Saturday Update in PDF Format

HAMDEN, Conn. -- Coming off a season-opening victory at Princeton last night, the Cornell men's hockey team will seek its first four-point weekend of the year, taking on Quinnipiac in a 7 p.m. contest at the TD Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. Saturday night's contest can be heard on WHCU 870 AM in the Ithaca area with Jason Weinstein on the call, while audio of the contest will also be available through the Cornell Redcast subscription service.

Junior goaltender Ben Scrivens made 43 saves, two off his career high, as the Big Red opened the season with a 1-0 victory at reigning league champion Princeton on Friday afternoon in a nationally televised contest on ESPNU. Scrivens made 20 saves in the third period alone as the Big Red won its league season opener. Senior Tyler Mugford provided all the offense needed, scoring his fourth career goal for the game-winner early in the third period.

ABOUT QUINNIPIAC
The Bobcats dropped their league opener on Friday night as Colgate took a 1-0 victory away from the TD Banknorth Sports Center. In a penalty-filled contest that saw 76 minutes worth of penalties called, the Bobcats struggled with the man advantage, going scoreless in eight chances. Colgate, meanwhile, got a third period goal on one of its 11 power play opportunities. Quinnipiac's Nick Pisellini made 25 saves in taking the loss for the Bobcats. Pisellini has a .955 save percentage on the season after taking over the starting job from senior Bud Fisher. Offensively, the Bobcats are paced by junior Brandon Wong's six points on four goals and two assists and Bryan Leitch's six assists.

CORNELL AGAINST THE BOBCATS
The newest member of ECAC Hockey, Cornell and Quinnipiac have met just 10 times since the series began in 2000-01, with the Big Red holding a 6-3-1 lead in the series. Cornell took both of last year's contests, including a 5-3 victory on Nov. 3 at Lynah Rink before scoring an overtime winner on Feb. 22 in Hamden, Conn.

LATE STARTS
Not only was Cornell's season opener on Friday the latest for the Big Red since head coach Mike Schafer's second year in 1996-97, when Cornell opened on Nov. 8, it will also made the Big Red the last team in Division I college hockey to play its first regular-season game. The late start parallels that of the Cornell football team, which was scheduled to be the last team in Division I to begin play this season with its game at Bucknell on Sept. 20.

ECAC HOCKEY AND SEASON OPENERS
Friday's contest against Princeton was not only as the season opener, but also the first league game of the season. The last time the Big Red jumped directly into league play without any nonconference contests came in 1999-2000, when the Big Red opened with a 5-4 overtime loss at Rensselaer. Under the direction of Mike Schafer, Cornell has opened its season with a conference game just twice, with the first time coming in his second season behind the bench, a 5-4 victory at Brown.

MORE ON THE SEASON OPENER
While Cornell opening its year against a league foe is an uncommon occurence under Mike Schafer, the Big Red has had success in its first games of the year under the 14th-year mentor. In the 14 seasons under Schafer's direction, the Big Red is 9-4-1 in season openers.

...AND OPENING ON THE ROAD
The Big Red opened the 2008-09 season on the road for the second straight season and fifth time under the direction of head coach Mike Schafer. Last season, Cornell opened at Rochester Institute of Technology at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester and fell by a 4-1 margin. The last time Cornell opened back-to-back seasons on the road came in Schafer's first two years, opening at Michigan State in 1995-96 and at Brown in 1996-97.

STARTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
With Cornell's win at Princeton on Friday, the Big Red avoided starting the season with a loss for the second year in a row, another uncommon occurrence for the Big Red under Mike Schafer. In the modern era of Cornell hockey, from the opening of Lynah Rink in 1957 to the present day, the Big Red has only once dropped back-to-back season openers, that coming in the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons, falling to Rensselaer by a 5-4 score on Nov. 5, 1999, and dropping a 5-3 contest to Sacred Heart on Nov. 4, 2000.

MAKING THEIR DEBUT
A trio of freshmen made their collegiate debut on Friday at Princeton, with forwards Sean Collins and Locke Jillson and defenseman Keir Ross seeing ice time in the victory over the Tigers. Additionally, backup goaltender Mike Garman was in uniform for the win against Princeton. Cornell's two other freshmen, Jordan Kary and Sean Whitney, were scratches for the game, while senior transfer Derek Punches was also a scratch against Princeton.

UP NEXT
Cornell plays the annual home-and-home series with travel partner Colgate on a special Thursday-Saturday billing. The Big Red will travel to Hamilton for a 7:30 p.m. start time on Thursday in a game televised in Central New York by Time Warner Sports, while the Saturday contest at Lynah Rink, the regular-season home opener, is set for a 7 p.m. start.