 17-game unbeaten streak (14-0-3) dating back to to Jan. 26, 2013.
•  The Big Red won the season's first meeting — though it needed an overtime winner from Matt Stienburg to do it on Nov. 19. He also scored Cornell's first goal in the 3-2 victory in the closing minute of the first period, then Kyle Penney doubled the lead 27 seconds into the second.
•  Mike Schafer is a dominating 41-7-6 against the Bears during his 25-plus seasons as the Big Red's head coach.

Looking Ahead:

•  The Big Red pivots back to the Empire State for a pair of games against Colgate — Friday in Hamilton and Saturday in Ithaca.