OPENING FACE-OFF
Heading into Friday night play, there is only one thing that has been pre-determined around ECAC Hockey relative to the upcoming tournament  – Clarkson will be the 12th seed, while every other seed is up for grabs.  When it comes to Colgate, which is 13-13-6 overall and 10-8-2 in league play, it could still finish anywhere from securing the fourth seed and a first round bye to hosting a first round best of three series as the seventh seed or anything in between. In other words, there is little margin for error.  Friday's game with visiting Rensselaer (17-14-3, 10-8-2) will go along way in determining who will get the final spot in the top four.  The Raiders haven't received a first-round bye since the 2005-06 campaign, when it hosted Quinnipiac in the second round.  Saturday evening will mark the final regular-season appearances for six graduating seniors.  Colgate will be looking to snap a four-game winless skid on Senior Day versus Union (18-8-6, 12-4-4).  The Raiders, 0-3-1 in their last four regular-season home finales, posted a 1-0 victory over Rensselaer back in 2005 for its last Senior Day win.

WHAT IT ALL MEANS
In order for Colgate to clinch a bye in the opening round of the ECAC Hockey tournament Friday evening, the Raiders must beat Rensselaer and hope for a Dartmouth victory at St. Lawrence.  A loss to the Engineers and Colgate will be hosting a first round best of three.  Even if RPI loses at Cornell the following night and the Raiders prevail over Union, the Engineers would win the tie breaker based on the fact they swept Yale during the regular season.  If Colgate gets a three point weekend, including a victory over RPI, St. Lawrence would need to post a home sweep of Dartmouth and Harvard to get the fourth seed over Colgate. The Raiders lose a tiebreaker with the Saints.

ON THE TUBE
Friday's contest with Rensselaer will be aired by Time Warner Cable Sports out of Syracuse.  The live feed will also be picked up by The NHL Network.

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 282-266-65 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 has a combined 18-14-1 record in games played on these specific dates.  The Raiders are 10-7-0 on February 26 and 8-7-1 on February 27.  The last time Colgate swept a weekend on these dates was back in 1965 as the Raiders downed Penn 7-0 and RPI 5-2.

February 26, 1999 – Bryan Long scored twice and Andy McDonald tallied a goal and an assist as Colgate overcame a first period deficit en route to a 4-3 victory at Union.  Trailing 3-1 early in the second, the Raiders reeled off three unanswered goals.  McDonald tied the game at 11:18 with a power play goal and less than eight minutes later got the eventual game winner from Dan Wildfong with a minute left in the middle period.  Jason Lefevre and Shep Harder combined to save 24 in the victory.

February 27, 1988 – Colgate scored four of the game's first five goals and never looked back in a convincing 10-3 victory over visiting RPI.  Shawn Lillie had a career night versus the Engineers with three goals and three assists.  Current Clarkson Associate Head Coach Greg Drechsel scored twice in the victory as well.  Wayne Crowley stopped 37 shots and was credited with an assist versus RPI.  The penalty boxes were hardly empty all night as both teams combined for 25 penalties for 58 minutes.

COLGATE AT A GLIMPSE
After its 10-goal explosion last weekend, the Raiders' scoring offense climbed to 12th nationally (3.31 gpg). The offense is led by the trio of Austin Smith (13-24-37), David McIntyre (10-24-34) and Brian Day (20-13-33).  Junior Francois Brisebois (13-10-23) added to his point total with a goal at Dartmouth, while fellow Quebecian Robbie Bourdon (8-14-22) became the fifth Raider to reach 20 or more points on the year.  Colgate ranks 46th in scoring defense (3.41).  Alex Evin (8-7-3, 3.07, .899) appears to have grabbed a firm hold on the starting position between the pipes for the Raiders starting the last 12 contests.  Colgate's power play ranks 42nd nationally (.169) and is 51st on the penalty kill (.781).

RPI IN BRIEF
Rensselaer comes to town tied with Colgate for fourth in the ECAC Hockey standings.  The Engineers, who have dropped two of their last three including a 7-0 decision to Princeton last Saturday in Troy,  are 17-14-3 overall and 10-8-2 in league play.  The offense centers on four primary threats – Chase Polacek (24-25-49), Brandon Pirri (10-30-40), Jerry D'Amigo (10-21-31) and Paul Kerins (11-14-25).  Sophomore Allen York (13-10-3, 2.64, .907) has seen action in 28 of 34 contests between the pipes.  The Engineers' scoring offense is tied for 32nd nationally (2.91), while their scoring defense is 26th (2.85).  Rensselaer's power play is tied for 32nd (.184) and penalty kill is 29th (.815). 

COLGATE/RPI SERIES HISTORY
 In the last 10 games, Colgate has closed the gap in the all-time series with Rensselaer with a 7-3 mark.  Friday's meeting will be the 109th meeting with the Engineers holding a 55-51-3 lead in the series that dates back to February 19, 1916 – Colgate's first ever ice hockey game.  The Raiders prevailed 6-1.  Eleven games in the series have gone into including two of the last three.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Colgate has a nine-game unbeaten streak versus Rensselaer at Starr Rink.  During this stretch, the Raiders are 8-0-1 versus the Engineers.  RPI's last win in Hamilton was a 2-1 victory November 9, 2001.

RAIDER SCORING VERSUS THE ENGINEERS
A dozen Raiders have at least one point in their collegiate careers versus Rensselaer.  David McIntyre has nine points in his appearances, seven coming on goals.  Fellow senior Jason Williams (3-3-6) has faired well against the Engineers during his career.  Rounding out the scoring are Brian Day (1-3-4), Francois Brisebois (2-1-3), Ethan Cox (1-1-2), Austin Smith (0-2-2), Thomas Larkin (0-1-1), Christian Long (0-1-1), Matt Firman (0-1-1), Robbie Bourdon (0-1-1), and Nick Prockow (0-1-1).

LAST TIME VERSUS RPI
Third period goals by Francois Brisebois and David McIntyre powered Colgate to a 5-3 victory over the Engineers, December 5 in Troy.  Trailing 1-0, Colgate received goals from Brian Day, Christian Long and Kurtis Bartliff to take a 3-1 lead with 14:51 left in the second period.  Charles Long posted 26 saves, 22 in the last two periods in the victory.

RPI OUTBURST
In the first meeting, Colgate's five-goal outburst was the most goals scored by the Raiders against the Engineers since a 5-4 victory at Starr Rink back on February 18, 2000.  The performance also served as the most goals scored by Colgate at Rensselaer in close to 15 years.  The Raiders posted a 6-3 win at Houston Fieldhouse on January 16, 1995.

UNION IN BRIEF
After going through a mini slump in which it lost three-straight league games, 15th-ranked Union has regained its early form and is 5-1-1 in its last seven games.  Last weekend, the Dutchmen swept Princeton (4-1) and Quinnipiac (7-3) to clinch a spot in the top four.  The offense, which ranks third in the country in scoring (3.78), is very balanced. A dozen skaters have 10 points or more, five with more than 20.  Seniors Mario Valery-Trabucco (19-21-40), Jason Walters (16-21-37) and junior Adam Presizniuk (10-22-32) lead the list of scoring threats.  Defenseman Mike Schreiber (8-20-28) is active as well with regards to scoring.  Nate Leaman has used three goalies this season, but primarily has gone to either Keith Kinkaid (11-4-3, 2.64, .909) or Corey Milan (7-4-3, 2.21, .908).  Milan's sister, Hannah, skates for the Colgate women's team.  The Dutchmen are 14th in the country in scoring defense (2.56); are the fourth least penalized team in the country (11.1 pimspg); rank 13th on the power play (.206) and 48th on the penalty kill (.786).

COLGATE/UNION SERIES HISTORY
Despite being winless in their last four contests versus the Dutchmen, the Raiders still hold a commanding 34-15-2 overall lead in the series that dates back to the 1928-29 season.  Only two of the previous meetings have gone into overtime, the last being a 2-2 draw last year at Starr Rink on Senior Day. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Colgate will attempt to protect an 11-game unbeaten streak versus the Dutchmen at Starr Rink.  During this stretch, the Raiders are 10-0-1 versus Union in Hamilton.  The last time the Dutchmen defeated Colgate at Starr was a 6-0 victory on February 27, 1998.  The Raiders are 21-1-2 all-time versus Union in Hamilton.

RAIDERS SCORING VERSUS UNION
Nine Raiders have at least one point in their careers versus Union.  David McIntyre (2-3-5) leads all Colgate scorers versus the Dutchmen with Jason Williams (2-2-4) and Francois Brisebois (1-3-4) are one point behind.  Rounding out the scoring are Ethan Cox (3-0-3), Austin Smith (1-1-2), Wade Poplawski (0-2-2), Brian Day (0-1-1), Kevin McNamara (0-1-1) and Kurtis Bartliff (0-1-1).

LAST TIME VERSUS UNION
Keith Kinkaid posted 31 saves and Union posted two unanswered goals to break a tied contest en route to a 3-1 victory at Messa Rink. Trailing 1-0, Ethan Cox notched his first goal of the year with 59 seconds remaining in the opening period.  Union took the lead for good at 2:23 on a power play goal by Stephane Boileau.  Alex Evin and Charles Long combined for 23 saves in the loss. Before exiting the game, Evin stopped Mario Valery-Trabucco on a penalty shot in the second period.  It was the first penalty shot against Colgate since March 19, 2004 when former Raider standout Steve Silverthorn stopped Clarkson's Chris Blight in an ECAC Hockey semifinal match-up.  The opposition has only scored three times in nine tries against Colgate goalies – the last coming on January 4, 2003 as Randy Jones beat Silverthorn in a 6-0 Raider loss.

LAST TIME OUT
Colgate posted a three-point weekend at Dartmouth and Harvard.  The Raiders rallied from two three-goal deficits to tally a 6-6 draw with Dartmouth, Friday evening and completed a season sweep of Harvard with a 4-2 victory the following night in Cambridge.

The Raiders trailed 4-1 at the midway point of the first period, but closed out the final 8:49 with goals from Francois Brisebois and Wade Poplawski to pull within 4-3 at the end of the first.  Down 5-3, Austin Smith once again brought Colgate within one with his 13th goal of the year at 4:32 of the second.  After Dartmouth regained its two-goal lead early in the third, Colgate tallied back to back goals from Jeremy Price and Brian Day to force overtime.  Bryan Bessette stopped 15 of 17 shots in relief to get credit for the tie.  The Raiders outshot Big Green 41-29.  Poplawski posted a career-high three point evening in the tie.  The six goals scored by Colgate was its highest total versus Dartmouth since a 6-2 win in Hanover on February 25, 2000.

Colgate led from start to finish in the Saturday meeting with Harvard.  The Raiders got first period goals from Brian Day and Austin Smith and a pair of third period scores by Jason Williams and Ethan Cox.  Williams' seventh goal of the year at 10:40 of the third turned out to be the game winner.  Cox's empty net goal cemented the victory with three seconds left.  Alex Evin stopped 38 of 40 shots in the victory as Colgate completed its first sweep of Harvard since the 2004-05 season.

10 SOMETHING
When Colgate downed Harvard 4-2 last Saturday evening, it posted its 10th ECAC Hockey win of the year.  The last time the Raiders achieved double figured win totals in league was 2005-06 when they went 14-6-2.

20 SOMETHING
When Brian Day netted his 20th goal of the year in the 4-2 victory at Harvard, it marked the third straight year Colgate has had at least one 20-goal scorer.  The Raiders haven't had a stretch like this since having eight consecutive seasons where at least one player had 20 goals from 1993-94 to 2000-2001.

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 10 schools that have three 30-point scorers on their roster.  

40 SOMETHING
Colgate fired 83 shots on goal last weekend – 41 versus Dartmouth and 42 at Harvard.  It marked the first time the Raiders had posted back-to-back shot counts of 40 or more since October 19 and 25, 2002 when they recorded 43 on UConn and 40 versus Sacred Heart.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
As of February 22, 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 – T22 in assists per game (0.75), T31 in points per game (1.16); T32 in shorthanded goals (1), T31 in game winning goals (3)
Brian Day – T7 in goals per game (0.67), T37 power play goals (6), T44 in points per game (1.10)
Thomas Larkin – T37 in points per game for a rookie (0.59), T45 in points per game by defenseman (0.59).
David McIntyre – 20th in assists per game (0.77) and T44 in points per game (1.10)
Robbie Bourdon – T31 in game winning goals (3) and 13th in points per game for a rookie (0.77)
Jason Williams – T7 in shorthanded goals (2)

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
On Friday, Francois Brisebois will become 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 13 goals and 23 points.  He had eight goals and 27 points combined in his first two seasons in Hamilton.

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 13-13-6 overall record and 10-8-2 in league action.  A year ago after 32 games, the Raiders were 10-16-6 overall and 5-11-4 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 106.  Brian Day (20), Francois Brisebois (13), Jason Williams (7), Nick Prockow (6), Matt Firman (5), Ethan Cox (5), Corbin McPherson (2), Wade Poplawski (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 9-3-3 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 February 16.  During the stretch, Colgate has two wins versus Brown, Princeton, Harvard and Dartmouth and one versus Yale. The Raiders are 7-3-2 versus the Ivy League this year including posting the first season sweeps of Princeton, Brown and Harvard.  It's the first time Colgate has secured a regular-season winning record versus the Ivy League since 2004-05. 

A GOOD OMEN FOR THE RAIDERS
The last time Colgate swept three regular-season series versus Ivy League schools was back in the 2004-05 season, a year in which it advanced to its last NCAA tournament.  Somewhat ironic, those three schools were Brown, Harvard and Princeton. 

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 two assists over the weekend, he moved into 25th all alone passing Steve Riggs and Dave MacKenzie. With 126 career points, he is five points away from passing Clarkson's Associate Head Coach, Greg Drechsel who collected 130 points in his career for the Raiders.  He is in 24th on the all-time list.

GEE WILLIE
It seems every time he steps on the ice, Jason Williams continues to climb up the all-time charts for games played at Colgate.  Heading into Senior Weekend, he has played 149 games, which is tied for fifth all-time with one of his former teammates Jason Fredricks.  Williams is three games away from tying Matt Torti and Adam Mitchell for third (152). Ryan Smith (154) ranks second, while Tyler Burton (158) holds the school record.  David McIntyre is tied for seventh with Nick St. Pierre with 147 games played, while Ethan Cox is right behind in ninth with 146.

FROM THE POINT
 With his two assists last weekend, Thomas Larkin moved into a tie for third on the all-time single season point list for a rookie defenseman.  The freshman, who is tied with five others including current teammate Kevin McNamara, is two points short of tying current Raiders' assistant coach Brad Dexter, who posted 19 in the 1991-92 campaign.

PRICE IS RIGHT
When Jeremy Price netted his fourth goal at Dartmouth, he moved into a  tie for fifth on the all-time single season list at Colgate for goals by a rookie defenseman.  The freshman tied David Sloane and Mike Campaner and is one away from moving into a tie with Scott Young for fourth.

FRESHMEN IMPACT
After 32 games, the Colgate freshmen have integrated themselves rather well as far as posting points. Including the combined performances at Dartmouth and Harvard, the freshman class has posted 67 points, or 2.09 points per game (19 goals, 48 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 (8-15-23) and defenseman Thomas Larkin (3-14-17) lead the scoring charge for the first year players.  Jeremy Price (4-7-11) joined the duo with double figured point totals with a two-point weekend versus Dartmouth and Harvard.

DIGGING OUT OF A HOLE:  When Colgate rallied from two three-goal deficits at Dartmouth last Friday evening, it wasn't the first time this season that the Raiders turned what appeared to be sure defeat into either a tie or a win.  The Raiders overcame a two-goal deficit in the second period to battle to a 3-3 tie with Robert Morris (1/23.  In the season 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.