After seeing its season opener canceled on numerous occasions, the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team is scheduled to open the 2020-21 season on Thursday afternoon, hosting No. 12/13 Quinnipiac in an ECAC Hockey Contest at Appleton Arena. The Saints will follow with a game at Quinnipiac on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Saints will be looking to rebuild after one of the toughest seasons in program history, as the team went 4-27-5 overall and 2-18-2 in ECAC Hockey play. St. Lawrence ranked 11th in ECAC Hockey in scoring last year, averaging just 1.78 goals per game, and the team ranked last in scoring defense, allowing 3.61 goals per game.

While the Saints struggled through last year, the regular season ended on a positive note, with St. Lawrence beating Harvard 6-3 in their final home game, then wrapping up the regular season with a 2-2 tie with Colgate the following week.

No fans will be allowed entrance at Appleton Arena this season. However, all home games and road games against ECAC Hockey opponents will be streamed live on ESPN+ in the United States and on Stretch Internet internationally.

THURSDAY, 4 p.m. | APPLETON ARENA

Watch: ESPN+ (US) | Stretch Internet (International)
Listen: 95.3 The Wolf / 92.7 WQTK
Live Stats: https://saintsathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary

SUNDAY, 1 p.m. | FRANK PERROTTI JR. ARENA

Watch: ESPN+ (US) | Stretch Internet (International)
Listen: (Not available due to Quinnipiac COVID protocols)
Live Stats: https://gobobcats.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary

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SAINTS GAME NOTES

• The last time the Saints opened the season in December was the 1960-61 season, when the team defeated Sir George Williams 14-1 on December 16. The December 31 season opener is the latest for the team since the 1950-51 season, when St. Lawrence opened the year with a 7-2 win over Rensselaer.
• The Saints have a new look roster this season, with 10 first-year players. The Class of 2024 includes six forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender.

SEASON OPENER NOTES

• The Saints have lost their last four season openers and are 38-43-2 in all-time season openers. St. Lawrence has fared well in home openers in Canton, going 30-20-0 on home ice, including a 28-18-0 record at Appleton Arena.
• The last time the Saints won their season opener was in 2015, defeating Niagara by a 5-2 score at Appleton Arena on October 9, 2015.
• St. Lawrence lost its season opener last year at Mercyhurst, 3-2, in overtime. The Saints trailed 2-1 but tied the score with a power play goal early in the third period to force the extra frame. The Lakers earned the win with a goal 1:11 into overtime.

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS

• Quinnipiac enters this week's series with St. Lawrence ranked 12th (USCHO) and 13th (USA Today/USA Hockey) in the national polls. The Bobcats have won four straight games, most recently sweeping American International by 8-3 and 3-2 scores in a home-and-home series on December 26-27. Quinnipiac also swept Holy Cross and Sacred Heart this season, but was swept by Bowling Green.
• Odeen Tufto is off to a hot start for the Bobcats, ranking second nationally in points per game with 1.88 on the strength of two goals and 13 assists. Tufto was a Second-Team All-ECAC Hockey selection last season. The Bobcats also return Third-Team All-ECAC Hockey honoree Peter DiLiberatore on defense.
• The Bobcats' offense is ranked fourth nationally, averaging 4.25 goals per game. In addition to Tufto, Zach Metsa has already reached double digits in scoring with two goals and eight assists for 10 points. Ethan de Jong, Ty Smilanic and Desi Burgart have each scored five goals this season. de Jong has been a key component of a strong power play for the Bobcats; all five of his goals have come on the power play, and Quinnipiac has converted 14-of-47 opportunities, a rate of 29.8%.
• Senior netminder Keith Petruzzelli has started all eight games for the Bobcats, posting a .933 save percentage and a 1.82 goals against average. He made 26 saves in a 3-0 win over Holy Cross on December 23 for his first shutout of the season and seventh of his career.

TRENDING

• While the Saints struggled offensively last season, the team did see a marked increase in production over the final four weeks of the season. After averaging just 1.64 goals per game in the first 28 games of the season, St. Lawrence scored 18 goals over the final eight games, an average of 2.25 per game, an increase of more than 37%.
• David Jankowski was one of the main reasons the Saints saw in increase in production at the tail end of the season. Jankowski registered three goals and three assists over the final six games of the year. He had missed 11 straight games earlier in the season due to injury.
• Aleksi Peltonen also had a nice finish to the season, scoring two goals and adding three assists in the final six games to account for more than a third of his scoring for the season.

SERIES HISTORY

• St. Lawrence trails Quinnipiac in the all-time series with a 15-17-5 record against the Bobcats. Quinnipiac has won the last eight games in the series, including series sweeps in each of the last three seasons.
• St. Lawrence's last win against the Bobcats came in the first game of the teams' ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series (2-0) on March 10, 2017. Quinnipiac came back to win the next two games to advance to the conference semifinal round.