Colgate Travels To Face Quinnipiac In First Round of ECAC Hockey Tournament

Brian Day has 12 points in his last 11 games.

HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/4/09) – The Colgate men's hockey team travels to the Constitution State for a best of three series with Quinnipiac, as the 2009 ECAC Hockey Tournament gets underway Friday evening at four different sites. The winners will advance to the league quarterfinals for another best of three series.

The Raiders, who have advanced to two ECAC Hockey semifinal berths in the last three seasons, will carry the 10th seed into this year's event. Colgate, 11-16-7 overall, enters the weekend playing its best hockey of the season. In their last five games, the Raiders have posted a 3-0-2 record, the last four contests winding up in overtime. In Colgate's last outing, it rallied from a one-goal deficit late in the third period en route to posting a thrilling 3-2 overtime upset of 11th-ranked Yale, last Sunday at Ingalls Rink. That tie gave Colgate 16 overtimes this season, which tied the all-time national record set last year by Minnesota.

Colgate leads the all-time series over Quinnipiac dating back to the 2005-06 season, 7-3-2. The Raiders swept the Bobcats this season, claiming a 1-0 victory on November 7 in Hamden and then a 3-2 overtime victory, February 7 at Starr Rink. In the first contest, Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Que.) tallied the lone goal at 8:43 of the third and Charles Long (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) saved all 19 shots thrown at him for his first career collegiate shutout. In the second meeting, Peter Bogdanich (Burnaby, B.C.) scored twice, including the game winner in overtime and David McIntyre (Pefferlaw, Ont.) netted a goal and two assists in the victory. Bryan Bessette (Melrose, N.Y.) saved 33 shots in his collegiate starting debut en route to earning his first victory as a Raider.

This will be the second time the two schools have squared off in the ECAC Hockey Tournament. After falling in the opener 3-0 in game one of a quarterfinal series in the 2006 event, Colgate rallied with consecutive 5-3 and 4-0 victories over the Bobcats to advance to the semifinals in Albany.

This year's Raiders' offense is led by the trio of McIntyre, Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas), and Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.). The threesome has accounted for nearly 60 percent of Colgate's goal scoring this year.

McIntyre (20-21-41) enters the weekend tied for first in ECAC Hockey in goals (20) and tied for second in points (41). The junior posted three points in his last performance at Yale, including scoring the game-tying goal with less than two minutes left to help force overtime. McIntyre is tied for 10th nationally in points per game (1.21), 12th in goals per game (0.59), and ranks tied for ninth with four game-winning goals.

Day (13-11-24) heads to Quinnipiac with at least one point in his last 10 games. The sophomore has six consecutive outings of at least one assist and in seven of his last eight games. In the victory over Yale, Day dished off two assists, including helping on the game winner in overtime. He ranks in a tie for sixth among ECAC Hockey goal scorers. Day has four goals and 12 points in his last 11 games.

Smith (13-13-26) is one of the top scoring rookies in the league. The freshman ranks in a tie for sixth in the conference with Day in goal scoring and is 20th nationally in points per game (0.76). In his last four games, Smith has scored twice, one with 35 seconds remaining in regulation to give Colgate a 2-2 draw with Union two weeks ago.

Bogdanich has played his best hockey against the Bobcats during his career. The senior, who has four goals and 14 points on the year, has scored six career goals versus Quinnipiac, two of which were game winners in overtime.

Over the last five games, Long has grabbed command of the starting spot in net for the Raiders. The junior has saved 133 of his last 141 shots during this recent span to lower his goals against average in league play to 2.06 (.923 save percentage). Long is 9-8-6 overall with a 2.42 goals against average and a .911 save percentage in all outings.

Quinnipiac, which enters the tournament as the seventh seed, finished the regular season with a 16-15-3 record, 9-10-3 in league play. The Bobcats split last weekend and posted a 4-1 victory at Dartmouth, last Saturday. Quinnipiac features an offense with a dozen players with 10 or more points, four with 10 or more goals. Bryan Leitch (11-42-53) leads the nation in scoring, while David Marshall (20-21-41) has exactly the same goal and point totals as does McIntyre. Jean-Marc Beaudoin (12-12-24) and Eric Lampe (11-12-23) round out the foursome with double figured goal totals.

Bud Fisher (5-7-1, 3.34 gaa, .895 save percentage) has played most of the time in the net for the Bobcats.

Game Notes

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