ITHACA, N.Y.-Junior goaltender Alex Sakellaropoulos turned away 21 of 22 shots, but No. 18 Cornell held off the Union College men's hockey team, 1-0, in the opening game of the ECAC Hockey first round on Saturday night at Lynah Rink. The Dutchmen go to 13-13-9 on the season, while the Big Red improves to 14-9-7.

Mitch Gillam stopped all 27 shots he faced to earn his seventh shutout of the season. Holden Anderson tallied the lone goal for the Big Red.

Union had the better of play in the first period, forcing Gillam into 13 saves while limiting Cornell to just four shots on goal.

Mitch Vanderlaan came close to putting the Big Red in front with one of the team's few opportunities of the frame, firing a wrist shot from the slot off the post.

Cornell had another quality scoring opportunity early in the second period, but Sakellaropoulos kept the game scoreless, kicking out the left pad to deny Anthony Angello's one-timer.

Gillam made his best save of the stanza in the final minute, denying Mike Vecchione's close-range redirection on a threaded pass from Matt Wilkins.

The game remained scoreless until 13:38 of the third when Anderson's point shot through traffic banked in off the post, giving Cornell a 1-0 lead.

Gillam came up big again with a rebound save on Vecchione with just over three minutes to play, helping the Big Red seal the 1-0 victory.

Union and Cornell faceoff in game two of the best-of-three series at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 5.