Never before has Cornell hockey opened a season in such dramatic fashion. Junior goalie Ben “Mr. 0” Scrivens turned away all 68 shots he faced this weekend to shutout both No. 9 Princeton and Quinnipiac. Yet Cornell managed just one goal on the road trip and the Red rode home with three points in perhaps its most difficult test of the year.

Balanced team play, solid defense and a well-placed shot by senior forward Tyler Mugford helped the men’s hockey team to a successful, three-point opening weekend of conference play on the road. The Red knocked off defending ECAC Hockey and Ivy League champ Princeton, 1-0, on Friday before battling to a scoreless tie against Quinnipiac on Saturday.

The women’s hockey team started its regular season play this weekend with two frustrating home games — a 6-3 loss to Princeton on Friday and a 2-2 tie with Quinnipiac on Saturday. In both games, penalties seemed to be the downfall for Cornell.

Although the hockey team is the last Division I program to begin its regular season, the Red will do so in impressive fashion, facing off against the reigning ECAC champion Princeton Tigers today at 4 p.m. — the earlier start time is due to the fact that the Red’s season debut will be nationally televised on ESPNU. Tomorrow evening, Cornell will complete its weekend road trip against Quinnipiac. The Tigers (1-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC Hockey) swept the season series last year against the Red (0-0-0, 0-0-0), but Cornell is excited to finally face an opponent in a different uniform, according to senior co-alternate captain Tyler Mugford.

The women’s hockey team will begin league play this weekend when it faces Princeton today and Quinnipiac tomorrow, both at home.

Sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense. Sometimes it just doesn’t add up quite right. Sometimes, you do a lot of things right and still lose. Princeton’s 31-26 win over Cornell Saturday was exactly one of those times. Head coach Jim Knowles ’87 stared at the stat sheet after the game, a look of bewilderment on his face, while he ticked off one stat after another — 555 total yards of offense, an early, 13-0, lead, 29 first downs, an edge in possession time and third-down conversion rate.

To have something so close and then have to watch it slip away is often harder than if you had never hoped to be able to achieve it in the first place. The volleyball team came very close to defeating a strong Penn team this weekend, but despite stellar play that was at times spectacular, the Red couldn’t come up with the big plays when it needed them most, falling in the fifth set, 3-2. Cornell also competed against Princeton, but was outplayed by a balanced Tiger defense and attack that refused to let Cornell steal a set, supported by a boisterously supportive home crowd.

Senior co-captain quarterback Nathan Ford had no problems mobilizing the Red’s powerful passing attack, accumulating 431 yards in the Red’s 31-26 loss to Princeton Saturday afternoon. The rhythm of the offense was thrown off balance once it reached the red zone, only scoring on four of six opportunities. In the red zone, Cornell only scored two touchdowns and settled for two other field goals. The inability to put seven points on the board as opposed to three served to be crucial in the team’s five point defeat.

Shouts of joy rang out three times at Berman Field on Saturday. Unfortunately for the men’s soccer team, hosting Princeton in an afternoon matchup, it was the visiting players who ran to congratulate each other after each of their goals, as Princeton defeated Cornell, 3-0, in the Red’s second-to-last home matchup of 2008.

Cornell prepares to host Princeton tomorrow afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Cornell offense will attempt to redeem itself after posting a season-low seven points at Brown last Saturday.