Men's Hockey Returns to Action, Hosts AIC in Non-Conference Series

Mike Schafer '86
The Jay R. Bloom ‘77 Head Coach of Cornell Men’s Ice Hockey

PUCK DROP
• Following a three-week break from competition, the Cornell men's hockey team returns to action for a two-game, non-conference series against American International. Puck drop for both contests is slated for 7 p.m.

BLUELINER LIGHTS THE LAMP
• After scoring in each of his last two games, senior defenseman Travis Mitchell is looking to become the fifth Cornell defenseman since 1990-91 to score in three consecutive games.

• Nick D'Agostino is the last Cornell blueliner to light the goal light in three consecutive games, when he did so during the 2010-11 season.

• Doug Murray (four-game streak in 2000-01 and a three-game streak in 2001-02) and Mark McRae (2000-01) are the others to accomplish the feat.

SHANE EARNS HONORS
• Sophomore goaltender Ian Shane was ECAC Hockey's most recent Goaltender of the Week on Dec. 5 after stopping 34 of 36 shots in Cornell's most recent weekend series.

• It marked the third consecutive week Cornell received a weekly honor, as freshman forward Sean Donaldson received Rookie of the Week honors on Nov. 21 and fellow freshman forward Dalton Bancroft was tabbed the ECAC's Forward and Rookie of the Week on Nov. 28.

LYNAH FAITHFUL
• Playing in front of the Lynah Faithful has favored Cornell since Mike Schafer took over as head coach prior to the 1995-96 season.

• Under Schafer, the Big Red is 265-102-44 at Lynah Rink (.698). According to data compiled from CollegeHockeyNews.com's database, Cornell has the sixth-best home win percentage in that span, trailing Michigan (.752), North Dakota (.726), Quinnipiac (.723), Boston College (.712), and Denver (.704).

• Cornell has been a hostile place to play college hockey dating back to the 2017-18 season. The Big Red has posted a 51-13-5 (.775) record, which trails Minnesota State's .863 clip.

NONE SHALL PASS…
• Cornell enters this two-game series boasting the nation's top scoring defense. The Big Red has yielded 21 goals over 12 games.

• The 1.75 goals per game average makes Cornell one of four programs to average less than two goals allowed per game (Merrimack — 1.82, Quinnipiac — 1.89, and UMass Lowell — 1.94).

• Dating back to the beginning of the 2016-17 season, Cornell has featured one of the stingier defensive units in Division I hockey. Cornell has been ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense in five of the last six seasons, with the lone year being 2020-21, which was not played due to the pandemic. 

• Since 2016-17, Cornell has allowed an average of 1.94 goals per game, which ranks second nationally (Minnesota State — 1.84).

• The Big Red's 344 goals allowed are the fewest by a Division I program in the last six-plus seasons. Cornell's bitter rival, Harvard, is in second with 439 goals.

PUTTING SPECIAL IN SPECIAL TEAMS
• Over its last six games, Cornell has successfully killed off its last 15 penalties and has killed off 90.3 percent (28-of-31) of its penalties dating back to Nov. 4 at Princeton.

• Thanks to its stingy penalty kill of late, Cornell has jumped to fifth in the nation in penalty kill percentage (38-of-43 — 88.4 percent).

• Only Harvard (30/33 — 90.9%), UConn (77/85 — 90.6%), Ohio State (76/84 — 90.5%), and UMass Lowell (53/59 — 89.8%) are ahead of the Big Red.

• On the other side of special teams, after opening the year scoring on just three of its first 27 power-play opportunities (11.1 percent), the Big Red has posted a 45.5 power-play percentage clip (5-for-11) over its last six games.

SHANE'S WORLD
• Sophomore goaltender Ian Shane has been strong between the pipes for Cornell so far this year, posting a Division I-leading 1.43 goals-against average.

• Shane also has a .934 save percentage, which ranks third nationally, narrowly trailing UMass Lowell's Gustavs Davis Grigals (.937) and Luke Pavicich of UMass (.935).

• Over Shane's last four games, he has posted a 3-1-0 record to go along with a 0.75 goals-against average and a .962 save percentage (76-of-79). He has registered a pair of shutouts over his last three games (UConn - Nov. 26 at Madison Square Garden and Dartmouth on Dec. 3).

DOMINATING OFFENSIVELY
• Cornell has excelled in the second period this season, outscoring its opponents by a 13-5 margin in the middle frame of its 12 games played so far this year.

• In comparison, Cornell has outscored its opponents by just five goals 20-15 in the other two periods of action.

• Along with its plus-8 goal differential in the second period, the Big Red have outshot its opponents by a whopping 67 shots in the period, 139-72.

• In the opening 40 minutes of play, Cornell has a plus-92 advantage in shots on goal (243-158). The third period has not fared as well for the Big Red as the opposition has outshot Cornell by one shot, 93-92.

SCHMIDT WITH TEAM USA
• Cornell equipment manager Sean Schmidt is currently away from the Cornell men's hockey team, but for a good cause.

• Schmidt, who is currently in his 13th season as the Big Red's equipment manager, is with Team USA at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick.

• This is Schmidt's first time working with Team USA's World Junior team, but has worked at multiple select camps in Buffalo, N.Y., over the years.

THURSDAY NIGHT HOCKEY
• The opening game of this two-game series against AIC will mark the 18th time in program history that Cornell is playing a home game on a Thursday.

• Thursday's game will be Cornell's first regular-season home game on a Thursday since defeating Robert Morris, 4-1, on Oct. 26, 2006. It is the program's first Thursday game in regular-season action since playing Colorado College in Estero, Fla., at the Florida College Classic on Dec. 29, 2016.

• Cornell is unbeaten in its last 13 home games played on a Thursday, posting a 12-0-1 record during the streak, which began on Nov. 28, 1963, when the Big Red posted a 4-3 victory over Canadian-based school Waterloo.

• During the unbeaten streak, Cornell has outscored its opponents by a whopping 83 goals (107-24), which includes six 10-goal games.

DOMINATING ATLANTIC HOCKEY
• Cornell has won its last seven games against Atlantic Hockey opponents dating back to its first such game in 2003-04 against Mercyhurst.
 

• The Big Red is 11-4-1 (.719) all-time against AHA opposition, and Cornell's last defeat came to Mercyhurst in a 5-4 setback on Oct. 29, 2011.
Cornell's .719 win percentage against Atlantic Hockey teams is the best win percentage against a conference that is not ECAC Hockey.

SCOUTING AIC
• AIC enters the series with an overall record of 10-7-4 and an 8-5-2 mark in Atlantic Hockey Association play. The Yellow Jackets have not played since Dec. 8-9 when it took four of six points from AHA rival Niagara.

• Since being swept by Canisius on Nov. 11-12 in Buffalo, AIC has registered 17 out of a possible 21 points over its last seven AHA games (5-0-2). Following the sweep by the Golden Griffins, AIC has a 5-1-2 overall mark while outscoring its opponents by 13 goals (27-14). The lone loss in the span came in a road non-conference contest against Maine on Nov. 26, 5-1.

• Over its last six games, AIC has displayed a tenacious offense while also playing strong defensively. The Yellow Jackets have scored at least three goals in six of its last eight games, and have allowed no more than three goals in its last six contests.

• Jordan Biro paces AIC's offense with a team-high 22 points (8-14—22). Blake Bennett also has been a key contributor, posting an AIC-leading 12 goals (12-8—20). Brian Kramer (12) and Matt Rickard (12) each have 10-plus assists on the blueline for the Yellow Jackets.

• Jarrett Fiske has been the starting goaltender in 12 of his 15 appearances this season (6-3-4, 2.10 GAA, .927 SV%). Alexandros Aslanidis (six starts in eight appearances — 4-2-0, 2.23 GAA, .913 SV%) and Troy Kobryn (two starts in six appearances — 0-2-0, 2.91 GAA, .905 SV%) have also made starts for AIC.

SERIES HISTORY
• The pair of games with AIC will be the second and third instances that the two programs will be squaring off against each other. It is the first time the two programs are meeting since Dec. 3, 1963, in which the Big Red posted a 7-0 victory over the Yellow Jackets at Lynah Rink.

THE LAST TIME AGAINST AIC
By Michael S. Friedman

Cornell Daily Sun

View edition HERE

ITHACA, N.Y. (Dec. 3, 1963) – With the top line of Jerry Kostandoff, Murray Stephen and Jim Stevens leading the way with four goals, the Cornell sextet made it three in a row as it routed American International College, 7-0, before about 2,000 fans at Lynah Hall last evening.

Cornell's sophomore goalie Errol McKibbon had an easy time of it as he was called upon to make only nine saves. It was McKibbon's second consecutive shutout as this past Saturday the Big Red white-washed Penn, 13-0.

Kostandoff tallied two goals, his fourth and fifth of the season. His linemates, Stephen and Stevens added a goal apiece. It was Stephen's fifth goal of the young season and Stevens' fourth.

The other Cornell goals were scored by wing Pete Clark, captain Steve Poole and defenseman George Walker.

HARVARD NETS OVERTIME WINNER, SNAPS MEN'S HOCKEY'S WIN STREAK AT FOUR
ITHACA, N.Y. (DEC. 2, 2022) – Harvard's Sean Farrell deposited his own rebound past Cornell goaltender Ian Shane 1:11 into overtime to aid the No. 7-ranked Crimson to a 2-1 victory over Cornell in the latest installment of the bitter rivalry between the two Ivy League programs before a sold-out crowd of 4,267 at Lynah Rink on Friday night.

The victory for Harvard snapped Cornell's four-game win streak.

Farrell and Matt Coronato each registered two-point nights for the visiting Crimson. Joe Miller scored the other goal for Harvard.

Mitchell Gibson made 22 saves between the pipes for Harvard, who has now won 14 of its last 16 ECAC regular-season games, dating back to last season.

Travis Mitchell scored the lone goal for Cornell with Sean Donaldson and Tim Rego being credited with assists. Shane made 21 saves in the defeat for the Big Red.

MITCHELL SCORES EARLY, SHANE LOGS 11 SAVES IN SHUTOUT OVER DARTMOUTH
ITHACA, N.Y. (DEC. 3, 2022) – An early goal by Travis Mitchell, and an 11-save performance by Ian Shane, helped guide the Cornell men's hockey team to a 1-0 shutout over Dartmouth in front of another sold-out crowd at Lynah Rink on Saturday night.

Matt Stienburg and Gabriel Seger helped set-up Mitchell for his second goal in as many nights for Cornell, who enters its three-week break with a 7-5-0 overall record and a 5-3-0 mark in ECAC Hockey play.

Cornell stymied Dartmouth's offense throughout the night, yielding just 11 shots on the night. The Big Red ended up outshooting the Big Green by a 27-11 margin, which included a 21-5 mark in the final 40 minutes of play.

2022-23 Roster

If you’ve never been to a Big Red hockey game at Cornell’s James Lynah Rink, there are quite a few things you’ve never experienced. You’ve never camped out in line just to get season tickets and ensure your spot as one of the raucous and devoted "Lynah Faithful." But most importantly, if you’ve never been to Lynah, you’ve never really experienced all the best that college hockey has to offer.

Lynah Rink, which turned 65 years old in 2022, is the home of Big Red hockey. The rink, which was dedicated April 6, 1957, was named in honor of the late James Lynah (class of 1905), director of athletics at Cornell from 1935-43.

• Cornell will head to the Capital Region where the Big Red will play its first true road game since Nov. 12.

• The Big Red will square off against Union on Jan. 6 at Messa Rink at Achilles Center before heading to Troy to take on RPI the following night at Houston Field House.

Photos credits: Eldon Lindsay/Cornell Athletics; Taylor Wildes/AIC Athletics