PUCK DROP
• After outscoring its opponents 13-2 in its pair of exhibitions, the No. 20-ranked Cornell men's hockey team looks to keep its potent offense on display as the Big Red travels to Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minn., to square off against No. 19 Minnesota Duluth to open the 2022-23 regular season.
EXHIBITION REWIND
• Cornell displayed its scoring prowess in its pair of exhibitions against uOttawa and Guelph, posting 5-1 and 8-1 victories, respectively.
• Five Big Red players logged four points apiece over the pair of exhibitions. Seniors Jack Malone and Sam Malinski each registered two goals and two assists, while fellow seniors Max Andreev, Matt Stienburg and Ben Berard each scored one goal and assisted on three others. Sophomore Ondrej Psenicka had a team-high three goals, including his two goals last week against Guelph. Freshmen Sean Donaldson and Winter Wallace had a goal and two assists.
• Freshman Remington Keopple stopped a team-high 16 shots on 18 attempts in a pair of appearances. Sophomore Ian Shane did not yield a goal on his nine shots faced, while junior transfer Ryan McInchak stopped the lone shot he faced in third-period action against uOttawa.
SEASON-OPENING SERIES
• Cornell enters this weekend's series on a four-game win streak in games played in the opening weekend of regular-season play. The streak began in 2019-20 when the Big Red swept Michigan State in East Lansing. Last year, Cornell swept Alaska Fairbanks in a pair of overtime victories at Lynah Rink.
• Since 2012-13, Cornell is 12-4-2 in its first two regular season games. During the span, the Big Red has outscored its opponents 52-33, while limiting its opponents to two goals or less in 13 of the 18 games.
ONE WIN AWAY
• Mike Schafer, the Jay R. Bloom ‘77 Head Coach of Men’s Hockey, is just one victory away from reaching a historic milestone.
• With his next victory, Schafer would notch his 500th career head coaching victory, and become the 29th head coach in college hockey history to reach the 500-win milestone.
• Schafer would be just the seventh active head coach — the fourth at the Division I level — to register 500 career coaching victories. He would join Mercyhurst’s Rick Gotkin (588), ECAC Hockey counterpart Rand Pecknold of Quinnipiac (583), and Notre Dame’s Jeff Jackson (560) in reaching the 500 career victories.
• Schafer’s 499 career wins already stands as the most victories by a Cornell hockey head coach and are the most by any active head coach of Cornell's 37 varsity sports.
• With his already etched in ECAC Hockey lore, Schafer's current win total is the most in ECAC history.
RETURNING TO MINNESOTA
• This weekend will be the seventh and eighth time Cornell is playing in the state of Minnesota. It will be the program's first time playing in the state since March 27, 2005, when the Big Red fell to Minnesota in overtime of the 2005 NCAA Tournament West Regional final.
• Each of the last four games played by the Big Red in the Land of 10,000 Lakes were played at Mariucci Arena (1993 and 1994 Mariucci Classics, and two NCAA Tournament games in 2005).
• The remaining two games played by Cornell in Minnesota were both in Duluth at the 1968 Frozen Four. Cornell fell to North Dakota in the national semifinals, 3-1, before winning the third-place game over Boston College, 6-1. Both games were played at the Duluth Arena Auditorium.
AGAINST THE NCHC
• Cornell is 8-5-1 all-time against NCHC schools since the conference's inception prior to the 2013-14. The Big Red has won five of its last seven against NCHC schools, including the last three (Miami in 2017-18 and last year's sweep at North Dakota).
• The Big Red has a 31-22-4 all-time record against the eight current NCHC schools.
ECAC PRESEASON POLL
• ECAC Hockey announced Sept. 21 during its annual Media Day call that the Cornell hockey team was slated to finish fourth.
•Quinnipiac was dubbed the preseason favorite after receiving eight first-place votes, finishing with 118 points. Harvard received the remaining four first-place votes, logging a 109-point total. Clarkson was the only other program to have a point total over the century mark (105).
•Cornell followed Clarkson with its 90 points, while Colgate finished in fifth with 77 points. RPI (70), St. Lawrence (57), and Union (45), Dartmouth (43), Yale (32), Brown (26), and Princeton (20) rounded out the poll.
LEADERSHIP GROUP ANNOUNCED
• Senior defensemen Sam Malinski and Travis Mitchell were named co-captains, while fifth-year forward Max Andreev and senior forward Matt Stienburg were tabbed co-alternate captains on Sept. 29.
• All four players will be assuming leadership roles for the first time with the Cornell hockey program.
WELCOME BACK!
• Cornell returns 81 percent of its goals scored from last season, which was the eighth-highest percentage by a Division I program entering the 2022-23 season.
• Air Force led the nation, returning all of its scoring from the 2021-22 season. Penn State (93 percent) had the second-highest total, while Dartmouth (86 percent), Northeastern (85 percent), Sacred Heart and Yale (84 percent), and St. Lawrence (83 percent) were ahead of the Big Red.
• Of the programs remaining seven teams in the top eight, Cornell will be playing four of the teams this season (Dartmouth, Sacred Heart, St. Lawrence, and Yale).
