OPENING FACE-OFF: After posting a 1-0-1 weekend versus Army and Niagara, Colgate (2-2-3) returns to action as it opens its ECAC Hockey schedule with a pair of games at Starr Rink on Silver Puck Weekend. On Friday, the Raiders host Harvard (1-0-0) at 7 p.m. in the 69th meeting between the two programs. The following afternoon, Colgate will take on Dartmouth in a 4 p.m. matinee. It will be the 82nd meeting between the Raiders and Big Green. The Raiders will be in search of ending home winless skids against both schools.
MEET THE HEAD COACH: Don Vaughan is in his 17th year at the helm of the Colgate Raiders. The 1984 graduate of St. Lawrence enters the campaign as the program's all-time winningest coach with a 271-255-62 mark. On February 16, 2008, he became the all-time winningest coach with his 252nd victory as Colgate blanked Union 8-0. On November 11, 2007, the President of Colgate, Rebecca S. Chopp, announced the creation of the Donald F. Vaughan Endowed Coaching Chair for Men's Hockey.
STRONG OPENING NIGHT STARTERS: In its last seven ECAC Hockey season openers, Colgate is 5-1-1. The Raiders won four consecutive league openers between 2002 and 2005 – two of those were overtime victories. Colgate opened the season with Quinnipiac the previous two seasons and posted a 1-0-1 mark, including a 1-0 blanking of the Bobcats last year. The only blemish during this streak is a 2-1 loss at Yale on November 3, 2006.
RAIDERS SUCCESSFUL ON THESE DATES: Colgate sports a combined 8-1 record in games played on these dates. The Raiders are 1-1 in games played on November 6 and an unblemished 7-0 in games played on the seventh.
THIS DATE IN COLGATE HOCKEY:
11-7-08: Francois Brisebois netted the game's lone goal and Charles Long posted his first collegiate shutout in a 1-0 defeat of Quinnipiac in the ECAC Hockey season opener in Hamden, Conn. Brisebois took a pass from David McIntyre and banged it in the cage on a five on three at 8:43 of the third. Long made it stand up with 19 saves in the victory as Colgate improved to 4-1 on the young season.
SERIES RECORDS: Harvard holds a commanding 44-18-6 lead in the series that began back in 1961. The Raiders are 4-5-2 in the last 11 meetings against the Crimson, including the pair of games played last season. Harvard and Colgate battled to a 2-2 draw at Starr Rink and then the Crimson posted a 3-2 victory in Cambridge on February 13. The Raiders are trying to snap a three-game winless skid versus Harvard at Starr Rink. Their last win came back on February 17, 2006 in a 4-1 victory. Since then, Harvard is 1-0-2 in its last three trips. The last four meetings have been determined by one or fewer goals and last two meetings in Hamilton have ended up in 2-2 ties. Colgate sports an 8-12 record in games determined by one goal versus Harvard; 1-4-6 in overtime games.
Dartmouth holds a slim 39-38-4 advantage over Colgate in a series that dates back to the 1928-29 season. The Raiders lost the first dozen games to Big Green to start the series. In the last 10 contests, Dartmouth is 7-2-1 against Colgate. The teams split the 2008-09 series, both winning 1-0 in the opponents' own barn. Colgate's win at Thompson Arena on Valentines Day 2009 snapped a seven-game winless skid to Dartmouth. The Raiders are 19-13-2 overall in games played in Hamilton. Colgate is 13-11 in one goal games and 5-3-4 in overtime contests versus Dartmouth.
LAST YEAR VERSUS HARVARD: Colgate went 0-1-1 against the Crimson. In the opener at Starr Rink, Colgate jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Austin Smith and Jason Williams only to watch the 18th-ranked Crimson tie the score at 2-2 as Alex Killorn flung a shot from outside that ended up in the net. Charles Long saved 30 shots in the tie. In the second game, Chris Huxley's power play goal at 10:42 of the third proved to be the game winner in a 3-2 victory. Trailing 2-0, Colgate received goals from Jason Fredricks and David McIntyre to knot the game at 2-2 early in the third. Brian Bessette saved 20 shots in the loss for Colgate.
LAST YEAR VERSUS DARTMOUTH: Both goalies stole the show in the opposition's barn. Jody O'Neill saved 28 shots and Adam Estoclet scored on the power play 52 seconds into the third as Dartmouth posted a 1-0 victory at Starr Rink. The Raiders returned the favor on Valentines Day as Charles Long stopped 28 shots and David McIntyre netted the only goal from Brian Day and Joe DeBello at 6:19 of the third as Colgate prevailed over the 19th-ranked team. Long saved 50 of 51 shots thrown his way in the two games, while O'Neill turned aside 52 of 53.
LAST WEEKEND RECAP:
Lots of firsts happened in Colgate's 4-4 draw with Army Friday evening at Starr Rink. Kurtis Bartliff posted his first multi-point game (two assists); Jeremy Price scored his first collegiate goal; Mike Leidl was credited with his first assist as a Raider and Jason Williams tallied his first goal of the year. Colgate never trailed in the game. Nick Prockow gave the Raiders a 3-2 in the early stages of the third. The Black Knights evened the score in the 18th minute of the third period to force overtime. Both teams needed to kill off penalties in the extra session. Brian Day, who scored his fourth goal of the year earlier, made a game saving play with three minutes left in overtime as he swiped away a puck that was ready to cross the goal line to give Army the victory. Alex Evin stopped 21 shots.
Colgate scored three-consecutive goals in a 4-2 victory over Niagara. Austin Smith connected for two goals, including the go ahead goal at 6:50 of the third. Francois Brisebois tacked on an insurance goal on the power play at 15:47. Colgate trailed 1-0 and 2-1. Nick Prockow tied the game at 2-2 with his second of the season from Smith and Corbin McPherson at 14:28. Colgate out shot Niagara 32-20. Charles Long stopped 18 shots to pick up his first victory of the year in net.
TOP DOG: Both game winning goals for Colgate this season went to Austin Smith. The sophomore is one of 20 players in the country to have two game winners at this juncture which is tied for the national lead. Smith beat RIT with his second career shorthanded goal and then scored Colgate's third goal in the 4-2 victory over Niagara. He is currently tied for 57th with Brian Day for goals per game (0.57) and is tied for 69th in the country averaging a point per game (4-3-7).
BALANCED SCORING: After seven games, Colgate has 18 players with at least one point and 10 players with at least one goal. Austin Smith enters the weekend with a team best seven points on four goals and three helpers, while returning All-American David McIntyre is second on the team in scoring with six points – all assists (ranks tied for 45th with 0.86 assists per game). Seven players have four or more points thus far. Rewind to last year at this same juncture of the season, the Raiders had 14 different players with at least one point and only six goal scorers through seven games.
ALREADY AHEAD OF LAST YEAR: Sophomores Nick Prockow and Matt Firman have already surpassed their offensive output from the 2008-09 season. With his two goals and an assist last weekend versus Army and Niagara, Prockow increased his offensive output to five points (2 goals, 3 assists), which breaks his four-point season of a year ago. Firman has two assists on the year thus far. In 33 games for the Raiders, he scored a goal.
CLOSING IN ON THE CENTUARY MARK: With three more assists last weekend, David McIntyre is inching closer to the century milestone for career points at Colgate. The senior needs two more points to become the 48th player in the program's history to achieve this plateau.
FRESHMEN IMPACT: After seven games, the Colgate freshmen have integrated themselves rather well as far as posting points. The freshman class has accounted for five goals and 10 assists in the early stages of the season. Heading into the second meeting with Niagara, the previous four games saw a freshman tally their first collegiate goal in each game. Kurtis Bartliff netted his first goal in the 1-1 tie with nationally ranked Nebraska-Omaha, while Christian Long found the back of the next the following night against the Mavericks. Against UMass-Lowell, it was Robbie Bourdon's turn to light the lamp. Last Friday saw Jeremy Price open the scoring versus Army. Bartliff is tied for third on the team with five points and is tied for 31st nationally among rookies with 0.71 points per game. Thomas Larkin has posted four assists and is just off the national list for points per game for a defenseman. Long leads the Raider newcomers with two goals.
AHEAD OF PACE: Some people thought it was hilarious, while others shook their collective heads in disbelief regarding Colgate's national record 19 overtime appearances during the 2008-09 season. Don't look now, but the Raiders are ahead of their record pace of a year ago. Colgate posted its third overtime game in the year's first six games last Friday versus Army. The Raiders tallied their third overtime game of the year in the 2-2 tie versus Harvard on November 22 – the 10th game.
PK STILL RANKED AMONG TOP 20: After killing off 10 of 11 man advantages last weekend versus Army and Niagara, Colgate moved up the national rankings from 13th to ninth in penalty kills. In seven games, the Raiders have posted a penalty kill rate of .895 (34 of 38). North Dakota leads the nation at .964 (27 of 28) heading into this weekend.
ANOTHER STREAK SNAPPED: When Nebraska Omaha defeated Colgate 4-1 two Saturday's ago at Starr Rink, it snapped an amazing streak of consecutive games decided by one goal or less. The last 11 games of the 2008-09 season and the first three of the 2009-2010 campaign were decided by one or fewer goals. The last Colgate game that was determined by more than one goal was a 4-2 defeat at St. Lawrence, January 31, 2009. Colgate went 6-4-4 during this stretch. Twenty five of Colgate's games in 2008-09 were determined by one or fewer goals – Colgate went 9-9-7 overall in those types of games.
A RECAP OF THE OVERTIME STREAK: Colgate entered the 2009-2010 campaign having played seven consecutive overtime games, which dated back to the end of 2008-09 season. The Raiders went 3-2-2 down the stretch in these games – the two losses coming to Quinnipiac in a best of three series in a first round ECAC Hockey Tournament clash in Hamden, Conn. The streak began at home with a 2-2 tie versus Union on February 20. Colgate would go on to beat Rensselaer (2-1); tie Brown 3-3 in Providence and then upset #11 Yale (3-2) in front of a national TV audience in New Haven all before the meetings with the Bobcats. Quinnipiac won the opener 3-2; then Colgate rallied from a two-goal deficit late in the game for a 5-4 victory to force a third game. The Bobcats prevailed 4-3 in the final game of the series. The Raiders stretched the streak to eight with a 4-4 tie at Niagara last Friday evening, but was broken the following night in a 3-2 regulation victory at RIT. It was Colgate's first regulation victory since a 1-0 defeat of Dartmouth on Valentines Day at Thompson Arena.
SHOULD OVERTIME HAPPEN: If it happens, eyes need to focus on two of Colgate's best ever goal scorers in overtime in David McIntyre and Austin Smith. McIntyre is tied for second all-time with three over-time game winners. He needs one more to tie Jon Smyth for first. One of McIntyre's goals lifted Colgate by Clarkson in the third and final game of an ECAC Hockey quarterfinal as the Raiders advanced to the Final Four as the seventh seed. Smith is tied for sixth having scored two overtime winners as a freshman last season versus Lake Superior State and Quinnipiac. McIntyre has six overtime points (3 goals, 3 assist) and five of them came last season. The only game he didn't record a point in a game winner was Colgate's 5-4 victory over Quinnipiac in the second game of the three-game series.
PRESEASON HONORS: David McIntyre has been named a pre-season first team all-ECAC Hockey honoree by the coaches and media. In addition, the senior has been named as a preseason first team all-American by Inside College Hockey and once again named to the all-College Hockey News first team. In 2008-09, McIntyre finished with 21 goals and 43 points, both ranked among the leaders nationally. His point total was the highest for a single season since Andy McDonald's 58 in 1999-2000. He was a first team all-league honoree; a finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, a first team AHCA/Reebok Eastern All-American, a first team all-American by Inside College Hockey and was a selection to the all-College Hockey News team. In addition, McIntyre is one of 20 candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for men's ice hockey.
GETTING DRAFTY: Colgate has six NHL draft picks on its 2009-2010 roster. David McIntyre was drafted in the fifth round of the 2006 Draft by the Dallas Stars. Last year, his rights were traded twice in two months and now stands property of the New Jersey Devils. Corbin McPherson (New Jersey, 3rd, 2007), Brian Day (New York Islanders, 6th, 2006), Austin Smith (Dallas Stars, 5th, 2007), Jeremy Price (Vancouver Canucks, 4th, 2009), and Thomas Larkin (Columbus Blue Jackets, 5th, 2009) round out the Raiders' draft picks.
BLUELINE SHUFFLE: Colgate will have a revamped defense for the 2009-2010 season. Don Vaughan's squad lost five defensemen to graduation that combined to play close to 600 collegiate games. With the return of Corbin McPherson, Wade Poplawski and Kevin McNamara, the Raiders have 132 games of collegiate experience. Newcomers will need to make an impact on the blueline this season.
OH BROTHER: Charles and Christian Long are the first set of brothers to play for Don Vaughan at the same time. They hail from Cleveland Heights, Ohio and played junior hockey for the Brockville Braves of the CJHL. Charles and Christian have played three years together at different levels including helping St. Edwards High School to an Ohio State High School title.
