#9 Men's Ice Hockey's Game Against #10 UMass On Saturday, Nov. 28 On NESN At 3 PM

No. 9/10 Quinnipiac University Bobcats (11-1-0) vs.
No. 10/9 University of Massachusetts Minutemen (9-2-0)
Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009 - 3 p.m.
TD Bank Sports Center, Hamden, Conn.

New England Sports Network (NESN)
Bill Schweizer - play-by-play
Rich Coppola - color commentary
Bill Mecca - Sideline report

AM 1220 WQUN
Don Boyle - play-by-play
Chris Kotsopoulos - color commentary

Top Ten Showdown
The Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team, fresh off their first-ever top-10 ranking in program history and a 5-1 ECAC Hockey win against Princeton, hosts the University of Massachusetts, ranked 10th in the USCHO.com Poll and 9th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m. Quinnipiac enters the game with an overall mark of 11-1-0 for the country's best winning percentage of .917, and have won consecutive games. UMass is currently 9-2-0 overall.

Broadcast News
Saturday's match-up can be seen live on New England Sports Network (NESN) at 3 p.m. from the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. Bill Schweizer will have the play-by-play and will be joined alongside by color commentator Rich Coppola, while Bill Mecca will have the sideline report.

On The Air
Don Boyle will have the play-by-play for Saturday's game, with color commentary provided by Chris Kotsopoulos on AM 1220 WQUN. Bobcat fans can also click the speaker icon on the schedule at www.QuinnipiacBobcats.com.

Scouting The Minutemen
The University of Massachusetts, ranked 10th in the USCHO.com Poll and 9th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 9-2-0, including a 5-2-0 mark against Hockey East opponents. UMass has won four of their last five games, and eight of their last 10. The Minutemen are 2-0-0 this season against ECAC Hockey teams after a 5-2 win against RPI on Oct. 8 and a 4-3 overtime victory against Yale on Nov. 24. UMass features the nation's leading scorer in James Marcou, who's four goals and NCAA Division I-best 17 assists give him 21 points in 11 games for a 1.91 point per game average. Casey Wellman has nine goals and nine assists for 18 points for a 1.64 per game clip, the fifth best average in the country. Justin Braun (3-10-13; 1.18) and Will Ortiz (3-8-11; 1.00) round out the quartet of UMass skaters averaging a point per contest. The UMass offense as a whole ranks fifth nationally with 43 goals in 11 games for a 3.91 per game average. The Minutemen's power play unit also ranks third with 16 goals in 55 chances for 29.1%.

All-Time Against Massachusetts
Saturday's game will mark the first meeting between Quinnipiac and Massachusetts in either program's history.

Welcome To The Top 10
For the first time in its Division I history, the Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey team were ranked in the top 10 in both major polls released on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. The USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Division I Men's Ice Hockey Poll ranked Quinnipiac 10th, up three spots from the Bobcats' first appearance in the poll last week. The USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I poll had Quinnipiac in the 9th spot.

INCH Power Rankings
Quinnipiac was ranked 9th nationally in InsideCollegeHockey.com's INCH Power Rankings, its highest ranking all-time in that poll.

PairWise Rankings
Quinnipiac are also ranked fourth in the most the most recent PairWise Rankings, an objective formula used to determine the NCAA Tournament field.

First Time
Quinnipiac has won its last seven games, all ECAC Hockey contests, to remain perfect in ECAC Hockey play and secure first place in the league standings after three weeks of league play.The Bobcats have never opened their ECAC Hockey schedule with seven wins in their first seven games.

Against The Nation
The Bobcats are currently 11-1-0 overall for the top winning percentage (.917) in NCAA Division I hockey. In addition, Quinnipiac also boasts the top scoring offense in the country with 51 goals in 12 games for a 4.25 goals per game average. The Bobcats' defense, which ranks 10th nationally, has allowed 26 goals in 12 games for a 2.17 per game average, giving them the second best scoring margin, +2.08, in the nation.

Number Crunching
Quinnipiac is one of four teams in the nation, which also includes ECAC Hockey teams Yale and Cornell as well as Bemidji State, averaging at least four goals per game. The Bobcats have scored five goals in a game six times, and have been held to fewer than four goals twice through their first 12 games.

Closing The Door
Last season, Quinnipiac was 16-0-0 in games in which it led after the second period. In their last 41 games in that scenario, dating back three seasons, Quinnipiac is undefeated at 38-0-3 when playing with a lead heading into the final frame. The Bobcats last loss,when leading after the second period, came in the 2006-07 ECAC Hockey Championship Game when Clarkson scored four third period goals to come-from-behind and take the league crown.

TD Bank Sports Center History
Since the door's opened on Quinnipiac University's state-of-the-art arena on Jan. 27, 2007, the Bobcats have played 49 games on their home ice, posting a 30-16-5 record.

Same Ole Wong
Senior Brandon Wong (Victoria, B.C.) leads Quinnipiac with six goals and 11 assists for 17 points, good for 13th in the country with 1.42 points per game.

Wong Dinger
Wong's goal against Colgate on Friday, Nov. 20 was the 54th of his career, moving him ahead of Bryan Leitch for seventh place on the career-goals chart in the Bobcats' Division I era. With his 55th career goal against Princeton on Wednesday, Wong trails Brian Herbert '03 for sixth place all-time with 56 career goals. Wong also ranks 11th in Quinnipiac's DI history with 119 career points.

I Love Lamp(e)
Senior Eric Lampe (Madison, Wisc.) also ranks in the top 20 in scoring with nine goals and six assists for 15 points at a 1.36 per game clip. His 0.82 goals per game rank eighth nationally.

Making A Name For Themselves
Wong and Lampe make Quinnipiac one of six teams nationally, along with UMass, Cornell, Bemidji State, Yale and Minnesota Duluth, to have two players ranked in the top 20 in scoring.

Lang(lois) Of The Lost
Freshman Jeremy Langlois (Tempe, Ariz.) became the first of Quinnipiac's 10 freshman skaters to post a multiple-goal game this season with two against Colgate on Friday, Nov. 20. Langlois posted another two-goal outing against Princeton on Wednesday, giving him two, two-goal games in his last three contests. Langlois leads all Quinnipiac freshmen with five goals and four assists for nine points.

Freshman Experience
First-year Bobcat Jeremy Langlois ranks among the top 25 freshmen in NCAA Division I hockey in points per game with a 0.75 average.

Dan The Man
Sophomore Dan Clarke (Belleville, Ont.) is one of two goalies in the country, along with University of Denver's Marc Cheverie, with a 1.000 winning percentage at 7-0-0, including six consecutive wins.

Barron Down
Loren Barron became the second Quinnipiac freshman this season to post a two-goal game after he scored twice against Princeton on Wednesday, Nov. 25. Barron's two goals were his first points of the season.

Spreading The Wealth
Quinnipiac has had 15 different players score a goal through the Bobcats' first 12 games this season. The Bobcats had 18 players score through 39 games last season.

Youth Movement
Last season, through 39 games, Quinnipiac freshmen accounted for 18 of Quinnipiac's 124 goals (14.5%). This season, through the team's first 12 games, Quinnipiac freshmen have 13 of the Bobcats 51 goals for 25.4%.

Clarke's Bars
Clarke ranks third in save percentage at .939 while also ranking 15th with a 2.01 goals-against average. Clarke holds two of Quinnipiac's three wins against ranked opponents this season.