January 1, 1999

PC MEN'S HOCKEY (7-8) VS. CORNELL - Tue., Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Ithaca, N.Y.

TUESDAYS'S GAME... Is the Friars' 16th game of the season and eighth road game (2-5). Tuesday's game will be the Friars' first game in 25 days.

NEXT GAMES... PC will return to HOCKEY EAST action with two games against Northeastern on Jan. 8-9. On Jan. 8, PC will play at Northeastern. The following night, the Friars will host the Huskies at Schneider Arena.

THE PROVIDENCE-CORNELL SERIES... Tuesday's game will be the 17th meeting between the two schools. Cornell leads the all-time series 8-7-1. The two teams first met on March 9, 1971 with Cornell defeating Providence, 6-3, at Lynah Rink. PC's last win against the Big Red was a 7-0 victory at Lynah Rink on Nov. 28, 1992. The Friars' last loss to Cornell was a 4-3 defeat in triple overtime in the opening game of the Syracuse Invitational Tournament in Syracuse, N.Y. on Dec. 27, 1996.

AT LYNAH RINK... PC holds a 3-5-1 record against the Big Red at Lynah Rink. Cornell won the first meeting between the two schools at the Lynah Rink, 6-3, on March 9, 1971 in the ECAC Playoffs. In that game, PC goaltender Brian Reynolds made 25 saves in the first period. The 25 saves still remains a single period save record at Providence College. The Friars' last win at Lynah Rink was a 7-0 decision on Nov. 28, 1992. The last time Cornell defeated PC at Lynah Rink was Jan. 7, 1984 (6-5).

LAST MEETING BETWEEN THE TWO TEAMS... In the last meeting between the two teams, Cornell defeated the Friars, 4-3, in triple overtime in the opening game of the Syracuse Invitational Tournament in Syracuse, N.Y. on Dec. 27, 1996. The game ended after Cornell's David Adler scored in the third overtime after 95 minutes and 14 second of action. It is the sixth longest game in NCAA history and the longest contest in the 48 seasons of Providence College hockey.

FRIARS VS. NON CONFERENCE OPPONENTS... PC has posted a 3-4 mark against non-conference opponents this season. The Friars are 1-1 versus CCHA teams, 1-1 against WCHA squads and 1-2 versus ECAC foes.

FRIARS VS. IVY LEAGUE FOES... Tuesday's game is PC's fourth game this season against an Ivy League opponent. PC has recorded a 1-2 mark against Ivy League foes in 1998-99 with its only win coming against Yale (5-3) on Nov. 28. PC's two losses were against Princeton (6-5) on Nov. 27 and Dartmouth (6-5) on Dec. 11.

FRIARS DEFEATED BY DARTMOUTH... The Friars' last game was Dec. 11 against Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. In that game, the Big Green defeated the Friars, 6-5, in overtime. PC's goals were scored by junior Doug Sheppard, senior Jon Coe, senior Troy Lake, sophomore Cole Gendreau and junior Jerry Keefe. Senior netminder Mark Kane made 22 stops in the loss.

FRIAR OFFENSE ON A TEAR... Providence College is one of the top offensive teams in the country. The Friars enter the game against Cornell averaging 4.12 goals per game. PC has scored five or more goals in eight of its 15 games this season.

HEAD COACH PAUL POOLEY... Is the 10th coach in the history of Providence College hockey. Since 1994, Pooley has compiled a 72-78-13 record and brought the Friars to two HOCKEY EAST Finals and one NCAA Tournament appearance. In 1994-95, Pooley became the first head coach to bring a team to the HOCKEY EAST Championship Game in his inaugural season behind the bench. In 1995-96, he guided the Friars to their second HOCKEY EAST title and first since 1985. Pooley also led the team to its eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The 38-year-old head coach came to PC after spending three years as an assistant coach at Lake Superior State (1991-94). He began coaching at his alma mater, Ohio State, where he served as an assistant to Jerry Welsh from 1988-91.

KEEFE LEADING FRIAR OFFENSE... Junior center Jerry Keefe is one of the top scorers in the nation. Keefe has registered 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 15 games this season. He is averaging 1.93 points per game. Keefe leads the team in assists (19) and points (29) and is tied for the team lead in goals (10) and power-play goals (four). He notched one goal in PC's 6-5 overtime loss to Dartmouth on Dec. 11. On Dec. 4, Keefe assisted on all three Friar goals, including the game winner in overtime, as PC earned a 3-2 victory against the Warriors. His three points against Merrimack on Dec. 4 marked the 16th multiple-point game of his career and his 10th this season. Keefe has tallied three or more points in four games this season, including two five-point games. On Nov. 27, Keefe recorded five points (two goals, three assists) in PC's 6-5 loss to Princeton at Schneider Arena. On Oct. 30-31, Keefe tallied eight points (three goals, five assists) in PC's two HOCKEY EAST wins against Boston University and earned HOCKEY EAST Player of the Week and U.S. College Hockey Online Offensive Player of the Week honors. On Oct. 31, he led the Friar offense with his first career hat trick, scored the game-winning goal and added two assists in the Friars' 6-4 win against the Terriers at Walter Brown Arena. In 67 career games, Keefe has registered 66 points (24 goals, 42 assists).

PISANI TIED FOR SECOND IN SCORING... Junior right wing Fernando Pisani is tied for second on the team in scoring with 23 points (five goals, 18 assists) in 15 games. Also, he is tied for the team lead in power-play goals (four) and is second in assists (18). On Dec. 4, he recorded three points (one goal, two assists) in PC's 3-2 overtime win against the Warriors at Schneider Arena. The three points against Merrimack on Dec. 4 was his 21st career multiple-point game and seventh multiple-point game this season. It also marked the 11th time in his career he has recorded three or more points in a game. On Nov. 27, Pisani notched four assists in the Friars' 6-5 loss to Princeton at Schneider Arena. The four-point effort marked the third time he has recorded four points in a game. A 1996 eighth-round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers, Pisani has recorded 87 points (33 goals, 54 assists) in 86 career games.

MIKE OMICIOLI TIED FOR TEAM LEAD IN GOALS... Senior left wing Mike Omicioli is tied for the team lead in goals (10) and and power-play goals (four) and is tied for second in scoring (23 points). He has scored one goal in five of the last six games. Omicioli scored the game-winning goal at 1:09 of overtime to give PC a 3-2 win against Merrimack on Dec. 4. He also added one assist, which was the 26th multiple-point game of his career and his seventh this season. On Nov. 6, Omicioli tallied two third-period goals and earned the game's No. 1 star in the Friars' 6-1 win against the UNH Wildcats at Schneider Arena. The two-goal effort was Omicioli's fifth career multiple-goal game. On Oct. 31, Omicioli recorded four assists in the Friars' 6-4 victory against BU at Walter Brown Arena. His four-assist effort against BU marked Omicioli's 12th game with three or more points. It also marked the seventh time in his career that he registered three or more assists in a game and the 10th time he posted more than two assists in a contest. He ranks 31st all-time in scoring at Providence College with 111 points (40 goals, 71 assists) in 112 games.

FIRST LINE PRODUCES... PC's first line of senior Mike Omicioli, junior Jerry Keefe and junior Fernando Pisani have recorded 75 of the team's 176 points (42.6 percent) this season.

KANE IN NET... Senior goaltender Mark Kane has started five of the last six games for PC. He recorded 22 saves in PC's 6-5 overtime loss at Dartmouth on Dec. 11. Kane registered 62 saves, posted a 2.48 goals against average and a .925 save percentage in PC's two games against Merrimack on Dec. 3-4. On Dec. 3, Kane recorded 34 saves in the Friars' 3-2 loss to Merrimack at the Volpe Complex. The following night, he recorded 28 stops in PC's 3-2 overtime win against Merrimack at Schneider Arena. In 40 career games, Kane has posted a 3.38 goals against average and an .889 save percentage.