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ITHACA, N.Y. -- After the longest stretch of road games to open the season in nearly a half a century, the Cornell men's hockeyt eam opens the regular-season home slate on Saturday, taking on Colgate in a 7 p.m. contest at Lynah Rink. The Big Red took the first game of the season series against the Raiders with a 4-1 victory on Thursday night at Starr Rink in Hamilton, N.Y. Saturday night's contest can be heard in Ithaca on WHCU 870 AM with Jason Weinstein on the call. Fans around the world can also view live streaming video through a subscription to the Cornell RedCast system, while live stats for Saturday night's game will be available through a link posted at www.CornellBigRed.com.

Cornell, which entered the weekend ranked 14th in the nation, ran its unbeaten streak to three straight games to open the 2008-09 season with its 4-1 win at Colgate on Thursday. Colin Greening had a goal and an assist and Evan Barlow chipped in with two assists as the Big Red tallied three power-play goals in the victory. The special teams units staked the Big Red to a 2-0 lead just seven and a half minutes into the game, and goaltender Ben Scrivens did much of the rest, stopping 40 Colgate shots while extending his shutout streak to 206:44 before allowing a goal, giving him the longest such streak in Cornell history. Cornell was also a perfect 8-for-8 on the night in the penalty kill, moving to a perfect 19-for-19 on the year in that department.

Cornell is led by 14th-year head coach Mike Schafer, who has compiled a 256-139-46 record and is in his  14th season. Schafer has guided the Big Red to four ECAC Hockey championships and six NCAA tournament berths during his tenure. Additionally, he led the Big Red to its last NCAA Frozen Four appearance in Buffalo in 2003. Schafer is assisted by associate head coach Casey Jones, assistant coach Scott Garrow and volunteer goaltender coach Ian Burt.

ABOUT COLGATE
The Raiders fell to 4-3 on the year and 1-2 in ECAC Hockey action with the loss to Cornell on Thursday night. Sophomore Brian Day, who scored his sixth goal of the season in the loss on Thursday, is tied with sophomore Francois Brisebois for the team lead with six points. In all, six different players have accounted for the 16 goals scored by the Raiders through the first seven games of the season. In goal, Charles Long stopped 12 of the 16 shots he faced against the Big Red before being lifted in favor of freshman Alex Evin late in the contest. Long has a 2.03 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage in six games this season. Colgate's power play, which had entered Thursday ranked eighth in the nation, took a big hit by going 0-for-8 against the Big Red, falling to 17.1 percent, while the penalty killing, which had allowed just one power-play goal all season, surrendered three in six Cornell opportunities to drop its percentage to 90.0 percent.

THE SERIES WITH COLGATE
With Thursday night's win, Cornell holds a 70-54-9 lead in the all-time series against Colgate, which dates back to the 1920-21 season. The two schools met three times last season, with the Big Red taking all three games. The Big Red took the opener, 2-1, behind an overtime game-winner from Colin Greening, then scored a 3-1 win the following night at Starr Rink in Hamilton. In the third meeting, Cornell claimed a 4-1 win in the consolation game of the ECAC Hockey tournament in Albany, N.Y. Since Mike Schafer took over the Cornell program, the Big Red holds a 20-10-4 lead in the series with the Raiders, including wins in each of the last five meetings.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END
With Brian Day's goal at the 59-second mark of the third period of Thursday night's game at Colgate, the shutout streak of Ben Scrivens came to an end at 206:44, dating back to last season. That mark surpasses a 39-year-old record held by Brian Cropper, who played 189:48 scoreless minutes in the 1969-70 season, and was just shy of the ECAC Hockey mark of 217:16, set last season by Colgate's Mark Dekanich. Even without last season's scoreless finish to the consolation game against Colgate, Scrivens' streak of 165:59 to begin the 2008-09 season would have still ranked second in school history.

COMING AT YOU LIKE A SPIDER MONKEY
With the Big Red's first five goals of the season coming from four different players, opponents have to respect every Cornell line, and not just the top two. Tyler Mugford leads the team with a pair of goals in three goals after entering his senior seson with just one goal in each of his first three years. Additionally, seven different players have at least one assist this year, with Evan Barlow tallying two. In total, 10 different players have at least one point on the year.

MAKING THEM COUNT
Through the first three games of the season, Cornell has been out-shot by a margin of 16.3 shots per game. The Big Red is averaging just 20 shots on goal, while allowing 36.3 shots to reach the net.

UP NEXT
Cornell remains at home for the annual rivalry game against Harvard on Nov. 21 at Lynah Rink. The Big Red will then take on Dartmouth the following night. Both games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. puck drop.