The honeymoon is almost over, but in the meantime, Niagara is up next for the No. 6 men’s hockey team. The Purple Eagles are the last non-conference game until Thanksgiving on the Red’s schedule, and face-off is at 7 p.m. in Lynah Rink. Niagara is 0-3-1 this season, but pushed No. 5 Michigan in a close 3-2 loss on Oct. 22. Cornell split its two exhibition games last weekend, routing Windsor, 7-0, then falling to the U.S. Under-18 National Team, 3-2, on Saturday. Despite the loss to the youngsters on Saturday, the Red saw balanced scoring throughout the weekend, which head coach Mike Schafer ’86 identified as one of the keys to the upcoming season. Seven players scored goals on the weekend — senior Blake Gallagher, juniors Patrick Kennedy, Dan Nicholls, Riley Nash and Tyler Roeszler, and freshman Nick D’Agostino. D’Agostino and Roeszler both scored twice against Windsor.

Sophomore goalie Mike Garman got the start and the shutout against Windsor, while incumbent starter senior goalie Ben Scrivens got the start against Team USA. Scrivens’ 2008-09 marks of a .931 save percentage and 1.81 goals-against average rank among the best in the nation.

Niagara has played three of Cornell’s ECAC Hockey foes this season — a 4-4 tie with Colgate and 4-3 losses to Clarkson and St. Lawrence.