OPENING FACE-OFF
Following its 6-2 loss to 10th ranked Cornell Tuesday evening at Starr Rink, Colgate (12-13-5, 9-8-1 in ECAC Hockey) embarks on its final regular-season ECAC Hockey road trip as it travels to face Dartmouth and Harvard. With four games remaining on the schedule, the Raiders head to New England still in contention for one of the top four spots, which would not only give Colgate a trip to the second round of the tournament, but a best of three home series. There is little margin of error for the Raiders, who stand in sixth place in the league standings, in their pursuit of a top four finish. Colgate sits in sixth place, only one point behind St. Lawrence and Rensselaer which are tied for fourth. However, the Raiders are also only one point a head of Quinnipiac and two points in front of Harvard, which is in eighth. Colgate loses any tiebreakers with St. Lawrence and Quinnipiac. Depending on the outcomes this weekend, it is possible the Raiders can clinch at least a first round best of three series to be played at Starr Rink by end of play Saturday evening. Colgate is looking to complete regular-season sweeps of Dartmouth and Harvard with a pair of victories. Should a weekend sweep happen, this Raider team will etch itself into Colgate lore of sorts. Only one other team in the history of the program has posted a weekend sweep on this particular road trip. The 1989-90 squad travelled north and downed Dartmouth 5-3 on February 9, 1990 and then blasted Harvard 6-1 the following evening in Cambridge.
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 281-266-64 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, former Colgate President, Rebecca S. Chopp, announced the creation of the Donald F. Vaughan Endowed Coaching Chair for Men's Hockey.
THESE DATES IN COLGATE HISTORY
Colgate is a combined 18-15-3 on these dates (11-7-0 on February 19 and 7-8-3 on February 20). The Raiders have won their last three clashes on the 19th, outscoring Harvard, Union and Rensselaer by a combined 16-5. Colgate has a three-game unbeaten streak on the 20th, which includes a 2-2 draw with Union last year at Starr Rink. When the Raiders step on the ice at Thompson Arena in Hanover, they will be celebrating a birthday. Back in 1916, the Raiders downed RPI 6-1 in the first game on record to be played by Colgate. Since no official box score can be found within the space at Room 107 at Huntington Gym, we will pick another game to highlight.
February 19, 2005 –Jon Smyth's power play goal at 17:23 of the second period from Tyler Burton powered Colgate to a 1-0 victory over visiting Rensselaer. Steve Silverthorn outdueled Engineer goalie Andrew Martin in the nets with a 21-save performance. Colgate's penalty kill held RPI scoreless in seven man advantage opportunities.
February 20, 2004 – The Raiders got all they needed at 18:37 of the opening period as J.R. Bria scored an even strength goal from Jon Smyth as Colgate held on for a 1-0 victory at Messa Rink. Steve Silverthorn saved 26 shots, 13 alone in the second period. The Raiders penalty kill didn't allow Union to score once in five tries.
COLGATE AT A GLIMPSE
The Raiders' scoring offense ranks 16th nationally (3.20 gpg). The offense is led by the trio of Austin Smith (11-23-34), David McIntyre (10-21-31) and Brian Day (18-12-30). Junior Francois Brisebois (12-10-22) added to his point total with two assists against Cornell, while fellow Quebecian Robbie Bourdon (8-12-20) became the fifth Raider to reach 20 or more points on the year. Colgate ranks 45th in scoring defense (3.37). Alex Evin (7-7-3, 2.92, .906) appears to have grabbed a firm hold on the starting position between the pipes for the Raiders starting the last 10 contests. Colgate's power play ranks 40th nationally (.170) and improved to 47th on the penalty kill (.783).
DARTMOUTH IN BRIEF
Dartmouth enters the weekend in 11th place in the ECAC Hockey standings with an overall record of 7-17-1, 5-12-1 in league play. Big Green is 3-3-1 in their last seven games, including a 4-3 victory over Rensselaer last Saturday in Hanover. Dartmouth has two goal scorers with 10 or more. Junior Adam Estoclet (10-16-26) leads the team in points, while fellow junior Scott Fleming (14-11-25) is the team's top goal scorer. Defenseman Evan Stephens (6-11-17) is also an offensive threat. In net, Jody O'Neill (6-13-0, 3.77, .890) has seen most of the action between the pipes. Dartmouth ranks tied for 36th in scoring offense (2.80 gpg), 52nd in scoring defense (3.68), 52nd on the power play (.142) and 53rd on the penalty kill (.759).
COLGATE/DARTMOUTH SERIES HISTORY
Friday's game will mark the 83rd meeting between Colgate and Dartmouth with the series all square at 39-39-4. The Raiders lost the first 11 games in the series that started back in the 1928-29 campaign. Colgate has won the last two games, 1-0 on Valentine's Day last year at Thompson and a 3-2 result earlier this season at Starr Rink. Dartmouth holds a slim 18-17-2 lead in games played in Hanover. Should Colgate prevail, it would be the first time it has won three-consecutive games in the series since 1995-96.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Colgate hasn't swept the regular-season series over Big Green since the 1999-2000 campaign, which serves as the longest dry streak of any Ivy League opponent. The Raiders tallied a 5-2 win in Hamilton on January 22, 2000 and then completed the sweep February 25. Since then, Dartmouth is 15-9-2 versus Colgate. The last time the Raiders have won two consecutive games in Hanover happened with a 5-3 victory on November 13, 1993 and a 5-1 win on February 3, 1995. Should Charles Long get the start at Thompson Arena, the senior has had great success versus Big Green. In three starts, he is 2-1 and has stopped 88 of 91 shots (.967). He got his second career shutout last season at Dartmouth in a 1-0 victory.
RAIDER SCORING VERSUS BIG GREEN
Including the earlier game at Starr Rink, seven current Raiders have at least one point versus Dartmouth with David McIntyre (4-0-4) and Brian Day (1-3-4) leading the way. Francois Brisebois (1-1-2), Kevin McNamara (1-0-1), Jason Williams (1-0-1), Austin Smith (0-1-1), and Nick Prockow (0-1-1) rounding out the scoring. McIntyre scored the lone goal in Colgate's 1-0 victory at Thompson last year on Valentine's Day.
LAST TIME VERSUS DARTMOUTH
Colgate completed the weekend sweep with Harvard and the Big Green at Starr Rink with a 3-2 victory on November 7. After a scoreless opening period, the Raiders received second period goals from David McIntyre and Kevin McNamara to stake Colgate to a 2-0 advantage. The game went into the final period deadlocked at 2-2. Brian Day was credited with the game winner with a power play goal at 4:44 of the third to give the Raiders the victory. Charles Long saved 38 shots, 30 coming in the opening two periods. Dartmouth's power play was held scoreless in seven man advantage opportunities.
HARVARD IN BRIEF
The Crimson reside in eighth place in the ECAC Hockey standings heading into their match-up with Cornell. Harvard, 7-15-3 overall and 7-8-3 in league play, ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over Union last Saturday. A pair of rookies lead the Crimson in goal scoring – Louis LeBlanc (10-10-20) and Conor Morrison (10-4-14). Alex Killorn (9-10-19) and Michael Biega (6-13-19) are only one point behind LeBlanc, a first round pick by the Montreal Canadians, for the team lead. Coach Ted Donato has equally used Kyle Richter (3-10-2, 3.64, .900) and Ryan Carroll (4-5-1, 2.97, .913). Harvard ranks 43rd in scoring offense (2.72), 49th in scoring defense (3.60), 31st in power play (.183) and 50th on the penalty kill (.778).
COLGATE/HARVARD SERIES
Including the earlier victory by Colgate, Harvard still owns a decisive 44-18-6 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to January 7, 1961. The last five games in the series have been determined by one goal or less with the Raiders holding a 2-1-2 record. Cambridge hasn't been kind to Colgate as it is 8-24-2 overall at Harvard. However, the Raiders' last win on the road was a 2-1 win on November 17, 2007.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
While the Crimson hold a huge lead in the series, Colgate's last regular-season sweep of Harvard came in 2004-05. Colgate downed Harvard 4-1 at Starr Rink on November 6, 2004 and then tallied a 3-1 road result on January 7, 2005.
RAIDERS SCORING VERSUS HARVARD
A dozen Colgate players have at least one point in their respective careers versus Harvard. With his four-point effort in the opener, David McIntyre (3-4-7) leads all scorers with Austin Smith (3-2-5) two points behind him. Closing out the scoring are Thomas Larkin (1-1-2), Jason Williams (1-1-2), Francois Brisebois (0-2-2), Brian Day (0-2-2), Wade Poplawski (0-2-2), Robbie Bourdon (1-0-1), Ethan Cox (1-0-1), Sean Carty (0-1-1), Corbin McPherson (0-1-1) and Nathan Sinz (0-1-1).
LAST TIME VERSUS HARVARD
David McIntyre tied a career high with a four-point evening on a goal and three assists as Colgate overcame two three-goal deficits with a four-goal third period in a 5-4 victory over Harvard, November 6 at Starr Rink. Austin Smith, who posted two goals and an assist, scored back to back goals at 10:33 and 12:45 to knot the game and Robbie Bourdon punched in the eventual game winner at 15:56 of the third. Colgate outshot Harvard 40-29. Charles Long entered the game in relief of Alex Evin to post 15 saves in 45:35 of action to get the victory. With his four-point effort versus the Crimson, McIntyre became the 48th player in the history of the program to reach 100 career points.
FIRST WEEKEND SWEEP IN A WHILE
When Colgate downed Harvard and Dartmouth to open its 2009-2010 ECAC Hockey slate, it was the first four-point weekend since February 15-16, 2008 when the Raiders blanked Rensselaer 4-0 and Union 8-0. Colgate's last non-conference weekend sweep was over Robert Morris on December 1-2, 2007.
LAST TIME OUT
Cornell scored three unanswered goals to break open a one-goal game in a convincing 6-2 victory over Colgate, Tuesday evening in front of a sellout crowd at Starr Rink. After cutting into Big Red's 2-0 lead on David McIntyre's 10th goal of the year, Colgate surrendered a goal with 11 seconds left in the opening period and trailed 3-1 heading into the first intermission. The Raiders were down 5-1 before Brian Day knocked in his 18th goal of the year at 17:13 of the third. Francois Brisebois closed with his fifth two-assist game of his career. Colgate outshot Big Red 35-26 in the loss.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
As of February 18, Colgate had a strong presence in national statistical categories as six skaters were ranked among the top 50 in the country. They are as follows …
Austin Smith – T20 in assists per game (0.77), T34 in points per game (1.13); T30 in shorthanded goals (1), T27 in game winning goals (3)
Brian Day – 10th in goals per game (0.64), T31 power play goals (6), T48 in points per game (1.07)
Thomas Larkin – T43 in points per game for a rookie (0.56)
David McIntyre – T25 in assists per game (0.72) and T48 in points per game (1.07)
Robbie Bourdon – T27 in game winning goals (3) and 18th in points per game for a rookie (0.71)
Jason Williams – T6 in shorthanded goals (2)
Alex Evin – 44th in goals against average (2.92)
30 SOMETHING
When Brian Day cashed in on his 18th goal of the year in the 6-2 loss to Cornell Tuesday night, he joined Austin Smith and David McIntyre with 30 points on the season. Heading into the weekend, Colgate is one of seven schools that have three 30-point scorers on their roster along with Denver, Miami, Minnesota-Duluth, Sacred Heart, Union, and Wisconsin.
EXTRA ATTACKERS
Brian Day's goal versus Cornell was Colgate's fourth goal on the season with an extra attacker. Francois Brisebois (vs. Yale – 2/12), Austin Smith (vs. Robert Morris – 1/23) and Corbin McPherson (vs. Brown – 11/13) are the others.
LE FAIT DE SE REDUIRE SUR 100
Francois Brisebois is three more appearances to becoming the fifth player on the Colgate roster to play in 100 collegiate games – joining Jason Williams, David McIntyre, Ethan Cox, and Brian Day. The junior is putting together his best season of his career with 12 goals and 22 points. He had eight goals and 27 points combined in his first two seasons in Hamilton.
ONE ON FRIDAY'S
In three of the last four Friday evening games, Colgate has surrendered only one goal. The Raiders posted a 4-1 victory over Robert Morris (1/22), a 6-1 win versus Clarkson (1/29) and then a 3-1 road decision at Princeton (2/5). The streak came to an end last Friday as sixth-ranked Yale posted a 6-3 victory at Starr Rink.
PLAYING SHORTHANDED
Brian Day and Jason Williams scored shorthanded goals 45 seconds apart on the same penalty kill early in the third period versus Brown. It marked the first time Colgate has posted two shorthanded goals in the same game since a 4-0 victory at Rensselaer on January 12, 2008. Mark Anderson and Ethan Cox did the damage. The last Time the Raiders had two shorthanded goals in the same period happened in the second when Ben Camper and Tyler Burton accomplished the feat in a 9-0 victory over Canisius at Starr Rink October 24, 2006.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE
Colgate enters this weekend with a 12-13-5 overall record and 9-8-1 in league action. A year ago after 29 games, the Raiders were 9-16-5 overall and 4-11-3 in league play. During the 2008-09 season including play-offs, Colgate's offense manufactured 89 goals. Heading into this weekend, the Raiders have accounted for 96. Brian Day (18), Francois Brisebois (12), Nick Prockow (6), Matt Firman (5), Ethan Cox (3), Corbin McPherson (2) and Sean Carty (2) have more goals this year than last. The Raiders are two goals from Robbie Bourdon away from accomplishing something they haven't done since the 2005-06 campaign – having five goal scorers with 10 or more (Kyle Wilson – 23; Tyler Burton – 22; Marc Fulton – 14; Jesse Winchester – 14 and Jon Smyth – 11).
WEED WACKERS
Since blanking Dartmouth 1-0 on February 14, 2009 at Thompson Arena, Colgate's success against the Ancient Eight has been impressive. During this stretch, the Raiders are 8-3-2 in games played against Ivy League competition. The only slip ups were a 4-2 loss to Cornell in Ithaca on November 24, a 6-3 loss to sixth-ranked Yale, February 12 at Starr Rink followed by a 6-2 loss to Cornell Tuesday evening. During the stretch, Colgate has two wins versus Brown, Princeton and Dartmouth and one each versus Yale and Harvard. The Raiders are 6-3-1 versus the Ivy League this year including posting the first season sweeps of Princeton and Brown since the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons respectively. It's the first time Colgate has secured a regular-season winning record versus the Ivy League since 2004-05. This weekend, Colgate will attempt for two more sweeps. Friday, the Raiders will be in search of their first sweep of Dartmouth since 1999-2000 and the following night Harvard since 2004-05.
AUSTIN “EXTRA ATTACKER” SMITH
On January 23, Austin Smith's extra attacker goal with 49 seconds left versus Robert Morris was his third such goal of his career. As a freshman, Smith scored two extra attacker goals in the closing minute to force overtime. On February 20, he scored at 19:21 of the third against Union to knot the game up at 2-2. Two weeks later, Smith scored with 19 seconds left as Colgate rallied from two down in the closing moments to force overtime in a potential elimination game at Quinnipiac. Smith would go on to score the game-winner less than a minute into overtime to force a third game in the opening round of the 2009 ECAC Hockey Tournament. Colgate has scored two extra attacker goals this season. Before Smith, Corbin McPherson was the last to post such a goal for the Raiders this season at 2:28 of the third in a 5-3 victory at Brown on November 13, 2009.
CONTINUING THE CLIMB
With his career-high four-point evening versus Harvard, David McIntyre became the 48th player in the program's history to surpass the 100-point milestone. With his goal versus Cornell, he passed former Colgate standout and assistant coach Andrew Dickson and now sits in a tie for 25th with Steve Riggs and Dave MacKenzie. After that, Clarkson's assistant coach, Greg Drechsel is next on the list. The Bramalea, Ontario native collected 130 points in his career for the Raiders. He is in 24th on the all-time list.
GEE WILLIE
With his appearances versus Cornell Tuesday evening, Jason Williams moved into a tie for sixth on the all-time games played list at Colgate with former teammate Nick St. Pierre. A pair of appearances this weekend will tie him with another former teammate in Jason Fredricks for fifth. David McIntyre (145) is eighth all-time, while Ethan Cox (144) ninth on the list. Tyler Burton holds the all-time record with 158 games.
ROOKIE BLUELINERS
Freshmen defensemen Thomas Larkin and Jeremy Price have three goals on the season. That is tied for eighth with J.R. Bria on the single-season list goals by a freshman blueliner. One more would move them into a tie for fifth all-time with David Sloane, Mike Campaner and Mike Dosdall. Larkin is only one assist and one point away from moving into the top 10 in school history for single season totals in those categories for a freshman blueliner.
FRESHMEN IMPACT
After 30 games, the Colgate freshmen have integrated themselves rather well as far as posting points. Including the combined performances versus Yale and Brown, the freshman class has posted 61 points, or 2.03 points per game (19 goals, 42 assists). Earlier, there was a four-game stretch where a freshman collected his first collegiate goal of his career. 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 and then it was Jeremy Price opening the scoring versus Army. Bourdon (8-12-20) and defenseman Thomas Larkin (3-12-15) lead the scoring charge for the first year players.
DIGGING OUT OF A HOLE
When Colgate rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to battle to a 3-3 tie with Robert Morris, Saturday evening, it wasn't the first time the Raiders have battled back from a more than one goal deficit in the final period. In the second opener, Colgate posted a 4-4 tie at Niagara after trailing by as many as three late in the second period. On November 6, Colgate posted a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over Harvard after trailing the Crimson 4-1 at the start of the third period.
STREAKING RAIDERS
The 2009-2010 season has seen the Raiders either continue old streaks or put together new ones.
Went into overtime in the season-opener at Niagara to continue streak dating back to last season of eight consecutive overtime appearances.
First three games were determined by a goal or less to increase the consecutive streak to 14 consecutive dating back to last season.
Had a six-game unbeaten streak from October 30-November 20 going 4-0-2.
Posted three goals or more in nine consecutive games from October 23-November 24.
Had a power play goal in nine-consecutive games from October 30-December 4
Had a streak of nine consecutive games in which at least one Raider posted a multi-point game from October 30-December 4.
PENALTY KILL SHOWING IMPROVEMENT
After allowing five goals in 11 penalty kills in two games to Notre Dame and Niagara to kick off the New Year at the Shillelagh Tournament in Chicago, Colgate has settled down to kill off 48 of its last 59 (.814) penalties in its last 11 games. Colgate held Princeton scoreless in four power play opportunities, which was the second time since the start of the New Year that the Raiders penalty kill unit has held the opposition's power play scoreless. Colgate stopped Robert Morris all five times in a 3-3 tie on January 23.
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 overtime 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 in overtime was Colgate's 5-4 victory over Quinnipiac in the second game of the three-game series.
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.
