In preparation for the 2016-17 season, the Cornell men’s hockey program has identified its next generation of leaders, selecting senior forward Jake Weidner as team captain. Fellow classmates Jeff Kubiak and Patrick McCarron will serve as the alternates.
“All three young men are well respected by their peers,” head coach Mike Schafer ’86 told Cornell Athletics. “Each of them over time has developed the attributes to carry on the tradition of Cornell hockey.”
A play-maker, Weidner set a career-high in points this past season with five goals and 10 assists. Although this season was also a career-high in penalty minutes and a low in plus/minus, he helped lead the charge in the Red’s bout with Quinnipiac in the ECAC quarterfinals, scoring twice and assisting once in the three-game series.
Solid in faceoffs, Weidner led the team in faceoff percentage with a cool 56 percent at the dot.
Serving under Weidner are Kubiak and McCarron, who have been alongside the new captain for their entire Cornell careers. Kubiak led the team in scoring last season with 27 points in 10 goals and 17 assists. None of these was bigger than a top-shelf last-minute goal against Princeton to secure a win for the Red. Later in the season, he also assisted on sophomore forward Anthony Angello’s overtime winner against Colgate.
After a memorable season and summer for the winger, where he was one of 11 players nationally to participate in two NHL prospect development camps, Kubiak’s numbers have made him a player to watch out for in the upcoming season.
Rounding out the captaincy core is senior defenseman Patrick McCarron, one of only Red two defensemen to appear in every game last season. The six-foot-three defender also set a career high in points last year on two goals and 10 assists. McCarron had a consistent presence on the Red’s penalty kill unit and attended the Detroit Red Wings’ prospect development camp this past summer.