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ECAC HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP, QUARTERFINALS (best of three)
GAME 1: 7 p.m. on Friday, March 15, 2013
GAME 2: 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, 2013
GAME 3 (if necessary): TBA on Sunday, March 17, 2013
SITE: TD Bank Sports Center ? Hamden, Conn.
2012-13 RECORDS: Cornell 14-14-3, 8-11-3 ECAC Hockey; Quinnipiac 24-5-5, 17-2-3 ECAC Hockey
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 14-7-2
LAST MEETING: Quinnipiac won, 4-1, on Feb. 8, 2013 in Ithaca, N.Y.
RADIO: WHCU 870 AM (Jason Weinstein)
LIVE VIDEO: www.americaonesports.com/partner_members.asp?id=407
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.prestosports.com/quinnipiac
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Cornell game notes (PDF)
Quinnipiac games notes (coming soon)
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ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell is 6-1-1 in its last eight games, including a two-game sweep of eighth-seeded Princeton last weekend in a first-round playoff series at Hobey Baker Rink. Junior goalie Andy Iles (14-14-3, 2.28, .916) made 26 saves to record his second shutout of the season in a 4-0 victory in Friday's Game 1, then senior defenseman Nick D'Agostino (6-10?16) scored third-period goals less than four minutes apart to spur a 4-2 win in Saturday's Game 2. ... Senior forward Greg Miller (14-18?32) continued his hot hand with three assists Saturday, giving him 11 points over his last six games and the lead in scoring. He is attempting to become the Big Red's first three-time scoring champion since current NHLer Matt Moulson did it in 2006. ... Sophomore Joel Lowry (12-10?22) provided a goal and an assist last weekend and has a team-high four-game point-scoring streak. He is second in team scoring, just ahead of classmates Brian Ferlin (7-14?21) and Joakim Ryan (3-18?21), the latter of whom leads defensemen in scoring. ... Senior forward John Esposito (11-4?15) leads the team with five power-play goals, just ahead of Lowry's four. ... Iles has started 67 consecutive games for the Big Red and is 6-1-1 with a goal-against average of 1.49 and .946 save percentage over the last eight games.
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ABOUT QUINNIPIAC
The Bobcats have been the nation's No. 1 team for more than a month now, having cruised to the ECAC Hockey regular-season title with a 17-2-3 record. Quinnipiac's rise was fueled by a 21-game unbeaten streak spanning three months. The Bobcats have gone 3-2-1 since, including wins over Clarkson, Yale and Dartmouth, losses to St. Lawrence and Harvard, and a tie against Brown. ... Senior forward Jeremy Langlois (12-16?28) leads the team in scoring, though classmate Jordan Samuels-Thomas (13-9?22) has the goal-scoring lead. ... Junior Connor Jones (9-8?17) has a team-leading five power-play goals. He typically centers a line with twin brother Kellen Jones (8-9?17) on the right wing. ... Senior goalie Eric Hartzell (24-4-5, 1.49, .936) has started 33 of the Bobcats' 34 games.
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THE SERIES WITH QUINNIPIAC
Cornell holds a 14-7-2 lead in the all-time series against the Bobcats, who joined the Division I ranks in 1998 with Rand Pecknold at the helm. The Big Red swept last season's series, but the Bobcats have a pair of 4-1 victories this season ? Nov. 10, 2012 at TD Bank Sports Center and Feb. 8 at Lynah Rink. The Bobcats have scored just three power-play goals in their last 48 chances (6.3 pct.) against the Big Red.
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POSTSEASON HISTORY WITH QUINNIPIAC
The Big Red is 3-3 against the Bobcats in postseason play, which includes winning two of three games in a 2011 ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink. The Bobcats' other two playoff wins against the Big Red came in a 2007 quarterfinal series at Lynah Rink. Cornell has won the only NCAA tournament clash between the teams, cruising to a 6-1 win on March 23, 2002 in an East Regional semifinal. This weekend's games will be the first time Cornell and Quinnipiac have squared off in the postseason at TD Bank Sports Center.
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ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Despite a late flourish, the Big Red has no home playoff games for the first time since ECAC Hockey went to its current playoff format before the 2002-03 season. The last time the Big Red didn't have home games in the postseason was 1999, when the league used a format where only the top five teams hosted playoff series. The current playoff format ensures a home playoff series for the top eight seeds. After this weekend's games at Quinnipiac, Cornell will have logged more than 2,600 miles on the bus in a span of 32 days.
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BREAKING THE FUNK
One of the most decorated teams in ECAC Hockey, Cornell has endured rare bumps in the road this season ? including a seven-game losing streak (from Jan. 19 to Feb. 9) and a stretch of 10 losses over 11 games (from Dec. 29 to Feb. 9). Both skids were the first of their kind since the Big Red lost 11 straight games from Dec. 23, 1992 to March 5, 1993. The Big Red responded by going 4-1-1 in its final six regular-season games ? which was second to only Rensselaer (5-1) for the hottest finish in ECAC Hockey. The Engineers' lone loss over the last three weeks was to Cornell on Feb. 23.
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100-POINT WATCH
With 13 points and an ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honor over his last eight games, senior forward Greg Miller has 97 points over his four years on East Hill. Miller is now just three points away from becoming the 48th player in program history to eclipse the 100-point plateau.
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ILES FILES
Junior Andy Iles earned ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors for the third time this season on Feb. 27 after coming up with 65 saves in a pair of victories over Rensselaer and Union the previous weekend. The first time Iles won the award was on Oct. 30 after the Big Red's two victories against Colorado College, including a season-opening shutout. Iles then stopped 26 shots in the Big Red's 5-1 victory over Michigan on Nov. 24 in The Frozen Apple to earn the league's weekly goaltending honor on Nov. 27. Iles was an All-Ivy League First Team and All-ECAC Hockey Second Team selection last season after earning all-league rookie team honors as a freshman.
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CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Cornell head coach Mike Schafer is quickly moving up? the ranks of the coaching fraternity in his win totals.? Now in his 18th season, Schafer has 346 career victories, ranking him second in ECAC Hockey. Schafer trails only Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold by 15 games. He is also tops among Ivy League coaches, with Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet up to 327 career victories in his 25th season as a head coach.
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WHO'S HOT
Senior forward Greg Miller had a six-game scoring streak snapped Friday at Princeton, but he responded with three assists the following night to give him six goals and a seven helpers for 13 points over the last eight games. The streak was Miller's longest since he had points in eight straight to begin the 2011-12 season and the Big Red's longest scoring streak of the season. The longest active scoring streak belongs to sophomore forward Joel Lowry, who has points in four straight.
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A BREAK WILL DO YOU GOOD
Sophomore forward John McCarron scored his first three goals of the season in three consecutive games from Dec. 28 to Jan. 4, and he's added four more since. It's a similar trend to his freshman season, when all six of his goals game in January, February or Match. All 13 of his career goals have now come after the December break for final exams and the holidays ? including four goals in the playoffs.
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REST OPTIONAL
Andy Iles was the only goalie in Division I to be used exclusively by his team this season, having now made 67 consecutive starts in the Cornell net. But he got a rare view from the bench for the final 31 seconds of the Feb. 23 game against Union, when senior Omar Kanji made his collegiate debut in goal on Senior Night. Iles was one of just two goalies to be used exclusively by his team last season, with Minnesota's Kent Patterson being the other. By starting and finishing all of the Big Red's games in 2011-12, Iles became the first goalie at Cornell to accomplish that feat since Darren Eliot in 1982-83, and the first Cornell sophomore to do so since Laing Kennedy in 1960-61 ? when the season was just 19 games long.
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POLLS PROSE
The Big Red is currently out of both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls, but it still appeared in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine a league-high 14 weeks this regular season. Despite being outside of the USCHO.com poll, Cornell holds a 7-6-1 mark in games against teams in the Top 20 at the time of the games.
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WE WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN
It has been 1,512 games since the Big Red has been shutout in back-to-back contests ? a streak that has been threatened twice in the last couple months. But Cornell bounced back from shutout losses to Brown and Princeton to keep the streak alive, dating back to December 1963 games vs. Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
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POWERFUL START
Senior forward John Esposito is tied for second on the team with nine goals ? the first four of which came on the man advantage. All five of the Big Red's goals in its two victories Oct. 26-27 over Colorado College came on the man advantage, including one strike on a five-on-three. It was the first time since 2000 that Cornell opened the season without scoring a five-on-five goal. The last time the team scored as many as five power-play goals in its first two games actually wasn't that long ago ? 2009, when it racked up six against Niagara and Dartmouth.
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FIVE-ON-THREE PROWESS
There are few situations in hockey more dire than when your team is facing a two-man disadvantage, but the Big Red has been impregnable in those scenarios so far this season. Cornell is a perfect 7-for-7 on the two-man disadvantage this season, spanning a total of 6 minutes, 18 seconds. Conversely, the Big Red offense has scored in two of its five two-man advantages this season ? John Esposito on Oct. 26 against Colorado College and Nick D'Agostino on Feb. 2 at Clarkson.
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HOBEY WATCH
The same three members of the Big Red who were nominated for the Hobey Baker Award in 2012 are back on the ballot in 2013. Senior defenseman Nick D'Agostino is one of the squad's tri-captains and leads the team in goals among blueliners, senior forward Greg Miller is on pace to lead the team in scoring for a third consecutive season, and junior Andy Iles is a reigning All-Ivy League First Team selection.
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BLANK YOU VERY MUCH
With its season-opening 2-0 victory over Colorado College, Cornell has recorded at least one shutout in each of the last 18 seasons. The last time the Big Red went a full schedule without posting a shutout came during the 1994-95 season under former coach Brian McCutcheon, as Cornell finished that year 11-15-4. The following year marked the first season for current head coach Mike Schafer, and his clubs have never gone a full year without recording a shutout.
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BE PROMPT
In 12 of the Big Red's last 20 games, a goal has been scored in the first four minutes of the first period ? the latest occurrence being Greg Miller's goal 2:03 into the Feb. 16 game at Harvard. In six of those games, Cornell has scored first.
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GOLDEN AGAIN
Sophomore forward Cole Bardreau won a gold medal while serving as an assistant captain for the United States at the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship earlier this month in Ufa, Russia. He then scored a goal and added an assist in his first game back with the Big Red last weekend against Union. It wasn't the first time Bardreau's earned gold with the U.S. either ? he also wore an ?A? while capturing gold at the IIHF Under-18 World Championship in April 2011. Sophomore defenseman Joakim Ryan was also among the 45 players who started the camp for this year's World Juniors before the roster was trimmed.
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FEEL THE DRAFT?
Cornell has eight players on the roster who have been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, including three picks from last June. Freshman defenseman Reece Willcox was selected in the fifth round by the Philadelphia Flyers, then sophomore forward John McCarron was snagged in the sixth round by the Edmonton Oilers. The San Jose Sharks then selected sophomore defenseman Joakim Ryan in the seventh round, giving the Big Red its most NHL draft picks entering a season since it had eight in the 2006-07 campaign. Other NHL draft picks on this year's team include sophomore forwards Brian Ferlin (Boston Bruins) and Joel Lowry (Los Angeles Kings), senior defensemen Braden Birch (Chicago Blackhawks) and Nick D'Agostino (Pittsburgh Penguins), and junior defenseman Kirill Gotovets (Tampa Bay Lightning).
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GLOBAL INFLUENCE
The Big Red has 11 players on the roster born in the United States, the second-highest total for a Mike Schafer-coached team at Cornell (trailing only the 12 it had last season). The Big Red also now has players native to seven different countries on its squad. Aside from the bulk of its roster hailing from the United States and Canada, Cornell also has a player from Belarus (Kirill Gotovets), Denmark (Christian Hilbrich), Finland (Teemu Tiitinen), Singapore (Dustin Mowrey) and South Africa (Armand de Swardt).
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CLOSER TO HOME
Hometown fans of the Big Red got a rare treat when goalie Andy Iles became the first Ithaca native to play for the team since Mike Tallman in 1988-89. Sophomore forward Kevin Cole then made his collegiate debut last season, marking the first time in at least 50 years ? and perhaps the first time in program history ? that two Ithaca natives have played for the Big Red in the same season. Cole was born in Ithaca and raised in nearby Lansing before heading off to junior programs in Syracuse and Cornwall, Ontario. His father, Dave, lettered for the Big Red in the 1981-82 season. Yet another Ithaca area connection came on board this season when the Big Red added junior defenseman Craig Esposito, who is also from Lansing and serves as one of the tri-captains on Cornell's men's golf team. Freshman forward John Knisley, who calls Pittsford, N.Y. home, also joins the Big Red this season to give Cornell five players that call Upstate New York home for the first time since 1963-64.
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FIRST 1,000 DOWN ...
The Big Red's 2-1 win over Quinnipiac in game one of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals in 2011 marked the 1,000th victory all-time for the Cornell men's hockey program. Cornell became the 17th program to reach that milestone.
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COLLECTING HARDWARE
While sophomore forward Cole Bardreau became the first Cornell player to earn gold with the U.S. at the IIHF World Junior Championships, junior goalie Andy Iles was the first to earn a medal with Team USA. Iles claimed bronze at the 2011 tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., with the only player before to compete with the United States being goaltender Jean-Marc Pelletier in 1998.
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FOR THE RECORD
With three consecutive shutouts in November 2011, Andy Iles recorded the second-longest shutout streak in program history, spanning 213 minutes, 35 seconds over a five-game span. The only Cornell shutout streak that went longer was posted by Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens, who held the opposition scoreless for 267:11 during the 2010 playoffs. But Iles wasn't done there ? he posted back-to-back shutouts against St. Lawrence and Clarkson on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3, respectively, spurring a other lengthy shutout streak of 152:36 that ranks ninth all-time in Big Red history. His success has stretched into the postseason, as evidenced by a career-high 46 saves in a March 9 double-overtime victory against Dartmouth. Iles was third in the nation with six shutouts and 10th in goal-against average (2.12). He also set a record for longest streak in ECAC Hockey play of 286:54 from November 2011 to January 2012.
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INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE
Junior Kirill Gotovets got a taste of the big time when he was selected to represent his native Belarus in the 2010 IIHF World Championships ? not an age group World Championships (though he did play for Belarus at the U20 World Championship as well) ? playing against some of the best players the world has to offer. He played in three of Belarus' eight games at the World Championships, recording two shots and two minutes in penalties, helping his nation to a 10th-place finish.
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NOT JUST A DEFENSEMAN
Sophomore blueliner Joakim Ryan enters the weekend tied for team lead with 18 assists and 21 points. He's also been on the ice for 39 of the team's 78 goals to date, which ranks second on the team only to leading scorer Greg Miller (40). The production is nothing new to Ryan, who set a program record for goals by a freshman defenseman last season with seven.
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UP NEXT
A series win over Quinnipiac would vault the Big Red into its sixth consecutive appearance at the ECAC Hockey Championship semifinals. This year's championship weekend will be staged March 22-23 in Atlantic City, N.J. A series loss to Quinnipiac would end Cornell's season.
Source: http://www.cornellbigred.com/news/2013/3/12/MICE_0312134555.aspx
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