THE PUCK DROP
• Coming off a two-game sweep of then-No. 11-ranked Minnesota Duluth at Lynah Rink last weekend, the No. 10-ranked Cornell men's hockey team opens ECAC Hockey play this weekend with its first pair of conference matches against Ivy League rivals Yale and Brown.
• Puck drop for both contests are scheduled for 7 p.m., with game action broadcast live on ESPN+. Jason Weinstein (play-by-play) will call the contest over the airwaves on WHCU (870 AM, 97.7 FM, whcuradio.com).
SEGER, SHANE EARN WEEKLY AWARDS
• Senior forward Gabriel Seger and junior goaltender Ian Shane were both recognized by ECAC Hockey on Monday for their performances in last weekend's sweep of Minnesota Duluth.
• Seger was named the conference's Forward of the Week, presented by Bluebird by Lark Hotels, after posting a three-point weekend. In the season opener, Seger assisted on sophomore forward Dalton Bancroft's first-period power-play goal, before posting his first career multi-goal game when he scored the latter two goals for Cornell in its 3-0 triumph the following night.
• Shane earned MAC Goaltending Goaltender of the Week honors following his 35-save weekend, which featured him posting a 0.50 goals-against average and a .972 save percentage.
KYLE PENNEY. SHARPIE.
• Junior forward Kyle Penney accomplished a rare feat last weekend in the Big Red's sweep of then-No. 11-ranked Minnesota Duluth.
• Penney became the second Cornell player in the Big Red's modern era (since 1957-58) to register game-winning goals in each of the first two games to begin a season. The only other player on record to accomplish the feat was Cornell Athletics Hall of Famer Lance Nethery, against Canadian-based programs York and Western Ontario, to open the 1976-77 campaign.
1K SHANE
• Junior goaltender Ian Shane, after posting 35 saves last weekend against Minnesota Duluth, became the 21st goaltender in Cornell's modern era (since 1957-58) to reach the century mark for career saves with the Big Red.
• Shane is six saves shy of assuming 20th place on Cornell's all-time career saves list, surpassing former netminder Steve Napier, who stopped 1,008 shots in 39 appearances over a two-year stretch from 1976-78.
SHANE'S WORLD
• Junior goaltender Ian Shane has excelled inside the blue paint during his time on East Hill, posting a 29-16-4 record with a 1.67 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in his 52 appearances between the pipes.
• In his last 10 games, Shane has a 7-3-0 record with a 0.80 goals-against average and a .960 save percentage, stopping 192 of 200 shots faced. During the span, he has allowed one goal or less nine times.
• Shane's 1.67 career goals-against average paces all active Division I goaltenders with at least 25 games played, and is one of two goaltenders to have a career goals-against average below 2.00 (Minnesota State's Keenan Rancier — 1.87).
• Additionally, Shane's goals-against average is the fourth-best by a Cornell netminder since 1957-58, trailing Dave LeNeveu (1.29), Ken Dryden (1.60), and Matthew Galajda (guh-LIE-duh) (1.64).
• Along with his impressive goals-against average, Shane ranks second among Division I goaltenders in save percentage (.924), trailing Notre Dame's Ryan Bischel (.925). Shane is also tied with Bischel for the third-most shutouts by active Division I goaltenders. Shane's nine shutouts — which are tied with Andy Iles '14 for the eighth-most in Cornell program history — trail Michigan Tech's Blake Pietila (20) and Minnesota's Justen Close (11) for the Division I lead in shutouts.
STOUT DEFENSE
• Historically, Cornell has boasted one of the nation’s stingiest defensive units, as the Big Red has ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense in the last six seasons it has competed in.
• So far this sseason, Cornell is tied with its bitter rival Harvard for the fewest goals allowed with one. Last year, the Big Red yielded 66 goals against, which stood as the second-fewest in Division I last year, trailing ECAC Hockey counterpart Quinnipiac by just two goals (64).
• Since the 2016-17 season, Cornell has given up a Division I-best 390 goals allowed. Harvard is second with 106 more goals conceded in two more games.
POINT SEGER
• Senior forward Gabriel Seger is coming off a stellar first season with Cornell after transferring from ECAC Hockey rival Union. Seger registered 30 points (7-23—30), becoming Cornell's first 30-point scorer since Morgan Barron (14-18—32) in 2019-20.
• Seger's 30-point season marked the first time a Big Red player logged 30-plus points in their first season at Cornell since Riley Nash (12-20—32) did so in his freshman year in 2007-08. It was also the seventh instance of a Big Red player registering at least 30 points in their first season with Cornell over the last 40 seasons.
• Although transfers are generally rare at Cornell, Seger became the third player in the modern era (since 1957-58) to record 30-plus points in the season following his transfer to Cornell. Seger joined Tom Whitehead
(10-20—30) and Doug Berk (11-21—32), who both accomplished the feat in 1978-79 after transferring from fellow Ivy League institution, Penn, after the Quakers' varsity hockey program was disbanded.
THANKS FOR THE HELP!
• The 23-assist season by Seger last year was the most helpers by a Big Red player since defenseman Yanni Kaldis had 24 assists in 2018-19. It was the most helpers recorded by a forward since Greg Miller registered 25 assists during the 2010-11 campaign.
• Over his two seasons at Union and his current tenure with Cornell, Seger has accrued 53 career assists. Entering this week's contests, according to data from College Hockey News, Seger is tied with Clarkson's Ayrton Martino for the 11th-most assists by an active Division I player.
• Seger's 53 assists are also tied with Martino for the second-most helpers by an ECAC Hockey player. Martino's teammate, Mathieu Gosselin, paces the conference with 58 assists.
• Should Seger register at least 20 assists this season, he would become the first Cornell player with consecutive 20-assist seasons since defenseman Yanni Kaldis accomplished the feat in both the 2018-19 (24) and 2019-20 (20) seasons.
• No Big Red forward has had consecutive 20-assist seasons since Riley Nash did so in each of his three seasons on East Hill (2007-10). Nash had 20 assists in his freshman season before posting 21 and 23 assists in his respective sophomore and junior seasons.
LOOKING TO PICK IT BACK UP…
• Over its last 10 games, dating back to last year, Cornell has been on a torrid defensive stretch, giving up just eight goals (0.80 goals per game) and registering a .945 save percentage. All figures above are the best figures for Division I programs during the span.
• Along with its Division I-leading figures, Cornell has allowed the third-fewest shots against dating to this past Feb. 18, trailing fellow Ivy League opponents Dartmouth (163 shots in six games) and Princeton (170 shots in six games). The Big Red's 19.9 shots allowed per game ranks as the best by any Division I program in the span, and is 3.5 shots fewer than fellow ECAC Hockey counterpart Quinnipiac, who assumes second-place with a 23.4 average.
• Faceoffs have been another strength of Cornell as of late, as the Big Red has gone 338-of-615 in draws, posting a 55.0 percent win rate. Only Minnesota State (57.1%), Quinnipiac (55.9%), LIU (55.7%), and Air Force (55.7%) have higher conversion rates at the faceoff dot in the span.
KILL, RED, KILL
• The Big Red concluded the 2022-23 season successfully killing off its opponent's last 18 power-play opportunities. Dating back to Feb. 18, Cornell has successfully killed 23 of its last 24 penalties, good for a .960 conversion rate, which ranks third in the nation during the span.
• Fellow ECAC Hockey programs Union (33-of-34 — .971) and Quinnipiac (56-of-58 — .967) are the pair of teams ahead of the Big Red with higher penalty kill percentages during the timeframe.
• After allowing its lone goal on the power play last Friday, Cornell has killed off its last five penalties — including a five-minute major penalty over the final 2:44 of last Saturday's shutout of Minnesota Duluth.
FRESH(MAN) START
• When opening a brand-new season, the uncertainty of how first-year players will acclimate to the college game is seemingly always questioned. That has not been the case for Cornell over the last six seasons.
• With freshman forward Ryan Walsh netting his first collegiate goal in Cornell's season-opening 4-1 victory over Minnesota Duluth last Friday, the Big Red has now had a freshman score in its previous six season openers. That streak is the longest in program history for freshmen players, who were first eligible to play on the varsity team beginning in 1975-76.
• Cornell had a pair of six-year spans in which the Big Red had at least one player score in the season opener in their first year of eligibility on the varsity squad, which came in 1966-71 and 1973-78. The streak from 1966-71 was solely accomplished by sophomores, while the span from 1973-78 was done by sophomores in the first two years (1973-74) and by freshmen in the final four (1975-78).
• Walsh joined the likes of Winter Wallace (2022-23), Ondrej Psenicka (2021-22), Jack Malone (2019-20), Max Andreev (2018-19), and Morgan Barron (2017-18). Anthony Angello also scored in his first collegiate game in 2015-16, giving Cornell a first-year goal-scorer in seven of the previous eight seasons in which the Big Red has competed.
IT'S JUST A NUMBER…
• A number never worn in program history and a digit never donned by a blueliner in 64 years highlight this season's sweater numbers worn by Cornellian players.
• Freshman Jonathan Castagna will be the first player to don a No. 38 sweater for the Cornell men's hockey program and be the first Big Red forward to wear a sweater number north of 30.
• Former Big Red goaltender Eddy Skazyk is the only player to have worn a sweater number higher than Castagna's No. 38 when he wore No. 39 for two seasons from 1994-96.
• Fellow freshman Marian Mosko is the first defenseman to wear No. 13 since the first bearer of the oft-deemed "unlucky" No. 13, Lane Montesano, who split time as both a forward and defenseman from 1957-59.
• Mosko is the first true defenseman in Cornell history to wear No. 13, which has only been worn six times in the modern era of Cornell hockey, dating back to 1957-58. The freshman blueliner is just the second Big Red player to wear No. 13 over the last 57 seasons, joining former Big Red forward Jack Malone, who wore the sweater number for the previous four seasons.
ECAC HOCKEY PRESEASON POLL
• Cornell was picked to finish second in the ECAC Hockey Coaches' Preseason Poll, which ECAC Hockey announced on Sept. 27.
• Following a vote among the 12 head coaches in ECAC Hockey, the reigning national champion, Quinnipiac, received 10 of the 12 first-place votes, finishing with a league-leading 120 points. Cornell was right behind the Bobcats as the only other program to garner 100 points with its 108-point total. Harvard (98) and Clarkson (92) finished third and fourth, respectively, while splitting the remaining two first-place votes.
• St. Lawrence (79), Colgate (68), RPI (53), and Union (45) were in the middle of the poll, finishing in positions five through eight. Rounding out the 12-team poll were the other four Ivy League programs in Princeton (44), Yale (35), Dartmouth (30), and Brown (20).
CORNELL + PAIRWISE = WISE PAIR
• Cornell is one of seven programs to have finished in the top 15 of the pairwise rankings at least six times since 2015-16.
• Denver has finished within the top 15 seven times during the span. Minnesota State, St. Cloud State, North Dakota, and Ohio State are the other programs, along with Cornell, who have finished within the top 15 on six occasions.
• Over the last eight seasons, Cornell has had an average finish of 11.4 in the pairwise rankings, which ranks seventh among Division I programs. The Big Red's average finish is the best of any ECAC Hockey program, edging Quinnipiac (12.5), and is 3.7 spots ahead of Boston University (15.1), which has the highest average of any Hockey East program.
CORNELL'S MELTING POT
• This year's roster of 28 players features six countries (United States, Canada, Czechia, England, Slovakia, and Sweden), 13 states (New York, Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin), and three Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia) represented.
• Junior forward Ondrej Psenicka is one of six players to hail from Czechia. The other Czech Division I hockey players include Providence's Jaroslav Chmelar, UMass' Michael Hrabal, St. Lawrence's Tomáš Mazura, Niagara's Josef Mysak, and Ferris State's Stepan Pokorny.
• Freshman defenseman Liam Steele is one of two Division I hockey players from England, joined by Alaska sophomore forward Cade Neilsen, whose hometown is in Nottingham.
• Luke Devlin, a freshman forward, is one of eight Division I players to call Tennessee home. The others play for Air Force, Army, Dartmouth, Ferris State, Miami, Michigan Tech, and Ohio State.
ONE OF THE BEST
• Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Ice Hockey, is one of 10 active collegiate hockey head coaches with 500 career victories behind the bench.
• Schafer's 522 wins currently rank as the 26th-most by a head coach in college hockey history. Schafer is 14 wins shy of matching former Minnesota State bench boss Don Brose (536) for the 25th-most.
• Among active Division I men's head coaches, Schafer has the fourth-most wins, trailing Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold (619), Mercyhurst's Rick Gotkin (598), and Notre Dame's Jeff Jackson (578).
• Regardless of level or gender, Schafer's 522 victories are the ninth-most by active college hockey head coaches.
TOWERING OVER THE COMPETITION
• Cornell enters this season ranked tied for the sixth-tallest program in Division I hockey, as the program has an average height of six feet, nine-tenth inches. Miami and Western Michigan are the other two programs to average out at the same height as the Big Red.
• Ahead of the Big Red in height are Lindenwood (6'1.5"), Vermont (6'1.1"), Boston University (6'1.0"), St. Cloud State (6'1.0"), and Clarkson (6'1.0").
• Last season, Cornell held an average height of 6'1.0", which was the second-tallest in Division I hockey.
PUTTING ‘BIG’ IN BIG RED
• In addition to its height, Cornell has the third-highest average weight in Division I hockey, posting an average weight of 192.4 pounds. Only Notre Dame (195.6 pounds) and UMass Lowell (192.7 pounds) are ahead of the Big Red.
• Cornell has the highest average weight of any ECAC Hockey program, edging Colgate, who has the fourth-highest average at 191.3.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
• Cornell has 10 freshmen on this year's roster, tied for the seventh-most in Division I hockey this season with AIC, Augustana, Denver, and Michigan State, according to data compiled by College Hockey, Inc.
• Robert Morris, who brought back its program following a three-year hiatus, paces the nation with 16 first-year players. Air Force, Army, Boston College, Lake Superior State, and Mercyhurst all have 11 freshmen on their rosters.
• The Big Red's age, as of Oct. 1, averaged out to 21 years and four months, which was tied with Providence for the seventh-youngest in Division I hockey. Programs younger than the Big Red include Boston College (20 years and 6 months), Denver and Harvard (20 years and 9 months), Boston University (21 years and 1 month), and Michigan State and Wisconsin (21 years and 2 months).
• Along with its 10 freshmen, Cornell is tied for the fifth-fewest seniors on a roster this year (2). Alaska, Augustana, Lindenwood, and Minnesota State are the quartet of programs with one senior this season.
