HAMDEN, CT. (11/7/08) – Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Que.) scored the game’s lone goal and Charles Long (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) stopped all 19 shots as visiting Colgate blanked Quinnipiac 1-0 in the ECAC men’s hockey opener for both teams, Friday evening at Banknorth Center.

 

Colgate, 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the league, grabbed the lead for good as David McIntyre (Pefferlaw, Ont.) found Brisebois in front of the cage on a five on three and the sophomore banged it behind Nick Pisellini for the game’s lone tally at 8:43 of the third period.  It was Brisebois’ fourth goal of the year and third on the power play.

 

“It was a pretty evenly matched contest,” said Colgate head coach Don Vaughan.  “Charles played very well and made some critical stops when he had to make them.  It was a very hard fought win on the road, which is always nice to get.”

 

Long slammed the door on the Bobcats making six saves in the first, eight in the second, and then polished off the game by stopping five Quinnipiac shots in the third for his first career shutout at Colgate.  It’s the Raiders’ first shutout since Mark Dekanich blanked Union 8-0 on February 16, 2008.

 

The contest saw 27 penalties called between the two teams, a dozen against Colgate.  Once again, the Raiders’ penalty kill came up big in killing off seven Bobcat man advantages and stretched their streak to killing off 22 consecutive opponent power plays.  After five contests, teams are 1 of 29 against the Colgate penalty kill thus far.  The Raiders went one of nine on the power play on the evening.

 

Pisellini, a freshman, turned aside 25 of 26 shots in the loss for Quinnipiac.

 

The victory marks the first time the Raiders have improved to 4-1 after the first five games since the 2004-05 campaign.  The win also marked the fourth-consecutive time an outcome has been decided by one goal or fewer between these two schools.

 

The Raiders return to action Saturday afternoon as they square off against the defending league champion, Princeton.  The opening face-off is set for 4 p.m. at Hobey Baker Rink.  The Tigers were blanked by Cornell 1-0 in their ECAC Hockey opener, earlier Saturday afternoon.